Colt Model 711: The M16A2 We Deserved

My 10 year career in the military took place almost entirely in the 2010’s and in that time as a person who did not kill people for a living, the M16A2 was a constant companion of mine. As a gun guy, I remember talking with other likeminded dudes who would bemoan the A2 as horribly outdated and yearn for M4 Carbines that they could more easily get away with tacking their own “high speed” gear to. I would maybe nod my head and smile in apparent agreement, but the truth was, I had a soft spot in my heart for the staple of National Guard Armories and TRADOC field exercises.

The aesthetic “retro wave” trend of the past couple years wasn’t all that strong in the early-mid 2010s so I was a bit in the minority. Even when that wave did come, the A2 generally is not that highly regarded outside weird pockets of nostalgists like me. However, that seems to have officially ended this year as H&R (read: PSA) has got most of the forge houses who make AR receivers churning out A2’s in such great numbers, you can now find stripped receivers for under $100 and even companies like Springfield Armory and Bushmaster have jumped on the A2 wagon for 2024 selling their own complete A2 muskets.

A couple years ago I put together a M16A5 concept but as I stated in that article, all that build really accomplished once I compared them to my friends rifles was a greater desire for a fixed stock, carry handle build. As such, I come back to the A2 every year or so thinking I will eventually piece one together. Fast forward to 2024- there are now that multiple companies that have released factory options and quality A2 build parts have never been easier to come by. So what do I do?

…I decide to piecemeal my own bastard rifle for only a couple hundred less than a factory gun.

Basis of the Build

At a distance, the build I chose to go with pretty closely resembles a mid 80’s commercial off the shelf Colt model- the 711.

This article from Small Arms Review defines the Colt 711 as a “M16A2 export rifle”. Essentially, these are A1’s with A2 furniture, compensators, and full shelf lowers and retain full auto capabilities. Later in production these guns would use “C7” uppers which were A1 spec but with an A2 style brass deflector forged into the receiver.

To me, the only thing I find cooler than 90’s conflicts where the A2 reigned supreme are early 80’s conflicts where Colt had dozens of transitional commercial off the shelf models used by all manner of military and para military units across the globe. For that reason, a sort of hybrid rifle that takes the best aspects of the A1 and A2, while not really clone correct to anything, still scratches my retro itch while also being a rifle that handles great and is a very enjoyable recreational shooter.

My Personal Modifications

The overall concept/form factor of my build is a 711 type gun with just a few tiny personal changes that in all honesty, had a real chance of showing up on a random 711 that shipped from Colt given their propensity to put on whatever parts were available at times. I’ll go through rapid fire each one of the parts front to back and explain my reasoning for them:

-A2 compensator: the standard AR-15 muzzle device in the industry and a change on the A2 rifle that the gun meta agrees was positive. Still excellent at eliminating flash, and doesn’t kick dust up off the ground like the A1 birdcage if shooting prone. Little known additional fact about the A2 comp- the closed tines on the bottom were designed such that when using the 3 round burst setting, all 3 rounds would impact into a torso sized target at 200 yards.

-M16A1 pencil profile, 20 inch, 1:7 twist, chrome lined barrel: The traditional and beloved A1 barrel profile with a modern twist rate. Despite some apocryphal information on the internet about 55gr stabilization and the military feeling these were prone to bending, I found nothing substantial enough to stop me from recommending this over a Govt profile for almost any use. My example was purchased direct from Green Mountain who do keep these relatively available year round.

-A2 front sight post: very minor detail, but I installed the squared off M16A2 front sight post instead of the rounded off and correct-for-an-A1 rounded post in the FSB. More on this later.

-A2 handguards: another generally agreed upon positive change to the A2. Handguards that were no longer left/right specific and made out of a more durable material. Also despite the very cool retro aesthetic of the A1 triangle handguards, I always have liked the look and feel of the A2 more.

-Delta ring: An underrated improvement to the A2 was the tapered delta ring that replaced the flat slip ring. Makes changing out handguards significantly easier.

-C7 upper: Named after the Canadian service rifle it was adopted on, the C7 upper retains the sight system of the M16A1 with a few A2 touches like a round forward assist button and a brass deflector for left handed shooters. 

*A note on the rear sight: I’ve mentioned a few times the popular consensus on A2 improvements over the A1. Generally the A2 rear sight gets a lot of flak compared to the old A1 system. As someone who was issued the A2 and qualified several times with it, I can safely say that I was never instructed in the use of the rear sight elevation drum. Windage adjustments were seldom needed and elevation was all done on the front sight. As such, I decided to go with the simpler C7 but added one touch that I much preferred on the A2- the 0-2 rear flip aperture that has two very distinct sizes compared to the A1 flip sight with its normal and “long range” settings.

