Question about Colt AR15 Model

[Karl]

All you Colt AR freaks (myself included), I need your help. I have 3 AR15s in my collection. 2 of them are Colt 20" A2 style rifles and the third is a mongrel carbine I put together. Of the Colts, one is marked as an AR-15 Sporter II CAL. .223. Looking at Wikipedia this is a Model R6500.

The second one is marked as a Sporter Target Model CAL. .223. From what I can tell on the chart on Wikipedia this would make it a Model R6551.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AR-15_variants

Both guns have the correctly marked uppers (receivers and barrels) with the Colt C and both are marked C MP 5.56 NATO 1/7 on the underside of the barrel. Everything seems to fit with the model numbers in the table on Wikipedia, EXCEPT my Target Model has the brass deflector and according to the table it shouldn't. In the same case, the Sporter II has an A-1 rear site and according to the table it should have an A-2. Is this table incorrect or are my ARs?

 

[atmay]

I don't know whether that table is reliable or not, but given the modular nature of the AR platform, it's not that far fetched to think that your uppers may not match the lowers they are attached to.

 

[Moderator]

Most of the ones I've seen had the deflector on it. FWIW if you search for Sporter Target on gunbroker, they all have the deflector as well.

 

[luceri]

It may be a case of the odd Colts from mostly late 80's. When Colt made the adjustment to the A2, they used up old inventory and made a gradual swap in the civilian market. It's not uncommon at all to see Colts from the factory in the late 80's with half A1 and half A2 parts. During this time period of Colts, throw any tables out the window when it comes to stuff like this.

If the rifles aren't from this era -- No idea -- it's easy for anyone before you owned the gun to have swapped some parts on it.

 

[Karl]

If this is true, the time is right. I'm pretty sure both my Colts were purchased before the 1994 AWB.

 

[JohnFH]

It's not uncommon at all to see Colts from the factory in the late 80's with half A1 and half A2 parts.

This.
It was an issue with all Colt AR's everytime they made a new part or version, it's not uncommon to find mismatched stocks, pistol grips or uppers that quite don't fit the chart, ar15.com has a lot of good info on the different parts combos.