I just picked up an apparent LE trade in 1999 mfg Colt 6520 “government carbine”.
I have a couple quick questions.
The carbine has one of the neutered “half circle” BCGs. If I wanted to, could I run a full auto carrier with this lower without issue?
I know Colt made some if their lowers to be incompatible with the full auto carriers but I’m not totally clear which are or are not gtg, as I understand there were a couple variations of these “sear block” lowers.
Secondly, if I can use a FA carrier in this carbine and decide to do so, can I take the existing bolt and put it into the FA BCG and use it in the carbine without any potential for headspace issues or could changing the carrier affect the headspace, even with the original bolt in place?
Your lower is the current style sear block and is compatible with any style of carrier, both semi and full auto.
Your can move the parts from your current carrier to the new full auto carrier.
Be advised you will have a semi auto firing pin in the full auto carrier, which is not an issue for functioning, but is technically not the correct assembly.
It’s in quite nice shape overall. I did already swap the M4 “waffle stock” it had on it for a Colt “N” CAR stock I had laying around. One thing of note is that it has 7-hole skinny carbine handguards, I was under the (perhaps mistaken) impression that Colt CAR handguards were 6-hole and the M4 handguards were the only 7-hole handguards Colt made, so im wondering whether the handguards may not be original.
It also has as Trijicon front sight post with some faint glow left to it and an XS night sight rear aperture that seems to be dead.
I was really really tempted to buy one of these a few weeks ago. I had one back around 2008 or so and it is a great handy little rifle. Sold it to buy a 6920.
They would make a great KISS rifle or jungle carbine.
In addition to being my first Colt, it’s also the first complete AR I’ve ever bought. All my other ones were pieced together to one degree or another, which I why I wasn’t familiar with the way the inside of a Colt lower looked.
It is a very handy carbine, although it probably won’t be getting used for much as I’ve already got “working” ARs. I mostly bought it because I wanted a Colt and was more interested in getting one of their older models vs a 6920 (not that there is anything wrong with the 6920, I’ve just become a bit of a retro head of late)
Oh that’s a handy looking carbine for sure, I have one but with then A1 upper. Agree it doesn’t get used much but every time I pick it up I am reminded of its great qualities!
Great little gun. I bought a 6520 in 1994, right as the AWB was getting ready to kick off. This little gun was my, “Go To” gun for about 12-14 years. It was sold off as a Pre-Ban gun to someone in a ban state and replaced with a Colt 6720.
When I bought my 6520, red dot optics were not really an option. One had to learn to live with iron sights. If I were going to live with iron sights exclusively, then a 6520 would still be an excellent choice.
I tend to geek out over things like the Israeli police stamp on my MkII Hi Power, the label-maker “rack number” on the M16A1 buttstock I got from Numrich, and the name tag under the buttplate of my Swiss K31. So part of me would like to get in touch with Colt’s archive department and get the history on my 6520, perhaps find out what police department it was purchased by etc… But I’m not sure I can really justify the $100 this service costs when I could spend that money on ammo instead.
I got mine from CDNN, they had a variety of what seem to be mostly 1990s era Colt carbines at varying price points. I paid $799, which is similar to what you can sometimes find a new 6920 or 6720 for, but I specifically wanted one of Colt’s older, out of production guns. I subsequently saw them advertised at another place…Summit Gun something or rather…for $100 less, but it’s hard for me to complain too much.
The exterior of mine is in such good shape that I suspect it probably spent most of it’s time sitting in an armory or something rather than riding in a cruiser.
Really cool, OP. I like it. Have you had a chance to shoot it?
Haven’t shot it yet. I don’t intend to really fire a lot of rounds through it, though I do want to verify function and zero. Hopefully in the next few days.