-A2 lower w/ milspec trigger: not much to say here, A2 style lowers are the industry standard so that’s what I used. I considered putting a two stage trigger like a Schmid in here, but decided to just keep the standard mil spec trigger since I had a couple lying around and for more of a military feel.

-Transitional grip (M16A1E1): I’m kind of proud of this small little detail. The grip I used is a true transitional 80’s grip from Colt designed for the M16A1E1 program. The only place I’ve been able to find these is Specialized Armament and I will go ahead and just post a picture of it from the site here: quote their description here:

-A1 Type E buttstock: While the 5/8” longer LOP on the A2 stock was favored by the USMC for prone shooting, posterity has deemed the original length of the A1 to be superior for more dynamic shooting for the average sized human. I personally never noticed/minded the A2 stock when I was issued one but since comparing my buddies A4 build to mine side by side, I do prefer the A1.
Also of note here was the “Type E” aspect as opposed to the Vietnam era “Type D”. Type E stocks have the trapdoor buttplate of the later A2 as well as the fixed rear sling swivel.

It’s been famously difficult to find quality A1 stocks since the retro craze kicked off in the past 6-7 years but I managed to find two stocks that met my criteria during this build- one from Linemount MFG and one from H&R. Both stocks are made of M16A2 type plastic and have a foam filled core that gives it a but sturdier of a feel than the more common hollow plastic stocks found on the retro market. There’s a rumor floating around that H&R sources their stocks from Linemount, which are made in Taiwan. H&R is reliably in stock compared to Linemount, but that could be because H&R charges $89.99 while Linemount charges $59.95 for theirs. I ended up waiting for the Linemount to come back in stock and have no complaints with that decision.

-The only accessory I bothered with on this rifle was an old M14 web sling. While these were widely used on M16A1’s in Vietnam (and also just look badass), the real reason I chose to put this on my rifle was due to a very specific memory I have from the military. When I was in the National Guard, there was an annual shooting match organized by the Adjutant General for the entire state to participate in. 4 man teams from across the state would meet up for a drill weekend and compete for both team and individual rankings. Since this was statewide across the whole Guard, both Army and Air Force could compete.

To my chagrin, a good chunk of the Air Force teams were actually really, really good (our cope was that they had nothing else to do all year at drill than practice shooting anyway). Even more embarrassingly, they were really good while also competing with iron sighted M16A2 rifles while the Army would use M4A1’s with ACOGs. Seeing these guys haul muskets around slung on their back with vintage, faded khaki M14 slings was just a really cool look that has lived in my head rent free ever since so I just had to add once of these on for a final touch.

Shooting

There isn’t too much to say about the guns performance at the range- it’s a 20″ barrel, fixed stock, rifle gas AR-15. If you haven’t treated yourself to shooting Stoner’s pride and joy in the original, intended, rifle configuration you really owe it to yourself to give it a try. I won’t go into all the specifics of this combination here in this article, but here is an excellent OP-ED written by the TKB staff that explains it great: Full Length Love: Why Get an A1 or A2 Rifle?

TLDR: it shoots incredibly soft and the report is mild. I was zeroing off a bag and having the rifle tucked tight into my shoulder pocket and a hand on top of the handguard to stabilize it, the gun practically didn’t move at all. One observation I made while at the range was that while in the military I always liked the A2 stock, actually having the chance to shoot this 711 build head to head with my friends A4 build, I was surprised by how much I liked the 5/8″ shorter A1 stock.

The ammo I was shooting at this outing was cheap-o Wolf 55gr 223 and had no reliability issues with it. Accuracy at 100 yards was also perfectly adequate, though not exceptional. I partially blame my range having a non linear layout so I’m not 100% sure my target was squared up exactly with my shooting bench, hence the consistent right impacts despite moving the rear sight aperture almost noticeably to the left.

Conclusion

Like I mentioned earlier, while this rifle isn’t really a meaningful “clone” of anything, it just encapsulates the overall cool retro vibe you get when you watch a movie like Heat or Black Hawk Down. It also fills me with a little nostalgia for my days in the military while IMO being more pleasant to shoot at the range than a dead ringer A2 build.

So if the military adopted this rifle back in the 80’s instead of what we actually got, would it have made any meaningful change? Honestly, probably not, the M4 likely still would have come around at the same time and made the same impact in that timeline it made in ours. To be frank, the issues most troops in GWOT had with the M16A2 would have been the same issues they had with the 711- its not so much the weight and handiness that’s the issue, its the overall length for working in vehicles and clearing tight spaces in CQB. So despite my assertation in the title, the 711 is really more of a fun build for the guy who isn’t a meticulous military cloner and isn’t a min maxing modern AR enjoyer. Its for the guy who wants a cool, retro rifle that still has a few features to it that make it KIND OF practical in a modern sense compared to a 100% military facsimile. In short- its for me.

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