I’m not sure what to call this post. I had been thinking about it since Sunday while shooting at some pests with the old Colt Accurized Rifle. I hadn’t had it out in a while and while I was sitting there I reflected on it and the changes I had made to it.

The Colt was first offered in late 90s and was around till fairly recently when it was discontinued. I don’t know why. It would have taken very few tweaks to have brought it up to something more in line with modern buyers would want. I would have put a 1/7 match barre on it instead of the then ( late 90s) popular 1/9 twist. The smooth aluminum forearm was waaaaaay out of date for cool factor in the 20 teens. I’d swap that out with whatever style of FF hand guard was the style of the month. God knows that changes so fast now a days… I would like to add that the smooth tube is still just fine with me.

As it came from the factory it had a double sling studs and an A2 buttstock. Trigger was the Colt ” low mass”target trigger. Its OK. But its no SSA.

It’s still a wonderful rifle that is very accurate. It will fire a wide range of bullets from 40gr to the stubbier 75gr Hornady BTHPs. The chamber is an actual 5.56MM NATO chamber and it’s fine. Don’t sweat over it. It’s a sub MOA gun with match ammo and competent shooter.

It’s older but I wouldn’t call it “old” Its not old like my Pre64 Model 70. Or is it? I’m sure my zoomer friends would take a look at it and chuckle and say ” yeah, OK boomer.”

I did modify it over the years. The parts I used are not all sort of vintage themselves. Discontinued. I can understand why.

The first obvious change and an honest upgrade is the swapping of the A2 stock with the excellent Magpul PRS stock. One of only two stocks they made that was actually worth buying. This and the CTR. The adjustable cheek rest and extendable length are great. The little section of rail at the bottom lets me attach a monopod. I already forgot who made it but it is as handy as a pocket on a shirt. Folds under when not needed and is fast to adjust with another push of a bottom.

Above you can see another no long gone part. The Parker Mountain Machine QD sling mount. Man, what a Godsend that part is. The original Magpul sling points suck. They are just a bar to thread a sling through. Pretty meh. The PMM part just swaps out and give you damn nice aluminum QD socket. You can still thread a sling under it like a savage if you prefer.

The other major upgrade part that PMM made and has long discontinued is a section of rail to replace the dual sling studs.

I can’t even tell you how much trouble this saves and how handy it makes putting a bipod on. No more having to use the little sling studs, now it is a rail that I can swap out the bipod on a QD mount instantly. Even better is it has a QD socket on the rear!

I use the ATLAS bipod on it these days and it makes an awesome combo. And, I can use any sling I have the QD swivels on. No more threading on and off or fighting with a sling while storing it because I’m too lazy to thread the thing on and off and no more having to use those Uncle Mike’s sling swivels. Great in their day but we have moved on from that.

It’s crazy that this model is coming up on 30 years isn’t it? I’m sure to younger readers it looks ancient. And I supposed it is. Its from a different time. A time when most rifles at Camp Perry would have looked a lot like this. A time when accuracy ARs would have looked a lot like that and they would have been pretty cutting edge. Now it spends its time shooting crows and other varmints. I take it easy with it these days. I have more “modern” precision ARs now for heavy use. Though they aren’t all that modern either, I think my MK12 is now considered retro. Cut me some slack, I still use Vietnam era stuff and haven;t left the 1980s mentally.

It is weird to think about though. Some of those parts came and went well within the last 10-15 years. Not because they weren’t any good. Far from it. They just served certain styles of guns that are now gone from catalogs.