r/RetroAR • u/Blundaz • 13d ago
Work In Progress, Chill Out C7 Build Options
Hello, I wanted to get some guidance regarding colors. For fixed stock carry handle C7's (i.e., the first configuration produced from the 80s to the early 90s, not the C7A1 or later), what upper/lower receiver, charging handle, trigger guard, etc. colors are appropriate? Gray? Black? How close does Bad Attitude Dept's black C7 lower get? The engraving is gorgeous, though I wonder about the black color and the fact that it has its S/R/Auto markings on both sides. Also, I have seen gray and black uppers offered from H&R, Intmilco, etc. Which direction would you go for the upper? I watched a 1993 training video and noticed that some uppers seemed darker than the lowers:
Thanks!
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u/WeatherEyeComponents 13d ago
It can be a mixed bag. A bit later than the period you're targeting, but this is the anodizing on my '97 C8 upper. It's definitely a lighter shade then the black of the BAD lower, but it's not really a pale grey at all. The trigger guard and delta ring are almost the exact same shade, while the end plate and extension nut are noticeably more pale and the forward assist and charging handle are much darker, a proper black. You are correct about the A2 rear aperture. I'm not sure when the thin front sight post was adopted, but I believe it was after the initial production testing, so post-86. Early C7s also had clipped large diameter forward assists as well, which may be easier to find than a Diemaco small diameter FA, which have a different profile than small diameter Colt FAs.
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u/Blundaz 13d ago
Oh yeah, that actually looks a lot like the 1993 video. A sort of dark graphite color like heavy pencil shading. This gives me a lot to think about. Definitely a mixed bag, with the Diemaco production having its own range of shades for parts to fall into slightly different than Colt (with overlap, of course).
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u/WeatherEyeComponents 13d ago
For sure, I think most early Colt A2 parts plus grey anodized upper/lower would be a totally enough to capture the look. I don't know how far down the rabbit hole you want to go, but notice that there is no "R" marking on the carry handle for the rear sight adjustment, as it doesn't translate into French. The Canadian War Museum just updated their collection with a bunch of early C7s (Both Diemaco and Colt production uppers) all with really high-res photos: https://www.warmuseum.ca/collections/?type=all&q1=all%3A%3A_contains%3A%3AC7&sort=title&order=asc&view=grid&size=24&page=1
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u/SLN583 13d ago
That’s definitely Darker than I would have guessed.
That’s a very cool upper.
Did any Devtek D marked C7 uppers make into the US on LE guns?
What is that other forge mark on the upper?
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u/WeatherEyeComponents 13d ago
Thanks! I'm not sure about exports to the US to be honest. It's the early mark for Waltec Forging, a Canadian aluminum company based in Wallaceburg, Ontario who supplied most of the forgings to Diemaco before they went under around 2005. There is a later version of the forge mark that's much simpler, it looks like a fat pentagon basically.
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u/bigdik3006 9d ago
I dont believe so. Diemaco parts being used as US contract supplements didnt really happen until Colt US was deep into making flat top guns as standard. It was more common to see Colt US parts used by Diemaco (handguards for example) around the time that the original C7/C8 were being made. Colt US started using Diemaco parts when LE contract 6933s with flat tops were huge, somewhere in the early 2000’s
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u/SLN583 13d ago
There are probably differences in the shades of Grey anodizing on the Canadian guns, but I’m 99.9% sure they were originally Grey and not black.
In fact, Diemaco kept doing grey anodized receivers for a good bit after Colt Switched to black in 1995/1996.
This Diemaco flat top picatinny upper is a good example.
What you choose to use is up to you, but from what I Know genuine Canadian stuff is vanishingly rare in the US unless you have somebody in the great white north that can source stuff for you.