On a whim, I picked up a Colt HBAR Match Sporter. It was listed on a local classifieds page. I have been wanting an A2 style and bought it without much thought. I don’t know a lot about these, just hoping it’s a quality piece. Upon looks, it appears in excellent condition. Should I have got a newer production rifle instead?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kyjondeere,

Nah, only downside is that it probably doesn’t have a bayonet lug.

quote:

Originally posted by Voshterkoff:
Nah, only downside is that it probably doesn’t have a bayonet lug.

You are correct, it does not have a bayonet lug. It does have a flashhider.

Or possibly, takedown/hinge pins of non milspec dimensions?

If it has a flash hider it’s been added or the barrel has been replaced as the HBAR Match Sporter had an 11 degree target crown on the barrel that wasn’t threaded so it didn’t have a flash hider … at least that’s how mine was. It also had a sear block in it.

quote:

Originally posted by kimberkid:
If it has a flash hider it’s been added or the barrel has been replaced as the HBAR Match Sporter had an 11 degree target crown on the barrel that wasn’t threaded so it didn’t have a flash hider … at least that’s how mine was. It also had a sear block in it.

You're referring to the post-ban configuration.

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:

I can’t figure out how to post one

Email them to me and i'll host for you.

Posted for OP

You're in luck. Your rifle's lower receiver is drilled for the push pin spring and detent. I know this because I can see the weep hole.

This means you can ditch the push pin that has the stupid screw and replace it with a standard push pin.

Your lower receiver has the block and certainly has the neutered bolt carrier which has the firing pin shroud cut back so far, the hammer of the rifle is actually cocked by bearing against the firing pin. Atrocious.

Keep the bolt, but replace that God-awful bolt carrier. A full-auto carrier will not fit your rifle but a semi-auto bolt carrier will.

Even though your rifle has the oversized 0.170" hammer and trigger pins, you should be OK, because my experience is that the stock trigger pull on the Colt ARs from that period of production have surprisingly good trigger pulls, Be sure to lubricate the hammer/trigger sear interface with a good grease.

Do it right and buy a Lewis Machine & Tool semi-auto L7A3A carrier.

Yes, you can find a cheaper semi-auto carrier, and that's what you would have- a cheaper carrier. Word to the wise, there's none finer for your purposes than the LMT part: properly staked, dimensionally correct, and nicely-finished. At one time, LMT was an OEM supplier for Colt ARs. They supplied bolt carrier groups for Colt ARs, so an LMT part is not only the finest choice for your rifle, it is a most appropriate choice, too.

quote:

Originally posted by kimberkid:
If it has a flash hider it’s been added or the barrel has been replaced as the HBAR Match Sporter had an 11 degree target crown on the barrel that wasn’t threaded so it didn’t have a flash hider … at least that’s how mine was. It also had a sear block in it.

Nope there was a pre pre-ban version by Colt that had the flash hider and 2 5 round mags . It was only missing the bayonet lug. After the 94 ban it came without the flash hider

Thank you for going into so much detail in your description. This was very helpful.

A new LMT bolt carrier is in route.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
You're in luck. Your rifle's lower receiver is drilled for the push pin spring and detent. I know this because I can see the weep hole.

This means you can ditch the push pin that has the stupid screw and replace it with a standard push pin.

Does this require a larger push pin or just standard size?

MOST of these rifles have a standard pivot pin. Some of them have an offset pin to accommodate a larger hole in the upper (IIRC)

Do this- unscrew the pivot pin, remove it from the upper and lower receivers altogether, take a couple of pics of the pin and send them to the email address in my profile and it will be obvious. I'll let you know.

I seem to recall that if the lower is drilled for the detent (and yours is), you can use a standard push pin.

Looking at Black Rifle II, this is addressed on page 250. I'll post the passage tomorrow. I find the answer somewhat confusing as written, but if I understand correctly, your pre-ban 6601 has the standard hole for bother upper and lower and therefore will accept a standard .250 push pin.

BTW, if there is a difference in hole size, it is the lower which has the larger hole, not the upper.

I hate the screw setup. So stupid.

Sent. I don’t think it had ever been out. It was kinda hard to break loose and had blue locktite.

Somewhat difficult to tell by the pics, but it does appear to be a .250 pivot pin. Aside from the head of the pin, the shaft of the pin is straight? Same diameter all the way?

If so, you lucked out.

With a proper carrier and a pivot pin that doesn't need a screwdriver, you'll be sitting pretty.

