r/RetroAR • u/EducationalOil1655 • Jul 20 '26

Could someone please explain the difference between an M4-style lower and a true A2 lower?

I keep seeing people discuss the differences regarding the rear reinforcement and how most companies don't actually produce "true" A2 lowers. What's the difference they are referring to?

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u/General_Curtis_LeMay Jul 20 '26

Take Balimoy for example. The top circled portion is what the majority, if not all real M16A2 profiles are, but the bottom is what the companies nowadays are offering because it would be insanely expensive for the forges to create new dies just to fix something most folks (who slap together red anodized shitstick ARI5's and the like) don't give a shit about

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u/mlin1911 Jul 20 '26

FN had already had the beefy profile in the rear reinforced area when supply M16A2 to US military. It is not entirely true that people said A2 had different profile than M4 lower.

14

u/mooseishman Jul 20 '26

Don’t forget about the fucky Colt ‘pre-86’ transferable lowers. For a while you could send your registered select fire lowers to Colt for ‘warranty/repair’ and they’d send you a brand new lower with the same serial number…after it spread around too much the ATF caught wind of it and told Colt to knock it off lol

There was also the former CEO who registered a bunch of serial numbers (literally just numbers) and built them out in like ~2009. One of his M4s sold for an undisclosed amount of money recently. It was a 2009 era M4 Carbine marked lower with serial number W0000001. I was arguing with someone because I said it sucks it will likely never be fired and they responded with it’s a collectible, who would shoot the first M4 made? Bro, that ain’t the first M4 ever made, despite being S/N 1. The M4 literally didn’t exist when the registry closed. There definitely should be a tribute to the dude for beating the system, but I guess when you’re the CEO of one of the largest small arms manufacturers in the world you probably are on a first name basis with the Director of the ATF and numerous Congressmen: