Tapco M16 Kit

[Ken Carter]

Just received m16 Kit from Tapco.
Kit is in great shape. Bore is nice and
shiny. Stock is in great shape. Handguards
have one small place that can be fixed.
Upper shows wear around the Handle. These
Kits look better than the M16s they use at Fort Jackson. Have not checked parts good yet
but will let everyone know. Oh I am so Happppppy!! :)

[tdandy]

Redhawk:

Is the rifle an A-2 model? The TAPCO ad wasn't specific.
Is it Colt parts, or can you tell?

Thanks, Redman

[Ken Carter]

Redman, Rifle is Colt and a A2 Model. Marked
C/M next to A2 site

[Offctr]

Does anybody know if the teflon moly bake on or alumahide is good refinish paint for these or is epoxy more appropriate ?

[Ssarge]

You can use the Teflon/Moly, but you need to strip the finish. An easier solution is the Brownells bake on lacquer finish. It comes in several colors. You de-grease, then spray on right over the existing finish. Looks good, and is very durable. I think it is a bit more rugged than the T/M finish, and you take a time consuming step out of the job.

[Offctr]

Cool Ive used the T/M on mags with good results but wasnt sure how well it would work on the Al upper of the M-16 I have not tried the bake on laquer yet but this is as good time as any.

[Gaspipe]

I got my kit today, amd I collaberate redhawk's assessment. TAPCO did me right [again].

The bore is beautiful, and the only real wear is the carry handle area [aluminum] and the adjuster knob on the sights. IMO, these will build into nice rifles.

These are real ex-mil Colt A2 rifles, so they will require the usual stuff [removal of bayo lug, flash-hider neuter, and the dastardly burst FC parts] to make them 'suitable' for the masses, per BATF.

Out comes the bake-on-black engine enamel again....this never ends...

'Taint no FAL, but they are almsot as fun.

[chinchilla]

Do you have to swithch out the entire bolt assembly or just the bolt carrier to be BATF legal? Or can you just swithch out the trigger group and selector to be legal? I got a spare set of semi lower parts and it would be real cheap for me to build a post ban legal kit.

[DWS]

Bolt is fine, The carrier will have to have the back lower half cut down (or shaved off if you really want to avoid hassles) to AR-15 specs. You can convert M-16 fire control parts to AR-15 specs. You can also replace M-16 fire control with AR-15 parts. I would sell the M-16 parts to cover the cost of conversion. DO NOT have M-16 fire control parts under the same roof as an AR lower. That is intent to manufacture an illegal MG, Big Brother will put you away for that.

[fn4bb]

Does anyone know if a Colt upper will work with a Bushmaster lower?

Thanks!

[big dee]

Yes, the Colt should work fine on a BM lower. They were made to the same specs.

bd

[EMDII]

I have run a Colt-on-Bushmaster for over a year sans problems.

[Tony.]

You can use teflon moly over the existing finish. In fact, Brownell's recomends using their teflon moly over anodizing. I built a bushmaster shorty and coated it with Brownell's Dark Grey Parkerizing Teflon Moly and the color duplicates the "Colt grey" very nicely.

[FootLongCuban]

Just wondering. If you have a blocked lower (not able to accept f/a parts) why would it be illegal to posses the f/a parts?

Does the same hold true for the FAL?

[marko16]

Check your state laws, it's illegal in MN to have the parts even if you don't have the gun. Parts alone is jail time here.

[Bruce J]

Theoretically, you can be legal with M16 parts as long as you don't have ALL of the parts in your posession (hammer, trigger, sear, auto-sear, carrier, & selector). Kinda like the FAL ( the key being the sear cut receiver). This means that you ditch the full auto sear and get a semi selector to be safe and you're set

For guys that want to be on the safe side, they modify the M16 hammer and trigger to so that it looks like an AR15. However, this is sort of pointless as the BATF considers any part that was once for a machine gun, always a machine gun part. So, even though the M16 hammer may now look like an AR15 hammer, it's still an M16 hammer. A rose by any other name..

