When I was a young teenager, I read endlessly about the Vietnam War. I was mesmerized by the images of soldiers with M16’s, XM177’s, GAU-5’s, etc. When I hit a bad spot in my life in 1988 at the age of seventeen, those books about Vietnam and those photos of the iconic Colt rifles influenced my decision to join the Army. It was a desperate bid to put my life back on the right path. I was going to complete a six year enlistment in the National Guard and then get out. Little did I know it would end up being my career.

So, in the summer of 1988 I went to Basic Training in Ft. Bliss, TX for ten weeks. There I was intimately introduced to the Colt M16A1 and that was the beginning of a love affair that hasn’t ended. Since Basic Training I have carried the M16A1, M16A2, M16A4, M4 Carbine and M4A1 Carbine. The M16A2 has a special place with me because I carried one for the duration of my Iraq deployment from March 2003 to July 2004…and beyond. My favorite rifle from Colt has been the AR-15A4/M-16A4 configuration.

When I embarked on the journey of collecting Colt AR-15’s, I was halfway around the world literally in the desert deployed with the U.S. Army. It was the middle of 2017. I was 29 years into my military career. I’m not sure why the Colt collecting bug bit me so late. At the time of this post, I am 49 years old and retiring from a 32 year military career on 31 May 2020. I really wish I would have started twenty years ago when Colt items were easy to find and reasonably priced. The whole “hindsight is 20/20” thing comes to mind here.

When I had down time during deployment, I would get on the internet when I could and research AR-15’s. I was kind of dumbfounded that there wasn’t a place to find good, accurate information about Colt AR-15’s. I foun information on places like AR15.com, M4carbine.net and some others. But, for every ‘fact’ about a Colt AR-15 presented, you had two other people that discounted what was being said. Most arguments seemed to be grounded more in opinion and emotions than facts. My frustration about there not being a good source of information for Colt civilian market AR-15 items lead me to the idea of starting a website even though I had no idea what I was doing…so it began.

When I started this website, the intent was not to publish it. I was just going to use this as a place to dump and organize Colt AR-15 information so that I could review it at a later time…a repository. But, I bought one rifle…then I bought a second rifle…then a third rifle. Each purchase lead me down a different rabbit hole. The more I learned, the more I wanted to research, the more I wanted to buy, the more information that I put here. I now realize that it is a never ending, never fulfilled cycle.

As I spoke with people, I quickly learned that a lot of people were interested in having a place to go to for Colt AR information and here we are today. I have so much information to add and never enough time to do it. It will always be a work in progress. The website has a corresponding Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Twitter, Pinterest and MeWe accounts. The name ‘The Colt AR-15 Resource’ has almost developed into a brand accidentally. Hopefully when I get too old to keep doing this, someone that shares my passion can inherit this page.

It is interesting how a hobby can develop into a passion…can develop into part of who you are. The development and evolution of the Colt AR-15 rifle is a walk through american history. It encompasses the good, the bad, the strength, the weakness, the power of the United States. You can look at the rifle and see so much that the nation has been through.

I have been blessed to meet many, many amazing people on this little journey of mine. Everyone that I have had the privilege of dealing with has been respectful and professional. I am rich beyond words by being able to call some of them friends. So many people have been generous in so many different ways. This journey isn’t about material possessions although that unlocks some thoughts for research. The knowledge that so many individuals have has an irreplaceable value all of its own. For me, it has all been about learning and preserving. I respect everyone’s privacy and position. I don’t share tales.

My closing thought in this long rambling blog post…Although a vast majority of my blog posts will continue to be technical in nature, I am going to start doing more posts sharing my thoughts about this hobby of Colt AR-15 collecting and what I see going on in the market. This really has become personal for me. I think it is personal for many others. The Colt AR-15 collectors seem to be a reclusive bunch but my goal is to change that. What is the point in having our treasured collections if nobody can see them and learn from them. History is meant to be shared. If you made it this far, thanks for hanging in there. I hope that perhaps you have enjoyed this ramble somewhat. Future personal posts will be much shorter.