Pre ban Colt AR 15 HBAR Questions?

You can always contact Colt and find out the build date via the serial number.

I believe the price is OK given the amount of ammo that comes with the deal. Ammo alone is worth around 80 cents to a dollar a round.

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RE:

Pre ban Colt AR 15 HBAR Questions?

A friend called me a bit ago with a gun for sale. He says it's a Colt pre ban AR 15 HBAR with an A2 buttstock (he said it looks just like an M 16 from the Vietnam era) and no forward assist. I'm not really familiar with Colt AR's so I thought i'd see if anyone has a clue as too...

This sounds like the early 1980's SP1 model, especially if it has the Vietnam style triangular handguards. This is a nice collector piece, but, not what you want.

This will have a 1:10 or 1:12 twist barrel designed for the orginal military 55gr ammo. After 1986 NATO did a big upgrade to a 1:9 twist barrel and 62gr ammo. With this barrel it allowed the AR-15 to fire really nice 69gr match ammo that turns it from the 300yd rifle it was, to a tack driving 600 yard rifle.

Next - this rifle will have the werid Cold bastard front and rear take down pins that do not match what is univeral today. Yes, you can buy adapter pins that will let the upper mate to other lowers, and, your lower mate to other uppers - but it is a royal pain in the pooper.

This rifle probably has the A1 rear sights that were horrible, cumbersome, and required a spare round to adjust. You would be ill advised to buy any AR with these - you very much want one with the much new A2 sights....... and no, you cant remove the A1 and ad the A2. Nope.

You buy this - you are stuck using only 40 or 55 grain ammo. No nice match ammo or modern 62gr military ammo for you. Lots of the modern accessories - will not work with this rifle.

Bottom line. If this was a gun you were gonna just put aside until you have grandkids 40 years from now and had no interest in shooting - it could make a nice investment. But if you want one to shoot, dink with, maybe make tacticool and have fun - this aint the gun for you. Even if you bought a new upper for it - the lower would be the off green color, the upper black, and you would need those pain in the pooper adapter pins.

I would say pass on this.

That said - tell your friend he really needs to advertise this state wide in his area - it's worth money - and for the older guys who carried one of these in Vietnam - this is the exact model they want to keep in the house or safe.....and they will pay a good price for it too.

I don't know if it's a deal or not. I personally paid $750 for my Colt HBAR with all forward assist. But I will comment on the gun that lacks a forward assist.

I *think* it was around 1987 that Colt made some changes to the AR-15 line or rifles. They were indeed selling HBAR rifles without the forward assist. Before that, they were not selling HBARs at all. And the rifles they sold as AR-15s lacked the forward assist mechanism.

The availability of the HBAR (heavy barrels) at the Colt factory happened before they were ready to mate them to the newer upper receivers with the forward assist. So, Colt decided to start builing rifles with the new barrels and the old receivers - just to get rid of their inventory of older receivers.

So, all I am saying is that your friend's AR rifle sounds legit. It is probably not a parts gun.

The model that had no forward assist was called an SP1, and is a prized collectible.

The A2 HBAR had a forward assist and a shell deflector. Many more A2s were sold than SP1, but it is still a great rifle.

If the markings on the lower do not agree with the above, then it is more likely an SP1 upper on an A2 lower and is not as desirable as a correct rifle would be.

I cannot guess the value because the market is haywire now days although, with 2000 rounds and the magazines you might be getting a good enough deal.

Compare these two photos,

Colt Ar15 For Sale

Sounds like a decent price with Obama selling guns.

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Why do you want someone to confirm what you already know, you wasted your money. Now does that make you feel better? Next time I suggest you think before you buy.

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