I want a CAR 15 , besides the legal paper work what parts would i go with? from the pictures it looks like an A2 upper , maybe a 10 in barrel with a long flash suppressor and your standard m4 stock. But the hand-guards Wikipedia shows are funky. They look like m16 hand-guards but much smaller in diameter. I was just curious because im trying to plan out my builds, and since theres a gun show this weekend id like to pick up some parts. oh and it looks like theres no forward assist.
I’m no vintage/historical AR-15/M4/M16 buff, but I will help with two things I do know. That is an A1 upper (look at the carry handle and rear sight) with A2 handguards, and the stock would be a CAR stock, not an M4 stock.
Thanks for the info, I couldn’t see the stock so well so i took a shot in the dark.
one question about the hand-guards though : theres no way they could be normal length,where the heck would i find a set?
Nodak-Spud is a great place to find vintage type parts. You can call or email them and they will be happy to help.
The handguards in the above picture look like standard carbine length CAR handguards to me.
The buttstock appears to be an aluminum unit.
I think the upper is an M16 upper, not an M16A1 the A1 had a forward assist. IIRC the stock is an aluminum two position and the castile nut was put on with a spanner wrench.
You’re very right! I just saw the rear sight and thought ‘A1’.
And this is why I shouldn’t be giving vintage AR advice… Philipeggo, listen to these people. 
lol thanks for all the input, now to go shopping . I may substitute the m16 upper with the A1 upper but i did find that brownells had genuine colt m16 uppers for sale :-D. why didnt we pick a cheaper hobby?
Don’t be fooled, there’s no such thing as a cheap hobby if you really turn it into a hobby.
Check out www.retroblackrifle.com . They have a section devoted to military carbines and can give you an idea of what parts you might need.
“CAR-15” means a lot of different things to different people. To build a replica like that in the picture, you’ll need to go the SBR route and do paperwork and get a tax stamp from BATFE. An alternate is to build a clone with a slightly longer barrel, which, when matched with a repro flash hider, looks very similar to a 11.5" bbl length Colt 629/XM-177E2:
Thanks for all the help guys , once my current project gets down ill get under way with this one. The web resources you gave me were great and i found a guy locally who may have a few original colt m16 uppers.
They are standard length carbine hand guards. You can purchase a set of them here
Is the flash suppressor on the real CAR-15’s the moderator? If so were all of them equipped this way?
The carbine pictured in the photo is an Air Force GAU-5. There has never been a “CAR-15”.
Is that a moderator on the pictured GAU-5? Please elaborate.
It is a moderator.
It is a moderator that has flash hiding cabability put into it.
The moderator is basically halfway between a silencer and a flash hider. It hides flash and has a little bit of silencing cabablility.
It is also legally considered a silencer due to its capabiltiy to reduce sound.
yup I would do the 11.5 barrel with the 5.5inch hider/moderator too.