I should start this article out disclosing that Black Hawk Down has been in my top 3 war movies since 2001. Realistically it has been, and still is in a first place tie with Saving Private Ryan. While back then when the movie came out, I didn't know nearly as much as I do now regarding military and firearms history, but I still knew there was something special about these two movies from their explicitly gritty portrayal of an armed conflict. For those wondering, third place tends to change here and there and as of this moment it is still held by13 hours.
Personally and like many amongst us, I have always found my attraction to guns are tied to a particular movie or videogame that really ingrains that interest in something particular, and the CAR15s used by the early Delta Force operators in that movie is one such example. I'll also preface this by saying it seems like almost every gun channel, website, blog, and their grandmothers at this point have done a piece on Gothic Serpent early Delta Force carbines and gear setups but it doesn't seem to stop any of us from continuing to make these if only for an excuse to show off our takes on 80s-90s US Special Forces CAR15s.
As numerous as these articles/videos tend to be, they share one thing in common. My build and take on the 723 Carbines used in the past by Delta Force, is far from entirely clone correct. In fact Kevin has done his own VFC M733 build more inspired by the one used by Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) in Blood Diamond which will be the part 2 to the VFC M733 articles we're working on. Part one, or what you're reading right now will dive more into my build which is more meant to mimic the real life Colt CAR-15s used by delta force throughout the 80s and 90s.
Those who are no stranger to this topic probably have seen their share of articles and videos on this topic, especially in great detail from Larry Vickers who has gone over his personal reproduction of the CAR-15 he used when serving in Delta Force within the era in question. To sum it up here, these guns were never adopted officially by the US military, and were considered COTS, or Commercial Off The Shelf in procurement terms. What this means is that they were essentially Colt export guns built to be sold to foreign military and law enforcement and not from the military's procurement chain or officially issued. Why this was the case and a CAR-15 was never adopted officially by the US military at the time is anyone's guess, but my speculation would be that the earlier XM177s and shorter barrel ARs in general were considered unreliable, especially in adverse climates, due to how direct impingement guns are with shortened gas systems to accommodate the desired barrel length in a compact carbine.
Much of this early experimentation within these elite units, would essentially lay the ground work for what would become the M4A1, such as finding the sweet spot for barrel length at about14 inches taking into consideration reliability, maintaining adequate muzzle velocity, and shortening the gun from the standard M16 for special operation purposes. It appears that they wanted to hash out all the key points of what they wanted, before developing something that checks all those boxes (the M4A1). We see similar practices especially in the Global War on Terror, as many specialized units such as Delta Force and DEV-GRU utilizing things that were never officially adopted, such as Vortex Razor LPVOs and Noveske carbines leading to the adoption of something similar later on. This practice is alive and well today as well, with the XM7 being released to civilians already to gather a wider range of insight to develop the platform and its new round with 6.8 Sig Fury. Jury is still out whether this rifle will still see mass adoption in the US military branches due to shifting goals from observations of combat in Ukraine.
During that era many of these guns would be assembled with whatever components Colt had on hand, and as a result they would end up with some variation of parts such as the type (not length) of barrel installed even though they had the same model number. I won't go into these in this article or we'll be here forever, and I'll have to do an insane amount of research to document them all. Those who are interested in this topic however, I would highly advise to pick up Larry Vicker's books and watch his videos on the topic, as they go to great lengths to document the entire lineage of retro colt black rifles and Delta's experience with them and was an excellent starting point for me during this whole build. VFC is offering essentially a model 733, a 11.5" carbine, utilizing an A2 lower receiver, and an A1 upper receiver. From what I have read, these were not used in particular with US Special Forces for the previously aforementioned reasons.
So what essentially started off as a build inspired by the guns used in Black Hawk Down, especially the one used by Master Sergeant Gary Gordon, turned into a spiral down a rabbit hole of research into the actual guns used during Operation Gothic Serpent. There are many differences between the movie guns, and the ones actually used by special forces around that era. It is here I'll mention once more, that my build is far from clone correct, as most of these builds tend to be. Some parts needed for a fully authentic build are either difficult to source, or I simply didn't care enough to source the original part for an airsoft gun. Much like others who have built real or airsoft versions of these guns, I was simply after what boils down to a homage to the special forces carbines of that era.
The M733 happens to be the cheapest AR15 VFC offered in their modern gas blowback lineup. It features many of the current as of this article Version 3 system revision design and parts. Foremost utilizing a version 3 knocker assembly which is considered to be more reliable than the V2, and their newest version of their popular trigger/fire control group. Out of the various fire control groups we've tested since the early V2 days, their new one tends to offer a more crisp break and less play overall throughout the pull. I can only surmise the reasoning behind the price would be that this is indeed a retro carry handle AR15, and lacks any real form of modularity for customization modern variants have (lowering the cost from having to produce a handguard versus molding plastic ones). The hop-up also features a dial design akin to a GHK (in fact basically identical as the parts interchange between the two), but the fact you would have to remove the two part skinny commando handguards to adjust it, tends to be a huge pain in the ass. Unlike some of VFC's more higher priced AR15s as well, it also does not feature a steel bolt carrier, and retains the old lighter zinc version. This could be seen as a negative, but they tend to work a little better in the cold as a result too, which are common conditions for around 3/4ths of the year here in Canada. YMMV.
