I was in a gunstore this evening, local to northern VA, and saw a Colt “M4 Carbine” marked with an SP serial number that came from the factory with a quad rail marked “Colt Defense”. It was obviously NOT the 6940 and looked like a 6920 with either a Surefire or KAC rail possibly? The delta ring was still on the rifle and there was a gap in between the receiver top rail and the forearm top rail. From looking at their website it looked like the rail on their 9mm subgun located on this page.
The new Colt 2012 catalog has a few new 6920 models listed, including one with a KAC rail (LE6920SOCOM). It appears Talo is also offering a MOE variant with a Troy rail. Not sure if any of these have hit the stores yet.
The most interesting thing to me about the new Colt catalog is that there is no mention of the Sporter line - it just references ‘Colt Carbines’. If the pictures in the catalog are any indication, I suspect we’ll be seeing much more of the M4 Carbine roll mark…
6920SOCOM: 6920 with a KAC RAS
6920MP-R: 6920 with Magpul accessories and a Troy Drop in Rail
ETA: Damn, beaten by 2 minutes.
Also want to add that Colt 6920s, 6940s, and 6720s are still listed with the LE model designation in the catalog, but have the M4 rollmark. Even the 901 has the LE prefix. Just like JSGlock34 said, no mention of “Sporter” at all.
To my mind, it’s not bad. A plain 6720 is ~1k. So you get the Troy rail, low pro gas block, magpul grip, and magpul BUIS for $250 more. Pretty solid. If they’d used a lighter rail than the troy, I’d pick one up today.