For some time, I have been thinking about building one of my old department issued patrol rifles. Building an exact copy is very hard to do these days as some parts, markings and features have all changed. I also wanted to build and get new or almost new condition parts and accessories. I knew this would be difficult as a lot of what I wanted has not been produced for well over a decade or has been out of production for that long or more. New Colt 11.5 commando’s have been built with .750 FSB’s with a bayonet lug, since 2013, and the barrel, upper receiver and lower markings are different from the older Colts. This made me hesitant to just build something close or buy a new Colt SBR that would not give me the exact look and feel of my old setup.

I carried a Colt LE6933/RO933 11.5″ Commando for several years in the early 2000’s. This rifle was one of my daily carry and firearm instructor rifles. A few months ago I ran across a gun store that was closing and had a New Colt LE6933 upper in inventory. They had stripped the lowers from the uppers and had taken them off the NFA registry to purge the inventory for closing. They were selling the uppers and I found these were pre-2013 uppers with the .625 FSB with shaved bayonet lug. This would be the exact upper with the same markings as the rifle I carried almost 20 years ago. The owner told me he had a few of these LE6933’s in storage since 2012 when a local department purchase fell through and he decided to just keep them for an investment. The price was right and I jumped on it. This started my quest to build my old duty rifle and source all the original parts, (Light, Optic Mount, Optic, Rail & Sling), as the upper was the most critical component.

In future Parts, I will update what original accessories I sourced to complete the build. For anyone thinking of finding older accessories or parts to build an old nostalgic firearm, there is a lot of time spent on finding a purchasing hard to find items. When starting this project, I reached out to a few LooseRounds members, as well as friends with contacts in the firearms industry/community, to help me keep an eye out for what I was looking for. Because of their assistance, so far, I have been able to source parts and accessories that were all new in box. Thank you, (You Know who You Are).

Having said all of this, in this Part 1, I will go over the upper.

The upper was received with a removable carry handle, which is what I was issued originally, before adding a BUIS and Optic back in the day.

(F) Marked Height .625 FSB skinny barrel, with shaved Bayonet Lug.

The C MP CB marked barrel indicates, it is a (C) Colt 1/7 twist, (MP) High Pressure Magnetic Particle Inspected, (CB) Chrome Lined bore barrel.

Colt marked barrel, with white dot.

You can see the original packaging grease on the Bolt, Firing Pin and Cam Pin in the next two pictures. Colt (C) marked extractor.

Colt (MPC) High Pressure Magnetic Particle Inspected Bolt.

Colt Bolt Carrier. Hard to see in picture but it is (C) stamped on the side of the carrier.

(M4) marked upper indicates M4 cut feed ramps on the upper receiver.

Colt (C) marked upper with Keyhole (Cerro Forge) upper.

New Mil-Spec Dry-Film Lubricant and Chrome Chamber M4 Feed Ramps.

Getting this upper really sparked my endeavor to find all the original parts and accessories on one of my old duty rifles. It has, so far, cost me a little more than I would normally spend on a modern equivalent, but it has been fun so far. Actually, spending time with some of the older accessories on this platform has reinforced, (What works, Works!) and I have used some very old accessories for a long time on more modern rifles. Hopefully everyone is interested in seeing the progression on my old duty rifle and the final completion.

Duncan