M14 Forum

Hamstrosity

So I see furniture for the early AR / M16 family, and sometimes on the older stuff, they'll say something along the lines of it having "mottled" furniture, as if it's a selling point.

So, what's the deal with it? To me, it just looks like the parts have mud on them or something. What is mottling, and why would it be desirable?

Mindfield

depending on the type(im assuming A1), the mottling is a sign of age so if you are building a retro that you want to look old its a plus, I prefer the well used shiny black on a1s

Hamstrosity

Cool, thanks. I'll keep that in mind for my next "retro" build.

RandyB45

Some where on the net is a list of gun seller terms, translated. The only one I remember is Arsenal refinish=thrown at a belt sander. Wonder what mottled translates to?

2336USMC

Early in the life of the Ar15-M16 program the method of manufacture of the plastic parts was changed. The very early pistol grips and stocks had a mottled appearance, something to do with glass fibers in the plastic or something. Later parts were more smooth black. So, a "mottled" part is supposedly a very early production part and is therefore popular with builders of "early" clone guns.

HTH

m1sniper

Ok,quick rundown.The original production M16 is the model 601. This model had brown fiberglass furniture that is then painted green. (The 1st 100 or so were not painted green BTW). When the change to black occured (starting with the model 602),,the furniture was still made from the same brown fiberglass mix but a black dye was added. Well,,for the sake of argument,the dye failed,or just did not hold up.Over time,handling,wear etc,,the brown fiberglass flakes and chunks start to show thru the finish. This is commonly called mottling. That's it in a nutshell.
ETA,,the process was changed at some point and the brown fiberglass was no longer used.

nicholst55

The early production furniture frequently appeared 'mottled' when new, IIRC. This generation of furniture was also not very durable; handguards and buttstocks would crack if you looked at them cross-eyed. The Army had us trying to repair cracked furniture for a (short) while, but the procedure we used wasn't very effective. We filed a 'V' shape in the crack and filled it with a metal-based epoxy, sanded the repair down flush and spray-painted it black. A few weeks or months later the same buttstock or handguard would be back in for repair, cracked in the same place again.

The next generation of furniture was made using a different process, they were much, much more durable, and the color was much more even.

Mindfield

way better explanation than mine, you said what i was trying to get at but failed lol, kids mak ya dumber I tell ya what