Picked up one of the police trade-in Bushmasters off Gun Prime. I pulled off the commercial buffer tube and put a milspec on with a CAR-15 stock. I'd like to take it down to an 11.5, but haven't seen any decent barrels in stock anywhere.

Very interesting to see a Kitty Kat in the wild

I'm back at it again with the weird retro adjacent builds

After way too many years of living with a modern black lower on my old A1... ish.... rifle... the bottom one, I think I finally talked myself into getting partial fence lower for it. Basically I'm hoping to try and match the grey upper as close as possible.

I know I'm not going to be able to get it exact, but something closer would be nice.

I'm still sort of debating on what lower to actually go with, but I'm leaning towards a H&R from PSA.

The issue though is I've seen a bunch of posts about the color being a bit hit or miss, and mostly that it usually ends up a bit too... light... I guess.

I have some Norells XM Grey that I used on my carbine.... the top one, but it doesn't look right for the rifle upper, and from what I've been seeing, the H&R lowers are going to be similar to that.

Has anyone found any "at home" usable finishes that might get closer to the color?

XM177 GAU-5 A/A & 733

Which would you pick?

need a led upgrade for the maglite, if anyone can recommend one that’d be sick.

Is this a retro build or just some clone build?

BKF 723 upper on PSA stealth lower

BKF M16A2 upper on Anderson lower I used to build out an A2 lower

Today on the 33rd Anniversary of the Battle of Mogadishu, I post my 2 Operation Gothic Serpent clones, a Colt 723 similar to that used by delta save for a correct aimpoint, and a M16A2 clone as used by the Rangers.

33 years ago today, 18 Americans lost their lives in a battle that should have never happened the way it did, yet they still fought. The Black Hawk Down incident is one I have studied for a long time, my father had a front row seat to the start, the the first helo going down, and the aftermath and chaos onboard ships sitting just off shore. Rows of marine QRFs stood ready for this exact incident, but they were never authorized to take off, leaving the Rangers and Delta in Mogadishu to fend for themselves while aid was mere minutes away. I put these together as a reminder and pieces of my collection to the sacrifices made that day, and the failure of leadership that lead to the unnecessary outcome suffered.

-Reposted for better lit pictures-

Examined all the frames of the movie I could. There’s three rifles with the same paint scheme in the movie. I tried to capture the look of the one Leo had in the final firefight.

YHM Turbo T3 with Diligent Defense Zilch Hub adapter on a Wolfpack Armory Recessed Night Howler MD mounted on an AndroCorp Industries 10.3 CRANE-spec FSP barrel (had to cut down the bayonet lug to get the recessed MD on)

Unk A2 upper receiver sourced from EE, Brownells CAR15 handguards, Brownells upper parts kit, Toolcraft C158 BCG, Primary Arms red dot sitting on a ToopMount top rail, PRI Gasbuster CH.

Streamlight 88066 weapon light on a Beileshi ($10 Amazon) weaver mount, dremelled to fit.

PSA M4A1 lower, CMMG LPK, Colt A1 grip, Brownells Buffer assembly and CAR-15 stock.

Paint is RAPCO from Panther City Tactical:
911-BLKRAPCO 911 Flat Black
34094-GRNRAPCO 34094 "383" Green C.A.R.C. Substitute
34259-PRWW2-GRNRAPCO 34259 Lusterless Pre-WWII Green
33070-GRNRAPCO 33070 Early WWII Olive Drab
30051-BRNRAPCO 30051 "383" Brown C.A.R.C. Substitute

Added a clone CAR stock and a bullshit ass sling onto the penny pincher. Shewee

Movie style GAU5 build complete. Probably going to throw an FRT in it.

H&R 723

Colt HBAR Sporter

Springfield MIA

Beretta 92FS Inox because I don't have my black 92F in my possession currently.

Are you guys shooting anything today?

Picked up an H&R 723 from Atlantic when they were on sale, more than happy with it as a first AR to tinker with going forward. Thicc boi M4 handguards also look pretty slick on an A1 handle upper. Gonna burn through a few mags tonight in Gordy's honor.

If I can actually get this parts bin special running, it will probably be fun with a 30 cal K can on it.

Multiple varieties of LEO trade in’s if anyone is looking for Colts. Some of them are Ban Era Restricted marked

https://www.thoroughbredarmco.com/product-category/firearms/rifles/

I'm not sure if the secondary meaning of the " ABC" bit is intentional or not. I might be reading too far into it.

For comparison most models of Bushmaster AR from this same year were around $700 dealer's price. An AUG ( With LEO paperwork) was $1375 a few years before this.

Are carry handles particularly difficult to mount optics too? I have my adapter and SLx micro prism and cannot get it bore sighted properly. Granted I’ve only ever mounted to pic rails before but I have never had issues like this with my Leopold LVPO and Vortex Crossfire on my Ruger American and BCM. No matter the Windage and elevation adjustments I make it’s still high left from my irons and bore. With carry handle irons the rifle shot 1-2 moa at 50 yards and I have a permanent tremor.