If you were planning on building and seling these, you'd probably want to go with AR15 parts all around so that you didn't draw any attention to yourself. If you're building it for you, just dump the auto sear and selector. Besides, how many time have you seen a LEO at a range asking AR15 owners to open up their ARs for inspection?

[FNnuts]

Speaking of M-16 style rifles, how does the Military take care of the short stroking of their M-4 carbines. I have a Colt M-4 flattop upper with a 14" M-4 style bbl. and a phantom F/H, mated to a Bushmaster lower. I have a bad short stroking problem with mine. I noticed that the bolt carrier rubbing hard on the hammer so I Dremmelated somewhat on the top of the hammer to reduce the friction, but not so much that it doesn't catch and lock down. It's still doing it. Anybody, anybody?

[DWS]

Bruce, How's this true story for starters? LEO has his own pre-ban Bushmaster carbine at the range, Asswipe ATF agent sees the "evil rifle" and approaches him with an attitude. Then the agent proceeds to grab the now unloaded rifle out of the officers hands. Agent asks the officer to produce proof of ownership and that it is a pre-ban weapon.
Officer shows him the sales receipt stating model and serial #, As well as a statement from the dealer stating it is indeed a pre-ban. Officer grabs his rifle back and tells the agent "Now get the f*ck outta my face!" With a dozen people glaring at him, The agent walks away like a whipped pup.
I've had my pre-ban Colt stared at by everyone, Including cops and rangemasters. Haven't had it inspected by them yet. The officer in the story was a member of AR-15.com. I thought I'd share the story with all of you.

[ October 16, 2001: Message edited by: DWS ]

[DWS]

FNfreak, Sent you an e-mail.
For the record guys, Most cops and ATF agent have no idea what the differences between AR-15 and M-16 parts are. But do you really want to take a chance that one of them does? I for one would not!!

[Tony.]

Originally posted by FNnuts:
<STRONG>Speaking of M-16 style rifles, how does the Military take care of the short stroking of their M-4 carbines. I have a Colt M-4 flattop upper with a 14" M-4 style bbl. and a phantom F/H, mated to a Bushmaster lower. I have a bad short stroking problem with mine. I noticed that the bolt carrier rubbing hard on the hammer so I Dremmelated somewhat on the top of the hammer to reduce the friction, but not so much that it doesn't catch and lock down. It's still doing it. Anybody, anybody?</STRONG>

What kind of ammo are you using? I have had short stroking problems when using South African PMP commerical ammo. The stuff in a brown box with a gazelle on it. Once I switched to Federal American Eagle, the problem went away.

[Ropes4u]

Don't they need a justifiable reason to inspect someones guns? Hell that sugar off of my morning dougnut looks like cocaine or now anthrax is that enough reason for them to search my house?

I am 100% legal and will remain that way for now.. but sooner or later I suppose some gun law will turn me into a criminal. I love this country but look forward to the day we have our own revolution so we can once again be free.

Ropes

[DWS]

1-They don't need a reason to search you or your property. Welcome to the real world!
2-If you own a gun the anti's label you as a criminal. (Only criminals fear armed people.)
3- I pray we turn the people and politicians around before another lunatic Democrat sits in the White House. (THAT would lead to the 2nd Revolution.) ;)

[Sons of Liberty]

Originally posted by FNnuts:
<STRONG>Speaking of M-16 style rifles, how does the Military take care of the short stroking of their M-4 carbines. I have a Colt M-4 flattop upper with a 14" M-4 style bbl. and a phantom F/H, mated to a Bushmaster lower. I have a bad short stroking problem with mine. I noticed that the bolt carrier rubbing hard on the hammer so I Dremmelated somewhat on the top of the hammer to reduce the friction, but not so much that it doesn't catch and lock down. It's still doing it. Anybody, anybody?</STRONG>

AR-15.com is probably a better place to ask this. Shortstroking is a common problem. I had the same problem on my post-ban kit-built gun. I started to lube the hell out of the bolt and carrier and the problem went away. The rifle instructor at my gun club said that AR-15 bolt carriers like to be wet.

