Buildsheet: The Sleeper Retro AR Clone Build (Recoil Magazine)

Posted by Tom Marshall Editor, RECOIL OFF GRID Magazine Senior Editor, RECOIL Network on 5th Aug 2021

Retro and clone AR builds have exploded in popularity over the last decade. Whatever the reason, rebuilding black guns from bygone eras is a thriving subculture of AR owners. Whether replicating prototypes from the 1950s and ’60s or reproducing the specific guns of special units, cloning is more popular than ever.

True retro AR clone builds take weeks or months of research and scavenging, depending on your level of dedication, to find period-accurate ev-er-y-thing down to pins and screws. We love retro style, but we also enjoy the benefits of modern engineering. So began the Sleeper Carbine, a gun with groovy retro-style powered by modern parts under the hood. The long-nose aesthetic of the XM177 is iconic in retro circles, but easily recognizable by most for its pop-culture prowess. Our goal was to take visual cues from some “transitional” versions of the XM, as seen in movies like Blood Diamond and Black Hawk Down — variants of the CAR-15/XM177 that bridged the gap between true Vietnam-era clones and the modularity of post-GWOT rifles.

The heart of any rifle is its barrel and bolt group. We started with a Sionics 11.5-inch patrol barrel. While notably thicker and heavier than a period-correct XM barrel, Sionics tubes are known for their incredible durability and accuracy beyond what’s accepted from most 4150 CMV AR barrels. We mated this to a Pamax Tactical X-SLICK bolt carrier group. While the Pamax website doesn’t go into any substantive detail about X-SLICK, they do advertise the following bullet points about it:

Coefficient of friction equal to NP3
Twice as corrosion resistant as NP3
Able to withstand temperatures up to 1,200 degrees F
Service life of 6,500 rounds

Furthermore, the X-SLICK can be had in a variety of colors, including camo patterns, to match the exterior paint job of your rifle. Our tan Pamax BCG recoils into an Armaspec Stealth Recoil System. The SRS is a multi-stage buffer system with captured, nested springs. This drop-in unit can be purchased preconfigured for any of the standard buffer weights (C through H3, plus 9mm and big bore versions) and replaces both the buffer itself as well as the buffer spring.