Green Label AR-15... What's the difference?

branrot

New member
What is the difference between the Green Label Colt AR-15's, and other pre-ban AR-15's? Are there any other kind of labels, and which are considered the most desirable?
 
Good site, dZ, but I still can't figure out which I have. It's a Colt Sporter, but doesn't say AR-15. Serial number starts 0069XX. I'm confused because it has a bayonet lug. I has a flash hider that has 5 ports: one on top, 2 on the side, and 2 at a 45 degree angle. 20 inch barrel, and forward assist. Can you or anyone else help???
 
branrot, if there is no block where an auto-sear would go (in the lower just forward of where the take-down pin inserts) then you have a green label.

Blue label guns have no bayo lug and have the block.

CMOS

------------------
NRA? Good. Now join the GOA!

The NRA is our shield, the GOA will be our sword.
 
OK. I know what a lower is, and I know what a take down pin is, but I have no idea what a block (firing pin block?) or auto-sear is. What does that look like? Can I assume I have a green label because of the bayonet lug?
 
The problem with relying only on the bayo lug's existence is that it is possible that the barrel may have been replaced. You can easily and legally put a green label barrel on a blue label rifle.

branrot, pull out the pin on the right side of the "lower" - just forward of where the stock attaches. This is the take-down pin which allows you to "open" the rifle. Once you have the rifle open, pull the hammer back until it locks in the down position ( it may already be there if you have previously pulled the charging handle back and NOT pulled the trigger). Next, flip the safety back and forth between safe and fire and look into the "lower" where you will see the safety shaft rotating as you flip the outside lever. The "block", if there is one will be down in that same "canal" that the safety shaft is in but it will be more towards the front of the canal.

The area in front of the safety shaft - can you lay down a pair of dice in there or is there something "blocking" that area? If thayt area is clear then you have green label. If there is a block in there then it is a blue label.

Does that make any sense?

CMOS

------------------
NRA? Good. Now join the GOA!

The NRA is our shield, the GOA will be our sword.
 
Another way to tell is if you have a huge ass pin directly above the selector switch(safety) when looking at the rifle from the side.

[This message has been edited by BOLTGUNZRUL (edited October 06, 2000).]
 
My blue label COmpetition HBAR has the block and goofy pin diameter, and I was getting all set to trade it in for something like a Bushmaster. Then I read about a case where the individual was being prosecuted for intent to manufacture illegal Class III devices, based on the fact that he had a complete semi-auto AR-15 in his house, along with some M-16 parts like the bolt carrier, trigger group, etc. It seems, under interpretation, that having all those parts together under the same roof is all they need to prove "intent to assemble". It's the same reason I didn't buy a Krinkov parts kit when I moved here to Florida. I had planned to buy the kit, do the Form 4 for a short-barreled rifle, and have Krinks build me a semi-auto Krinkov on a pre-1989 underfolder donor rifle. Problem was, I already have a Bulgarian SLR-95 in the house, and the Krinkov kit under the same roof is all that's needed for you-know-what. (Thanks, K-VAR, for asking me that question before shipping the kit to my house!) Rumors flew about ATF techs modifying defendants' semi-auto AR-15s to demonstrate full auto fire for the courts. After that, my "blocked" Colt seemed like much less of a liability to me, harder to modify to full-auto, and it's been a good mousegun, especially when I bought and installed a JP single-stage match trigger.
The front sight base was tilted off to the left, however, so I replaced it with a new GI one, heehee! Here's a pic: http://www.geocities.com/gew98.geo/Colt.jpg
 
I've got a green label AR Delta HBAR, and I've bought spare parts for it from gun shops just in case they won't be available. Stuff like firing pins, bolts, springs, etc. Some of the parts I _know_ are M16 parts but, without an M16 sear, it can't be made to go full auto. Sorry, mister government agent wherever you are, but I'm not going to get caught up in all these convoluted interpretations of the law. It's a semi-auto.
Heck, they could probably find a whole bunch of technicalities with the way I've wired my house.

Dick
Want to send a message to Bush? Sign the petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/monk/petition.html and forward the link to every gun owner you know.
 
Oh, I agree it's dangerous to speculate on interpretation of laws, no argument there! I'm not trying to cause panic or anything, I just passed along some answers to questions that I hadn't heard asked. Before I got my FFL last year, I asked a ton of questions from other FFLs, namely, what things were potentially ass-biters that FFLs and gun-owning folks should look out for. I was referred to the BATF ruling in Feb. '86 that possession of an AR15 type rifle along with an M16 bolt carrier or an M16 hammer, or an M16 switch & dis-connecter constituted a machinegun. Possession of an autosear was not required. BATF knew that the hammer and the carrier were the critical parts to a full-auto conversion, and ruled accordingly. That's scary! I have a pre-ban Oly Arms AR-15, that was using a few M-16 parts, so I replaced them as time and money permitted, just to prevent the question even being asked of me at the range or elsewhere. But it's a gamble, if we had O.J.'s Dream Team of lawyers if it came to an arrest because of the parts, perhaps those technicalities wouldn't be so important, you're right.
 
One other thing to rememer is that even if you have the dream team of lawyers and you are found not guilty in court, the rifle will be seized and good luck ever getting it back (dream team or not).
 
Back
Top