Probably little more than a pipe dream. But with Brownell's helping to reignite the nostalgia market (along with Troy's reintroduction series), I'd love to see them take on the Stoner 63 series.

Call it the BRN-63.

It would certainly be more difficult, as there are an innumerable number of AR parts suppliers that source.

Having seen what Brownell's came up with over the past year, if they did come up with a BRN-63 they'll half ass it like they did the others.

I want to see a truly correct clone and Brownell's has proven that they're not capable of that.

Robinson Arms used to make a version. They’re only doing XCR’s now, but they can be found used. I had one with the carbine, rifle, and Bren kits. Fun to shoot. I should have kept it! Forgot to add, it was called the M96. There’s one on Gunbroker right now.

quote:

Originally posted by darkest2000:
Having seen what Brownell's came up with over the past year, if they did come up with a BRN-63 they'll half ass it like they did the others.

I want to see a truly correct clone and Brownell's has proven that they're not capable of that.

I'm assuming that you are talking about the Retro AR's from the Vietnam era. I was looking at those recently. Not necessarily to buy but found them interesting.

Could you please elaborate on the half-assedness cause I don't know what that means in regards to those.

quote:

I'm assuming that you are talking about the Retro AR's from the Vietnam era.

Oh, no. Right era, but this was an entirely different beast.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoner_63

Yes. I see that Brownells offering a Stoner 63 as an "if".

I was wondering in darkest2000's post if he was referring to the Brownells page of Retro rifles from 1955 to 1982. Also if those were being referred to, what was the half-ass in regard to.

I’ve got two of the Brownells retro rifles, a XM16E1 and the XM177E2, and while I don’t think they are “half-assed”, they could be more accurate.

First, both have a safety with a tick mark on the right side and the later A2 ejection port door with the large rectangular pad. For accuracy, they both should have a smooth right side safety axle and the smaller pad A1 port door. Interestingly, Brownells now sell both these items, but I don’t know if they’ve started putting them on the complete guns.

Also, the color is too dark. They are closer to a modern black AR than the earlier lighter Colt gray finish.

For the XM177E2, it should have the tapered delta ring instead of the early straight handguard slip ring (this would have been so easy to fix by just using a modern delta ring instead of the retro slip ring they made specifically for the old rifles). Also, the stock should be a black coated aluminum stock instead of the polymer stock you get. They were going for the later polymer Colt N1 stock design, but then for some reason made the stock commercial spec, while the tube is mil-spec, so it’s a little loose.

They did do some good things like use Nodak Spud uppers and make reproduction 1:12 twist barrels. I think they are decent attempts, but cut a couple of corners that maybe they shouldn’t have, especially considering the price. The things I’ve listed could have easily been fixed, likely at no increase in cost. The aluminum XM177 stock may have added cost, but they could have at least made their polymer N1 stock mil-spec to match the tube.

quote:

Originally posted by Dwill104:
...
For the XM177E2, it should have the tapered delta ring instead of the early straight handguard slip ring (this would have been so easy to fix by just using a modern delta ring instead of the retro slip ring they made specifically for the old rifles). Also, the stock should be a black coated aluminum stock instead of the polymer stock you get. They were going for the later polymer Colt N1 stock design, but then for some reason made the stock commercial spec, while the tube is mil-spec, so it’s a little loose.
...

An XM177E2 does not have a bayonet lug. It also has a front sling swivel roll pinned in place, not set with a rivet.

quote:

Originally posted by MG34_Dan:

quote:

Originally posted by Dwill104:
...
For the XM177E2, it should have the tapered delta ring instead of the early straight handguard slip ring (this would have been so easy to fix by just using a modern delta ring instead of the retro slip ring they made specifically for the old rifles). Also, the stock should be a black coated aluminum stock instead of the polymer stock you get. They were going for the later polymer Colt N1 stock design, but then for some reason made the stock commercial spec, while the tube is mil-spec, so it’s a little loose.
...

An XM177E2 does not have a bayonet lug. It also has a front sling swivel roll pinned in place, not set with a rivet.

Thanks. Forgot about the bayonet lug.

Hey Dwill. Thanks for the insight. I have to say these are things I wouldn't have known or noticed. Going in and reading the reviews I see some of the same comments you made. The mil-spec tube with the commercial stock is kind of half assed I guess.

I like the BRN-16A1 but would suck to buy it and not get the 20 round mag because of the retarded laws in this State.

Brownells retro rifles

A Stoner is really complex, if you made a copy it would have all sorts of theoretical features you could/would never use. That's what did it in from the begining, modularity that was mostly only good in theory. Probably end up being priced like the semi auto M249's.