Honestly, the H&R is likely the better way to go. There's a handful of places milking the retro market for stupid prices. PSA offers a good alternative.

I ran this past a friend who does a lot of retro stuff and independently, he recommended H&R/PSA and sending it to John Thomas for a moderator. Says he feels you'd get a higher quality barrel that way. PSA has done a lot of work with FN over the years, and whether they implicitly state it or not, their barrels are generally made by FN. FN makes excellent barrels.

Thanks all.


I am going to have my class 2 friend look and help me know the answers to some of your good questions and when I know more will post.

quote:

Originally posted by tschiemer:
Thanks all.


I am going to have my class 2 friend look and help me know the answers to some of your good questions and when I know more will post.

You’re overthinking this. It is rather straightforward and you’ve gotten a lot of good advice already. At present the best off the shelf retro products are from H&R/PSA. As has been mentioned, John Thomas at Retro Arms Works is the go-to for making an off the shelf item into an XM177, etc. John can also convert a milspec upper to use the larger Colt front pin so you can ditch the adapter.

I suggest that you hunt for a Colt SP1 upper, nice early furniture, and restore that SP1 to its correct configuration. This will take time, but it will be worth it.

Sounds good thank you!

I obtained a retro aluminum stock from a company one of you mentioned and it is nice. Thanks.

Pics:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ct2Wm5VAXwoBVvi29

Here is how it turned out:

Before - on white box
After - on blue chair

My friend John Norrell took it apart and I refinished the barrel and after lightly media blasting the receiver found it was very close to the SP1 lower so left as much as possible instead of refinishing the entire gun.

I have not completely oiled it down but you get the idea.

It has been 15 years since I refinished but it came back to me. I refinished for John for 11 years on weekends to be around this stuff and learn!

I had ordered a retro buffer tube and stock (all aluminum as the early ones) and it looks good for my personal gun.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/5C2cMhxgQ1qtu37f8