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The Model 605B had no forward assist, but had a four-position selector switch (developed by Foster Sturtevant in December 1966) so that a user could select safe, semi-automatic, three-round burst, or full automatic modes of fire. One prototype used a shorter handguard and a 16-inch long barrel. Because of the shorter barrel, no bayonet mounting lugs were provided. The only significant change from the M16 rifle was that the barrel was shortened to 15 inches in length, so that it ended just forward of the front sight base.
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The Model 605A CAR-15 Carbine was a shortened version for situations where longer weapons could be unwieldy, such as aboard vehicles or helicopters. The principal difference between the Model 603 and Model 604 is that the former has a forward assist, allowing a user to manually close the bolt. However, the United States military had already committed to purchases before Colt created the concept of the CAR-15 weapons system. The Model 603 CAR-15 Rifle, adopted initially by the United States Army as the XM16E1 and then later as the M16A1, and the Model 604 CAR-15 Rifle, adopted by the United States Air Force as the M16, formed the core of the CAR-15 family. Because of that, the term "CAR-15" has been used to describe any M16-based carbine, even if the particular weapon is not officially named thus. The CAR-15 Rifle was already identified by most users as M16s or AR-15s, and the CAR-15 name was similarly associated with the short-barreled Submachine Gun and Commando models. military only made significant purchases of the Rifle and Commando versions, so Colt abandoned the CAR-15 family concept. As a result, wide variation due to experimentation exists within each model. The members of the CAR-15 family, with the exception of the Rifle and Commando, only existed as toolroom prototypes and never entered full-scale production. By using various upper assemblies, buttstocks, and pistol grips, the weapon could be configured as an assault rifle, a heavy-barreled automatic rifle, a carbine, a submachine gun, or as a survival rifle.Įach variation had a Colt model number, meant for internal identification usage.
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In order to compete with the Stoner 63 which could be converted into a belt-fed light or medium machine gun, Colt also included the short-lived CMG-1 and CMG-2 machine guns in the CAR-15 Military Weapons System, though the CMG-1 and CMG-2 had few parts in common with the CAR-15s. Starting in 1965, Colt attempted to market the M16 rifle as a modular weapons platform that could fulfill all of the various needs of an army, similar to the marketing plans for the AR-10, its predecessor, and the Stoner 63, its rival. By comparison, the M4 Carbine has a 14.5-inch barrel, while the M16 assault rifle's is 20 inches ( Bad rounding here Script error: No such module "Math". m). Specifically, "Colt Commando" currently refers to the ultrashort 11.5-inch barrel assault rifle of the Model 733 series. However, in present usage, CAR-15 is used as a generic name for carbine-length M16 and AR-15 variants. Colt later abandoned the CAR-15 concept, but continued to make variations, using the M16 brand for military-oriented models and the Colt AR-15 brand for law enforcement and civilian models. The CAR-15 name was an attempt to re-associate the AR-15 name with Colt, since the AR initially stood for ArmaLite Rifle, the original manufacturer. Due to their compact size, the short-barreled Colt Commando and XM177 versions of this family continued to be issued to the U.S. The Colt Automatic Rifle-15 Military Weapons System or CAR-15 was a family of AR-15 and M16 rifle–based firearms marketed by Colt in the late 1960s and early 1970s.