Starting from the rear, I went with what I typically always do, and replaced the VFC buffer with a real steel H1 Carbine buffer. Typically I find these function better and make the action less clunky. The VFC buffer tends to impart a little too much inertia and tends to slow down the return stroke of the action and is a common thing some people attribute to why a VFC AR15 "feels bad" to shoot from the factory. Doing so tends to increase the rate of fire of the gun as well in full auto due to the decrease in inertia slowing down the return stroke of the buffer and by extension the entire carrier assembly. Does this cause bolt bounce however? From our own testing with a high speed camera, it does not appear so, and a heavier spring is what seems to causes it (not that it ever led to any feed issues for us when it did bounce from the heavier springs, but again, YMMV). VFC has also lately started to use a slightly softer buffer spring in their AR anyway, but we haven't noticed any real decrease in cycle speed or rate of fire as a result. I should note we haven't noticed any real gains in terms of cold weather efficiency either.
I also opted to shave the finger groove nub off the A2 pistol grip as it tends to be insanely uncomfortable for my hands. I also felt this would be more in tune with this build to keep it somewhat "era appropriate" versus swapping an A1 pistol grip on, as Delta force of that time tended to "do whatever the fuck they wanted" to their equipment. Given I have a few VFC ARs, I have plenty of unmolested A2 grips kicking around if for whatever reason I decide my fingers could use more calluses.
Here is where stuff gets kind of weird and janky on my build. As anybody who's seen one of these builds, they are often fitted with a picatinny rail mount on top of the carry handle, and usually with an retro style aimpoint reflex sight. Back during that era the proper optic utilized would be something like an aimpoint 1000, to the 3000, or 5000. These were like the guns, COTS and actually hunting optics. In fact the modern analog to these would be the Aimpoint 9000 series. Given I had a Comp M2 kicking around with no rifle to put it on, and it looks...close enough, I went with that. To give the optic a closer look to what an 5000 would be, I ended up screwing a sun shade on to the back sourced from AliExpress to mimic the profile of the older aimpoint sights. Should be noted that in the movie Black Hawk Down, the guns were fitted with Comp M2 sights as well, which is anachronistic to the time period, as the M2 was not even invented yet in the 90s. Also as many have pointed out, the rise on this setup is pretty similar to some of the more modern tall risers which are very popular now, so the setup is essentially what we're used to nowadays on our more modern rifles. I should note the picatinny adapter I ended up with is also absolutely NOT clone correct.
Moving onto the front end of the gun, here is where things got interesting. The M733 would need to be lengthened into a 14.5" gun to convert it into a M723. Luckily VFC's factory aftermarket brand Crusader had released their own line of steel barrels for their own guns, and I was able to source a "government profile" 14.5" barrel to use for this gun. Essentially the real COTS M723 carbines were reported to have been sold with both this type of barrel, which is for fitting an M203 grenade launcher, or sometimes randomly with the skinny pencil profile barrels. This would work out in other ways later when we get to the suppressor setup as well. I ended up opting to replace the entire front barrel assembly, and went with a Crusader steel triangle sight/gas block as well, the version with a bayonet lug. Installation was kind of a pain in the ass, as you would have to line up the slots on the delta ring, and thread the impingement tube forward from the upper, if you did not want to remove and re-pin the triangle sight back on. I can see why we moved away from all this bullshit in modern times with AR15s.
While Uncle Larry had what is essentially a scuba diving light for the rifle he used back in Delta Force, hose clamped to the handguard, my build would resemble the ones used more during the 90s which utilized early surefire tactical lights. The model in question would be either the 660 or the upgraded 6P which Delta used primarily, but I ended up with a 660. Close enough. Another deviation from the real life rifle used would be the fact I opted to use a reproduction surefire barrel clamp to fix my light on, versus what was actually done; attaching a section of picatinny rail on the handguard. My reasoning behind this is I found doing so would force me to shift my hand back more than I would like when firing the rifle, if the light and picatinny rail section essentially blocks off most of the front of the handguard. I also found the barrel clamp option to be more aesthetically pleasing, as well as sit more flush with the gun itself, so I opted to go with this solution instead. However, much like what happened to Administrative Results, I bought the same repro piece of shit amazon mount, and had to saw off basically half of the mount to fit it between in the gap of the triangle sight. You might be wondering why I didn't just clamp it in front of the sight which should be apparent when we look at the suppressor. I should also note I did not bother sourcing an authentic retro surefire light, and went with an excellent reproduction sold by Shekkin Gear out of Hong Kong. I also went with the LED version, which essentially is their version of the LED Drop in module sold by Malkoff Devices which clone builders utilize for these old incandescent lights. While the prospect of having 7 lumens would be...so immersive... I still want to fucking see shit when I use this gun. Should be noted people tend to source these Shekkin lightheads to swap on to their VFC or otherwise reproduction MP5 handguards too. Arguably a great idea because the VFC LED is very dim but this is a topic for another day.
