Vietnam era GREY

**theunrulychef** · June 8th, 2016, 05:28 PM

Been thinking about doing a retro style AR build for a couple years now. Originally, I was thinking the classic triangle handguard / M16A1 would be the way to go. Lately, I've been doing a bunch of research for my dad about his time there in '67-'68. He carried an XM177 CAR15 carbine & now I'm thinking that would be cool to build one of those.

I'm wondering about the grey they used on the receivers & metal. I know people spray them & they can look good (like bripro's recent post http://forum.pafoa.org/showthread.php?t=304462 ), but I'm wanting to steer clear of paint if possible. From the guys who were there or have actually handled rifles from that era, is the metal actually "grey", or is it just a muted black anodizing? Pics have been kinda all over the place from some looking totally black, to ones that were obviously painted grey.

I'm thinking I could remove some of the outside anodizing to leave a thinner finish, but not go fully to silver. I know that the inner aluminum is softer than the anodized layer outside, but I am not particularly worried about taking a few thou off the anodizing layer.

Anyways, anyone's first hand knowledge would be appreciated.

**Splittiebus66** · June 8th, 2016, 06:12 PM

Originally Posted by theunrulychef

Been thinking about doing a retro style AR build for a couple years now. Originally, I was thinking the classic triangle handguard / M16A1 would be the way to go. Lately, I've been doing a bunch of research for my dad about his time there in '67-'68. He carried an XM177 CAR15 carbine & now I'm thinking that would be cool to build one of those.

I'm wondering about the grey they used on the receivers & metal. I know people spray them & they can look good (like bripro's recent post http://forum.pafoa.org/showthread.php?t=304462 ), but I'm wanting to steer clear of paint if possible. From the guys who were there or have actually handled rifles from that era, is the metal actually "grey", or is it just a muted black anodizing? Pics have been kinda all over the place from some looking totally black, to ones that were obviously painted grey.

I'm thinking I could remove some of the outside anodizing to leave a thinner finish, but not go fully to silver. I know that the inner aluminum is softer than the anodized layer outside, but I am not particularly worried about taking a few thou off the anodizing layer.

Anyways, anyone's first hand knowledge would be appreciated.

It's the anodizing. US Anodizing does that gray for parts.

http://www.usanodizing.com/index.htm

ETA I wasn't there. That was my pops era, he was issued an M14 and then M79 IIRC before winding up in Germany hauling APCs or the like.

**jamf** · June 8th, 2016, 08:52 PM

Your best bet would be buying a matched gray retro upper & lower from nodak spud to build on. You can get a gray charging handle and two position buffer tube from them also.
They have US anodizing do their stuff in that they call XM gray.

Some guys cerekote their lowers to match an old, worn, original upper.
I picked up this xm16e1 upper a few months back, definitely gray, not sure if I'll have to get a nodak lower cerekoted or if I'll luck out and get a decent match.

The retro subforum on ar15.com is a wealth of info. Any thing you would need to know you can find out there.
www.ar15.com/forums/f_3/123_AR_15___M_16_Retro_Forum.html

**theunrulychef** · June 9th, 2016, 10:07 AM

Ah, didn't see that you can get them already anodized to the correct color from NoDak Spud. They're pricey, but that's the way to go. Brownells has the barrels & I saw the aluminum stock somewhere as well. Just need to figure out what "moderator" clone to get as I know the originals are NFA & I decided no new stamps until all the rules settle down.

**bripro** · June 12th, 2016, 09:04 PM

Someone posted a link in my post about Brownell's having stripped A1 uppers now. The problem I have with them is that they are and the current black color. I was looking at the Nodak Spud as well. I will probably go that route to for future projects. The carbine length is calling my name too.

**theunrulychef** · June 12th, 2016, 09:43 PM

Originally Posted by bripro

Someone posted a link in my post about Brownell's having stripped A1 uppers now. The problem I have with them is that they are and the current black color. I was looking at the Nodak Spud as well. I will probably go that route to for future projects. The carbine length is calling my name too.

Yeah, saw that Brownells has them, but they're black. Of course, my dad can't remember for sure what the color was. He thinks black. I've seen a couple things online about there being both, but haven't had the time to do any more research on it to see if they did indeed have black & grey receivers there. He did say that his rifle worked very well & he never had any jams or issues with it. I saw an article that says the M16s did have some issues with fouling & jamming, but that was mostly attributed to the ammo being loaded with a powder that ran them too fast. He has told me about the grenade launchers that nobody wanted to use. I wonder if that's the M79 that Splittiebus66's pop was issued.

**39flathead** · June 14th, 2016, 10:17 PM

My brother has a picture of my old man in '69 with a CAR and it's black.

**OldSchoolRanger** · July 23rd, 2016, 12:12 AM

theunrulychef - I was in a Ranger unit from 70-71. My team leader used one and it was black. The retractable stock rattled. It also had an extended flash suppressor.

The M-79 looked like a oversized single shot break open shotgun. The reason our guys didn't want to carry the 79 was because he had to hump the 79, it's load of grenades, his M-16, and his basic load for the 16. The regular grunts in the line units didn't have to carry both weapons. They later came out with the experimental XM203 (?? not sure if I remembered the number correctly) under-barrel grenade launcher for us to test during the same time (late 1970?).

**d4xycrq** · July 23rd, 2016, 08:03 AM

Remember the Malaysian M16A1s that came in kit form....everything but the lower receiver and barrel? They were black. I built several. Some were more whooped than others, but I did go over them with Norrell's Moly Resin in the Grey reputed to be used by the US Gummint in refinishing their '16s.

Original black finish on the right. Norrell's Moly Resin in Grey on the left.

Ray