Got a little inspired by some spare parts and our neighbors to the north tonight.
In the 80s while we were adopted the M16A2, the Canadians adopted this rifle, the C7 to replace their FALs:
It looks a hell of a lot like an A2, because they worked with the team designing the A2. It has the same government profile 20" 1:7 barrel as an A2, same handguards, stock, grip. But, the C7 retained the original M16A1 style sights and full auto instead of 3 round burst.
Eventually they upgraded to the C7A1, which is the same rifle but with a rail to allow optics mounting. The Canadian preferred optic is an Elcan 3.4x optical.
They used this until the 2000s, then decided a rifle with an adjustable stock would be easier to transport in vehicles, use while wearing armor, etc. But instead of going the US route of the 14.5" barrel and the collapsible stock, the Canadians use an H2 buffer and CAR stock, but retained the 20" barrels from their A1s and created the C7A2:
There are some pic rails at the front to allow accessories. The rumors are that initially they tested the same M5 RAS railed handguard used on the M16A4, but Knights couldn't supply enough to both the US and Canadian military so this other rail set up was adopted.
But, some Canadians did field test C7A2s with a M5 RAS:
The thought intrigued me, and since I have a CAR stock and a 20" upper with the M5 RAS on my A4 clone, thought I'd slap a "sort of C7A2" together (minus the Elcan, green furniture and a few other ambidextrous goodies).
I kind of like it.
It's not as front heavy as I was expecting, and makes the rifle shoulder better in armor than the A2 stock does, and I'm never unhappy about ballistics out of a 20" barrel. I don't know if its because I've been messing around with the 10.5" and under compact ARs lately or what, but it was nice to get back to a 20" gun tonight. Might keep my 20" upper set up this way for a while and see if the Canadians were onto something with this combination.