Long story short, a friend impulse bought a new Colt 6933 from a well known dealer. It came in and was new VERY OLD Stock, with a Colt 733 Upper. He’s more into machine guns and not into carry handles and offered to transfer it to me for the price he paid. I’ve always wanted a factory Colt SBR with a 733 upper but never believed they existed. Of course with Colt anything is possible.
Does this thing look all Colt? I know just enough to be dangerous when it comes to ARs.
The upper technically an A2 and was marketed as part of the A2 family. It’s what’s known as a C7 or Field Sight upper. A1 sights with a brass deflector. Colt was making uppers in this configuration into the 2000’s. I just don’t believe they ever catalogued this configuration. It’s an early 6933 lower as well, so the timeframe isn’t impossible.
The first M4’s used A2 uppers, the one pictured could very well be legit, during the early A2/M4 time frame Colt was using up lots of left over parts so a A1 upper with brass deflector is not out of the question and I have even seen pictures of them before.
One thing I thought was that it could have been an overrun from an agency order.
There have been quite a few full length carbines with C7 uppers that have shown up over the years. CDNN had a bunch of surplus guns like that in the past couple years, mostly made in the early-mid 2000’s for some agency by request. IIRC it was the 6320
What are the forge code markings on the upper? What are the markings on the barrel? What is the date stamp on the barrel behind the handgaurd cap?
ETA: I looked at your pictures on imgur. The front sight base pin (front pin) looks like it has been pushed out. No washer behind the flash hider. As of now, I am calling this some put together rifle.
The 733 upper is defiantly not worth significant money, in that condition, if the FSB pins have been messed with.
Flash hider is loose. The FSB isn’t F marked so I took that as a good sign. Why do you say the front pin looks pushed out?
It was purchased from Only The Best Firearms as a new 6933, they are a reputable dealer that moves volume so it’s strange all around. I’m going to email colt and ask what they know, seems like they don’t answer the phone.
The pins have marks in the middle, are flush with the FSB instead of protruding slightly, and the FSB has a mark on the right side where the pins were pushed out.
ETA: Also the gas tube roll pin looks like it’s a bit mangled.
ETA: Talked to Paul, he was able to confirm that it initially shipped in 2005 but wasn’t able to confirm anything else. I also called Colt CS, also confirmed 2005 and confirmed that the carry handle was an option for the LE6933 in 2005 but weren’t able to tell me the configuration this was in.
Are there extended feed ramps in the upper receiver - either M4 style or the earlier “extended carbine” ramps? I have a 733 upper from 1996 that has the M4 ramps and a “4” stamped on the front of the upper receiver, which seems to be a mark used to denote A2/C7 style uppers with M4 ramps.
If you have ramps, do they appear to have been cut pre- or post-anodizing? Ramps cut post-anodizing don’t necessarily mean it isn’t factory original, as a lot of 6520 “government carbines”, including mine, apparently had their ramps added post-anodizing, but it’s just another thing to check.
I’d also check the barrel date and see if that jives with the date Colt gave you for the lower.
If it is all original it could be some kind of special run for a specific agency contract. I mean Colt built a bunch of dissipators for the CHP at one point, and they would apparently do other special runs of somewhat unusual configurations here and there.
Determining who the original intended recipient was could be interesting. If it’s in its original factory condition and new old stock, who knows it could even have been a gun intended for some foreign LE contract that fell through line those SDN Mexico 6920s that were floating on gunbroker around a few years back. Buying fixed carry-handle Commandos in 2005 seems like the sort of thing some Latin American country would do.
