GAU-5A/A Commando Carbine

[bradders]

A couple of retro builds I've had on the go for a few weeks, not that I have customers for them, but just because I wanted to build them

The GAU-5A/A was a rifle designed for the USAF, a Commando Carbine with slick sided upper, 11.5" (formerly 10.3") barrel and the now famous sound moderator
The ones in my pics are just flash suppressors, although they don't have the slots cut yet because I burned out my cutter and am still searching for a replacement....a minor thing at this time

Everyone always talks about the Grey finish, and replicating it is not so easy as getting your hands on one in that colour in good condition is easier said than done
I did get access to a XM177/GAU and a Colt Commando recently (see pics) and you wll see the problem with a rifle that has fought in Vietnam then spent the last 50 years there getting knocked about

Numerous internet searches pointed to Cerakote Sniper Grey being a good match......it wasn't, and I finally settled on Sig Dark Grey, and I couldn't be happier with the end result, as I fel it is as close as you are going to get.

After painting I sent them away to my laser engravers to have the logo and serial numbers put on through the paint, and again this has exceeded expectations in my view

The rifles....
One is a .223 with a Walther 1:8 barrel, 300mm long and in a Govt pencil profile with the correct .625 FSB, non serrated chrome bolt carrier and (lucky me) I somehow managed to source an original incredibly rare Colt plastic coated 2 position stock that cost a pretty penny here in the UK, that once may have belonged to "Them" who live "There"!  :;-) 
I have shaved the finger ledge off the grip, but I am awaiting a couple of retro grips to finish them off
I am also waiting on 1x A1 rear sight assy, it's on backorder
The flash hiders are reflexed over the barrels to give as short a look as possible

As you will see from the pics of original rifles, they were had in various lengths and configurations, both with fenced and unfenced lowers, so mine are fairly true to the original

The other rifle is in .22lr with a Walther barrel, CMMG chrome kit (for the look) and a plastic Fiberite 6 position stock

Still the only .22 rifle manufactured in the UK

Really pleased with the end results, the engraving and colour and overall feel of the rifles

The attention as they say, is in the detail 🙂

Black vs Grey

The Real Deal

The buttstock before refinishing

[Moorlander]

👍

[Gandy]

Cracking post, enjoyed the history element of it most thanks for sharing. 

[bradders]

6 minutes ago, Gandy said:

Cracking post, enjoyed the history element of it most thanks for sharing. 

You're most welcome

[Lukas_K]

Just off the title first thing that came to mind was the A10 warthog 😄 

Very nice as a modern nod to the classical firearm, thanks for sharing

[bradders]

20 minutes ago, Lukas_K said:

Just off the title first thing that came to mind was the A10 warthog 😄 

Very nice as a modern nod to the classical firearm, thanks for sharing

GAU is a USAF definition, Gun Automatic Unit, but as everyone here is a Gun Nut, you all already know this, don't y'all? 🤣

[MrCetrizine]

I did know that because I fired a GAU19A in America a while back and got a lecture about it beforehand.

On another note, your rifles are stunning.

[bradders]

1 minute ago, MrCetirizine said:

I did know that because I fired a GAU19A in America a while back and got a lecture about it beforehand.

On another note, your rifles are stunning.

Thank you, a very nice thing to say

I've always tried to pay attention to details 

[EDP]

I'm so happy to have managed to get these two GAU-5 builds - truly superb rifles.