Month: April 2022

Some AR-15 Change On The Colt Website

With no official product information coming from Colt about their AR-15 product line (I always wished there was a quarterly newsletter or something that discussed available products, production changes, etc) I periodically go to their website and look around to see if there is any tidbits of information to find. For the last couple of years, there had been very few changes to their website.

I did some looking around the website this weekend. A change that I saw was the deletion of products from their ‘AR-15 Military Classics’ line. Previously listed was the CRM16A1, CRXM177E2 and the LE6920SOCOM. Now, all that is listed on the Colt.com website is the LE6920SOCOM.

In 2020 and 2021 we saw the release of the CRXM16E1 and the CRGAU5AA but the products never made it to the Colt website.

I have heard rumor of potential future ‘AR-15 Military Classics’ products. It will be interesting to see if they make it to market.

Colt Archives Letter For San Bernardino Police Department LE901-16S

After several months of patiently waiting for Colt Archives to work through their backlog, I finally got the Colt Archives letter for my San Bernardino Police Department LE901-16S.

On a side note, I’m still hunting for the Leupold Mark 4 LR/T 4.5-14 (illuminated reticle, mil dot) model 67960 optic to finish restoring this to its PD configuration. It has been hard to find. I had seen one to date since getting this rifle many, many months ago but wasn’t in a position to battle on Ebay for it.

Colt branded KCB-77 bayonet manufactured by Eickhorn Solingen

This is a Colt branded KCB-77 bayonet manufactured by Eickhorn Solingen in West Germany.

This bayonet that I have was claimed by the previous owner to be a prototype from the U.S. M9 bayonet competition, but I DO NOT believe this to be the case. I say this because I cannot find any reference to Colt being involved or partnered with Eickhorn Solingen in anyway during the M9 bayonet competition.

Having said that, I can only find a couple of references to this bayonet. One reference shows photos of a commercial version, sold by Eickhorn Solingen, with a green scabbard and green handle. My example has a black scabbard and black handle. “The Book Of Colt Memorabilia” shows this bayonet on page 118 of Chapter 7 Colt Knifes. It is referenced as product CT39A.

I can only speculate that Colt made some deal with Eickhorn Solingen to produce some of these for the retail market (keep in mind ES had made some M7’s for Colt previously).

The bayonet has a built-in wire cutter (with electricity sensing/light emitting diode), bottle opener and straight-edge screwdriver. The LED is built into the handle and is supposed to light up when the wire cutter comes in contact with an electrically charged fence thus warning the user.

Colt Historical and AR-15 Reference Books

I think (maybe) I have all of my Colt AR historical reference books unpacked and consolidated in my office at home finally. My technical books (TM’s, Colt Armorer manuals, etc) are by my gun bench in another room. I loaned out “The AR-15 Volume 1” by Patrick Sweeney and didn’t get it back. Heck, I don’t even remember who I loaned it to. So, I need to replace that.

Some of these books I haven’t read yet. Reading more is one of my goals this year.

If you have a Colt AR book recommendation, let me know.

Colt 9mm DOE Upper Receiver

I had been sick for a few days and am finally feeling human again. I had just a little bit of time at the gun bench tonight and have started oiling down the Colt DOE upper receiver and looking at it in detail.

In the coming weeks I will do many detailed photos showing you unique features of the 9mm design compared to 5.56 upper receivers. Here is the first photo which gives you a look inside the upper receiver and at some of the chamber area. 5.56mm is on the left, 9mm DOE is on the right.

Quickly notable differences between the two designs is the presence (or not) of a gas tube and the cam pin recess.

I have a busy weekend with the family coming but hope to get something posted for you.

Opening One Of My Many ‘Non-Standard’ Colt Accessory Kits From The 6940 Series

Another aspect of the Colt collecting hobby for me is acquiring and researching Colt carbine/rifle accessory sets. Some accessory sets are unique to military, law enforcement or other special contract firearms so I buy these whenever I get an opportunity to. I wish Colt had a ‘subscription’ option for their accessory sets because I would buy every different configuration that I could.

In this video we are taking a look at a 6940 series accessory set that I got by itself. The set was probably for a military customer as indicated by the blank adapter and barrel cap.