In the 400 rounds I put through it, I had not one hiccup. The M16A2, and subsequently the A4, are the gold standards of reliability, and I trust them with my life. Yet, of all the dozens of M16s I’ve fired in 11 years, I can count the number of malfunctions I’ve had on one hand and most of those were blanks being used for force-on-force training. The rifles issued at training units and regular units have seen a lot of use and abuse. Since it is nearly the same rifle issued to Marines, it also functions just as reliably. The longer barrel also means increased muzzle velocity that equates to better long-range performance, which is why the Marine Corps chose it. While technically that could be true, carbine-length ARs are still incredibly reliable so it’s almost a moot point. Some would argue that the full-length gas system is also more reliable than carbine length. It’s easy to forget how fast follow-up shots are with the full-length rifle. The extra barrel length adds weight out front, so muzzle rise is negligible. Author PhotoĪR carbines have taken the market by storm, but there are benefits to the full-sized AR rifle. Full-Sized Functionality The A2-style open sights were on center with just two shots and provided for great off-hand, rapid-fire accuracy. It’s not the lightest and smoothest, but it’s rock solid and dependable. Some might complain about that, but this is what a grunt cuts his teeth on, and it works. It’s definitely not an aftermarket trigger, but feels exactly like a government-issue trigger because it is. The rifle has a good trigger and trigger reset.
It comes in two other model configurations: the AR15A4MP-FDE, which is nearly identical except for Flat Dark Earth (FDE) Magpul MOE furniture and an MBUS Gen 2 rear site and the AR15A4MPFDE, which has all that plus the receivers are FDE coated.
So upon receiving the rifle the first thing was to look at the front takedown pin, which was in fact not a pivot pin (Colt did away with the pivot pin in the early 2000s). Naturally, I wanted to see if Colt was still making their ARs with that forward takedown pin and half-BCG. The AR15A4 comes standard with a 30-round Magpul magazine. In fact, the old Sporter used several other nonstandard parts, such as the trigger pin and hammer pin that limit its customization using today’s wide variety of AR aftermarket parts.
The half-bolt carrier group (BCG), made to prevent the gun owner from illegally modifying their AR to full auto, was also a feature of the old gun that I’d never been fond of, not because I ever had any intention of doing that, but because it made it harder to swap it out with standard aftermarket parts to ramp up its performance. It was a different size than standard takedown pins, so it couldn’t be replaced with a proper one either. It didn’t allow for the upper receiver to be completely removed from the upper. My least favorite feature was the pivot pin used instead of a front takedown pin. As good as the Sporter was, it had some limitations compared to my old military-issued M16. Upon learning I would be reviewing the Colt AR15A4, I was curious to see if it would be made like my Sporter.