But now I had a new problem given the factory hop up adjustment of this system utilized a dial, hidden away under the handguards. The fact I had 100 mile an hour taped my surefire pressure pad to the gun meant I cannot reach it for adjustment without retaping it all back together constantly. This would be a no go as Uncle Larry might say. My solution solved two problems, as the factory hop up on my particular gun also tended to be total dog shit, and I would have BB's falling out the front of the gun when they were chambered. This is a really typical VFC QC thing and might not be the case on your rifle. Regardless of which not to take any chances, I had opted to go with a maple leaf VFC AR hop chamber. This chamber allowed for adjustment via a grub screw accessible from the chamber face of the upper receiver, as well as having the benefit of utilizing the very common VSR style buckings. This adjustment method involves pulling your upper off the gun essentially, so I'm going to be sourcing one of the adjustment tools that fit through the ejection port for this purpose that GHK makes, just to make life a little easier.
This leaves us with the final detail on this gun, which is the suppressor. After some research on the topic and looking at the setups other people go with, there is a wide range of stuff used on here, but I had opted to try and get it as close to the real deal as I can here. Funny enough and considered difficult to source even for real steel clone builds, the proper suppressor for this build would be an Ops Inc model 3, with the alignment collar. Allegedly to be the type of suppressor used on Gary Gordon's gun. While I've seen people cook up their own options with 3d printed collars, and suppressor bodies which are "close enough", I was surprised VFC actually made a reproduction of this suppressor, probably exactly for this gun. Not a commonly available part, it was to my surprise when Victor was picking up my Crusader barrel assembly from Pentagon that they just had it in stock, so I threw it into the cart as well. The way this suppressor worked is that the barrel would actually thread in half way inside the can, and it would sleeve over the front part of the 14.5" barrel. This is essentially why I could not just clamp the surefire mount to the front of the barrel as well. Not a bad unit itself, while the body is kind of lightweight, it does have provisions inside already for a tracer unit. Personally I think this really sells the look of the gun and is quite slick how flush it sits on the front sight. I'm glad I was able to catch a break with sourcing this part of the build too.
Even though it has that cobbled together bubba feeling to it, it doesn't really deviate much from what we are used to today. It essentially does what a modern AR15 does, and can feel like it is actually lighter weight due to the lack of alloy handguards. How tall the optic sits, is generally not an issue, as some people prefer this and some do not. Personally I'm a little indifferent to tall risers but find they look a bit goofy aesthetically. I found I was able to just naturally adjust to the hold overs necessary to use them with a bit of time behind the gun, and they are undeniably faster for acquiring CQB distance shots. With the Ops Inc suppressor mounted, the gun is already approaching 19 inches in total barrel length and well within M16 territory being only an inch off, and might require a bit of extra care around doorways in CQB scenarios. On its own the M733 might be one of the best picks in our opinion for a very affordable entry GBBR from VFC, if you can get over its retro features and lack of modularity compared to modern AR15s. It has all the desirable characteristics of their AR15 line otherwise. My biggest problem now is I miss having the gun as a "naked AR15" and am already looking at purchasing a M16A1 or XM177 to not molest and keep naked.
PARTS LIST for Delta 723 build:
Maple Leaf VFC Type CNC Hop Up chamber + Unicorn 360mm Inner Barrel
Crusader 14.5" Government Cut steel M4A1 outer barrel
Crusader 14.5" Government Cut steel triangle sight assembly
Crusader/VFC Ops Inc Model 3 Suppressor
Cheapo Vortex 30mm Low ring mounts (They don't even line up straight, highly not recommended)
Creation Airsoft AR Carry handle picatinny mount
G&P Comp M2 Reflex Sight
Visionking 30mm Killflash/sunshade
Dlask Arms H1 carbine buffer
Shekkin Gears Surefire 660 Repro flashlight
Dogshit Amazon/aliexpress Surefire barrel mount, cut to fit.
DIY Field Expedient Sling constructed from an ALICE rig adjustment strap and a generic USGI silent sling repro
Overall this has been a very nice change of pace and a very fun build to research and put together. For part 2 of this article, we'll delve further into the differences and nuances of the "movie version" guns featured in Black Hawk Down, and Blood Diamond, as well as take a look at Kevin's Blood Diamond Carbine build. Stay tuned!
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