[Ropes4u]

Originally posted by DWS:
<STRONG>1-They don't need a reason to search you or your property. Welcome to the real world!
2-If you own a gun the anti's label you as a criminal. (Only criminals fear armed people.)
3- I pray we turn the people and politicians around before another lunatic Democrat sits in the White House. (THAT would lead to the 2nd Revolution.) ;)</STRONG>


I guess I was thinking they needed probable cause to examine a weapon... I guess I was being unreasonable :rolleyes: expecting so..

[TheOtherChris]

Originally posted by FNnuts:
<STRONG>Speaking of M-16 style rifles, how does the Military take care of the short stroking of their M-4 carbines. I have a Colt M-4 flattop upper with a 14" M-4 style bbl. and a phantom F/H, mated to a Bushmaster lower. I have a bad short stroking problem with mine. I noticed that the bolt carrier rubbing hard on the hammer so I Dremmelated somewhat on the top of the hammer to reduce the friction, but not so much that it doesn't catch and lock down. It's still doing it. Anybody, anybody?</STRONG>

An M4 is no more prone to short stroking than any other AR15/M16.
The usual cause of short stroking on an AR is a gas leak.
Check to make sure the carrier key is still *tight* and the screws are properly staked.
Visually inspect the gas tube *inside* the upper to make sure it is centered.
Inspect the carrier key for any signs of peening that would indicate that it is hitting the gas tube.
Check for signs of gas leaking at the front sight base.
you can check the bolt to make sure the gas ring gaps are not lined up. (Though I have tried to make an AR MALF that way and have never been able to do it.)
On a really dirty gun it could be a clogged gas tube. You can check it by removing the carrier ass'y, plugging the chamber and blowing in the muzzle while checking for air coming out of the gas tube. (or you could just clean it.)
I have seen one case where the inside of the carrier was so rough that the bolt would not slide properly and had to be replaced.

Good Luck,

[FNnuts]

Don'tTouchMyGuns-

I am using Black Hills 55 and 62 grain standard ball ammo.

[Nachoman]

Originally posted by FNnuts:
<STRONG>Speaking of M-16 style rifles, how does the Military take care of the short stroking of their M-4 carbines. I have a Colt M-4 flattop upper with a 14" M-4 style bbl. and a phantom F/H, mated to a Bushmaster lower. I have a bad short stroking problem with mine. I noticed that the bolt carrier rubbing hard on the hammer so I Dremmelated somewhat on the top of the hammer to reduce the friction, but not so much that it doesn't catch and lock down. It's still doing it. Anybody, anybody?</STRONG>
In addition to the other comments, I believe Tapco and others sell pig-tail gas tubes which are supposed to help this problem.

[58772239]

I am new at the fal thing, but seriously addicted, but i am very long into the ar addiction, short stroking is very commonly caused by a bent gas tube where it goes into the upper reciever, i have fixed a ton of these guns with that most common problem, take the bolt out of the carrier, leave the charging handle and bolt carrier in the upper, push the bolt carrier home and feel for a drag innthe bolt carrier key, this is where the gas tube enters the "bent" thingy attatched to the top of the bolt carrier, be sure that it is attatched tightly too, if it is not already staked, do so now, bend the gas tube till it slides perfectly, no binding, this is very common on the ar, let me know what you find, you can do this with the bolt/carrier assembled, but is a little harder to feel the bind.

[Caspian]

I have an 11.5" upper w/5.5" AK break on it. I had the same short stroking problem. There are two fixes for this. The first and easiest is buying a D-Fender ring that goes under the extractor and increases tension.
that's the first thing i tried and it worked. the second fix is by adding the counter poise system. it's about $200. it replaces the buffer system.
try the defender ring. 90% it'll fix it.