PSA's Unique Replica XM177E2 Vietnam-Era Commando Rifle

[Annihilator]

Here is one for all the AR fans and also the ones who like and collect military replicas guns, PSA’s XM177E2 Vietnam Era Commando

PSA's Unique Replica XM177E2 Vietnam-Era Commando Rifle - Firearms News

Harrington & Richardson along with Palmetto State Armory have put together an amazing line of Vietnam War Era replica rifles. The crown jewel is arguably the iconic XM177E2.

www.firearmsnews.com

 

[Belt Fed]

Sho like to have the Old Armalite AR10 and the Swedish k.

 

[Sld1959]

If planned on buying an AR it would likely be this one.

 

[Recusant]

This is an XM177 PAWS (Police Automatic Weapon Systems) lower that was produced in the early 80's by the owner of PAWS (Bob Imel). The lowers were made by Olympic Arms in Washington and then sent to PAWS which was located in Oregon. The PAWS (Police Automatic Weapon Services) receivers are all forged, not cast, and were manufactured as full auto lowers, using receivers using the Olympic lowers that were made for PAWS. That means the sear in holes are in the correct position and will function as they should. All true PAWS receivers serial numbers start with a "Z". I used a fiber stock and I like the aluminium H & R stock but I'll stick with what I got. If you notice I left the bayonet lug on because at the time all front sight/gas blocks came with one. Also notice that this lower was not stamped SGW - Scheutzen Guns Works by Olympic as they did on their semi autos. Another indication that the lower was not a conversion.

 

[deadduck357]

So cool what H&R and PSA are doing

 

[Snake45]

Back in the mid-'80s, a friend and I went to a "warehouse sale" at Collectors' Armory in Virginia. By the time we got there, a lot of the good stuff was gone, but there was a barrel of seconds, damaged good, returns, incompletes, etc. at bargain-basement prices. I spotted an XM177 (Japanese-made nonfiring) replica missing a few parts priced at just $25 (I believe the complete "guns" were selling for over $100 at the time). Being a lifelong model-builder, I saw the potential in the poor thing and thought I could fix it up into a cool wall-hanger for my Man-Cave. It followed me home and sat ignored and unloved in a forgotten corner of my shop for decades.

By amazing coincidence, just this very weekend I had a fit of industry and decided the time was finally here to get around to fixing the sad thing up. Yesterday I wire-brushed all the rust and corrosion off of it, and this morning after Church I masked off the plastic "furniture" and hit the metal with a can of cheap rattlecan flat black. It is drying in my hot chamber (bathroom with the dehumidifier running) even as we speak.

I hope to have pics up soon--within the next few days, anyway.

 

[Shibadog]

Funny how what goes around comes around. In the 1920’s (28?) the army was looking for a new “smaller” cartridge, and came up with the 276 Pederson. Originally to be in a 10 block clip, it was abandoned because the ARMY COS didn’t want to excess the massive quantities of ‘06 on hand. The rest is history the ‘06 Garand, followed by the M14, followed the the small bore M16-which was very effective at short range with its 55 gr pills and very slow twist barrel. But wait, it won’t penetrate body armor at 300 meters and isn’t accurate at long ranges. Increase bullet weight and speed up the twist. Now meets the penetration requirement and long range accuracy. Problem solved—but wait again, it’s not as effective at shorter ranges as it was to start with-oh, and it’s also not as effective at longer range as the old 7.62. And now the army has adopted a “new” .277 cartridge that’s about 450 fps faster than the 1920’s vintage .276 Pederson BUT it operates at about 30,000 psi higher pressure to get there. Ya gotta wonder what would have happened had the original .276 had been adopted 90 years ago…..

 

[Snake45]

Back in the mid-'80s, a friend and I went to a "warehouse sale" at Collectors' Armory in Virginia. By the time we got there, a lot of the good stuff was gone, but there was a barrel of seconds, damaged good, returns, incompletes, etc. at bargain-basement prices. I spotted an XM177 (Japanese-made nonfiring) replica missing a few parts priced at just $25 (I believe the complete "guns" were selling for over $100 at the time). Being a lifelong model-builder, I saw the potential in the poor thing and thought I could fix it up into a cool wall-hanger for my Man-Cave. It followed me home and sat ignored and unloved in a forgotten corner of my shop for decades.

By amazing coincidence, just this very weekend I had a fit of industry and decided the time was finally here to get around to fixing the sad thing up. Yesterday I wire-brushed all the rust and corrosion off of it, and this morning after Church I masked off the plastic "furniture" and hit the metal with a can of cheap rattlecan flat black. It is drying in my hot chamber (bathroom with the dehumidifier running) even as we speak.

I hope to have pics up soon--within the next few days, anyway.

It's dry enough for a quick pic, so, as promised, here 'tis:

 

[USMC6094]

Well, the one smart thing Dugout Doug did right was not going to .276 Pedersen, but then again, it could've been the dumbest thing too.
Consider this, the British were also looking at change over from .303 to a .276(ish) round before WWI, and again after WWII, but the war dictated otherwise in the lead up to WWI, and NATO, see the United States, intervened after WWII to standardize 7.62 NATO.
A LOT of interesting what ifs on this one...