Good deal. Yes, it’s straight and the same diameter all the way.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

quote:

Originally posted by kimberkid:
If it has a flash hider it’s been added or the barrel has been replaced as the HBAR Match Sporter had an 11 degree target crown on the barrel that wasn’t threaded so it didn’t have a flash hider … at least that’s how mine was. It also had a sear block in it.

You're referring to the post-ban configuration.

Ah yep!
I had a Colt HBAR Match Target, not Sporter … thanks for the correction!

I bought an HBAR II Match Target 16" a few months ago, I knew it was a post ban rifle but didn't care because of the price. I wasn't aware of the other things Colt did to it, looking forward to checking it out tonight

"Aside from omitting the bayonet lug, the most important change was the introduction of a permanent hardened steel auto sear/anti-conversion block, designed by Horace "Mac" McCoan and James Collier of Colt's Manufacturing Company, Inc., and granted US Patent no. 5,183,959. A larger-diameter hole was made above the selector where the auto sear would normally be located, and the auto sear block was installed and held in place by three hardened steel pins.

The block accomplished two things. First, it made it impossible to install an auto sear. Even if the sear block was removed, the auto sear could not be properly aligned due to the larger diameter of the hole in the auto sear area.

Secondly, if a fully-automatic bolt carrier was installed, the receivers would not close due to the height and location of the upper portion of the sear block. In some of the earlier Sporter rifles, the receiver would close, however the bolt carrier would bind, making it extremely difficult to operate. An AR-15 bolt carrier must be used for the rifle to function properly.

Colt omitted the auto sear block in the later production post-Assault Weapon Ban Match rifle line, due first to its high cost, secondly to the extreme difficulty it caused in production and assembly, and third and most important, it was not necessary. With the change from the standard diameter (.155") to the new larger diameter (.170") hammer and trigger pins, no fully-automatic hammer, trigger or disconnector could be installed in the Colt Sporter series rifle lower receivers as these selective-fire components could not be aligned to function properly.

In response to a conversion device produced by aftermarket companies which provided a standard automatic sear trip for use with an auto sear, Colt removed the entire portion of the bottom rear of the semiautomatic bolt carrier, thus preventing conversion by leaving no material for such an aftermarket device to abut against.

Additionally, all of the early AR-15 type rifles incorporated a large-diameter (.315") upper receiver pivot pin made up of a screw and a collet pin, which required two screwdrivers to remove. This was to prevent M16/M16A1 and M16A2 upper receivers, which utilized the smaller Mil Spec .250" diameter pin, from being installed on AR-15 semi-auto-only lower receivers. The only difference between the AR-15 and M16-type upper receiver is the cutout in the bottom rear of the selective-fire M16-type receiver, to accommodate the auto sear. This way, if a semi-automatic-only AR-15 upper receiver was converted for automatic fire, the upper and lower receivers would not close due to the presence of the auto sear, and forcing them closed would damage the auto sear. (However, this was easily remedied when an aftermarket offset pin appeared, dimensioned to match up the large hole AR-15 lower with the small-pin M16 upper receiver.)

Early sporter rifles utilized a standard M16-type pivot pin with a screw in the left hand side, which still required a screwdriver to remove. In order simply to standardize parts, later production and, as of this writing, all future Colt Sporter and Match Target rifles will be built on standard selective-fire upper receivers, bored with the small pivot pin (.250" diameter) hole and utilizing the standard pivot pin with the spring-loaded detent, the same as used on the M16 military rifles." - Christopher R. Bartocci, Black Rifle II, published in 2004.



"However, this was easily remedied when an aftermarket offset pin appeared, dimensioned to match up the large hole AR-15 lower with the small-pin M16 upper receiver". This explains why there are relatively few of these rifles with the larger diameter lower receiver hole- after this modification was incorporated into the rifle, its purpose was quickly defeated with an aftermarket part, and Colt then reverted to standard production methods for these parts, which would be to their financial advantage anyway.



Drawing from US Patent no. 5,183,959 showing the section of the bottom rear of the carrier removed by Colt. Figure 9 shows the removed section as a broken line. Figure 9B shows the back half of the carrier in cross section. Colt removed a good bit of the mass of the carrier and this must have some effect on the cycling of the rifle. You can also see figure 300, the head of the firing pin. Due to Colt removing the rear section of the firing pin shroud (shown in the side view as the angled portion of the bottom of the carrier which begins in line with the base of the forward portion of the head of the firing pin), the effect is that when the carrier moves rearward in the extraction phase of the firing cycle, the hammer is not forced rearward by the edge of the firing pin shroud, but rather by bearing directly against the head of the firing pin. Eugene Stoner was still alive when these changes were made, and one can only imagine what he would have had to say about this obscenity.