Marushin XM177E2 modifications

The Marushin M16 series is nice and although it was designed in the late 1970s still available for a reasonable price. It is made out of metal parts, the receiver being zinc.

The only drawback is that it won't fire too good, a result mostly of the cartridge design Marushin is using.

The XM177E2 kit version was my first modelgun bought back in 2003. I found a friend, who as able to drill new holes and machine new takedown and pivot pins out of stainless steel, reducing the annoying play between the receivers. I also found an aluminum flashhider Marushin was using on their early factory assembled XM177E2s made in the early 1980s to replace the cheap looking plastic part.
I also got me a rare 30 round magazine Marushin was making in the early 1980s. The gold finish is a little odd but resembles real 1960/1970s magazines that had their coating come-off completely after heavy use. These magazins are said to be more reliable than the later 20 rd magazines Marushin made out of steel.

I put on a cheap Leapers 4x20 AR15 scope too. Of course this is not of any use on a modelgun ...

I also had a strange 20 round magazine that had no spacer. I sprayed it using KG gun cote giving it a quite durable finish. This one is used to load dummy rounds for display.

8ace was so kind to modify the magazines and replace the followers by Magpul followers designed to enhance reliability in real Magazines.

I am yet to test fire the new magazines with Tanio Koba TK .223 carts.

The followers in the marushin mags are really poor, changing them is a good idea

I realized that the handguards can be swapped for real AR-15 carbine length handguards without any modification. Anyway the older, thinner 6 hole type should be used as the thicker, oval type with 7 holes was not introduced before the late 1990s for the new M4 Carbine.

I am using aftermarket parts as real Colt parts are hard to get and very expensive. The early Colt handguards of the XM177 series were quite shiney black too, so the Marushin handguards look quite realistic, but lack the metal heatshield.

Sadly the receiver extension (Buffer tube) or stock itself need major reworking if you want to fit real parts so I stick with the Marushin parts.