I know that these aren't vintage rifles, but the Vintage Section of this forum also doubles as a place to post and discuss rare and historical firearms. Recently, Primary Arms sold some Army Special Forces 5th Group used LaRue Stealth uppers. These uppers were used on their deployment to Iraq in 2007 to 2008. These uppers were called "Stealth" because they were made to mimic the Mk18 Mod 1 uppers, but with more accurate heavy barrels. Just like the Mk18's, these uppers have a 10.3" barrel and quad-rail handguard. The heavier barrel in the Stealth uppers allowed the operators to transition from indoor CQB to outdoor longer-ranged engagements in the open desert.
At the end of their deployment they had to do a 1:1 swap with these Stealth uppers for Crane NSWC made Mk18 Mod 1 uppers. A few weeks ago these 5th Group used Stealth uppers were send from LaRue to Primary Arms. This has also led to an OPSEC/PERSEC issue for these 5th Group soldiers.
Their names are on the cardboard boxes and this ties them to the unit, and can possibly be used to dox them when they're currently working sensitive jobs. So, if anyone here has one of these original used uppers, please don't post the name that's on the box or tag. Please don't dig into it, there's no reason that collectors would ever need information on these individual soldiers. It honestly crazy that these boxes and tags weren't sterilized before these uppers were sold, and some people in the SF community aren't too happy about it. So, please don't dox these guys if you have one of these uppers.
I missed out on the original Primary Arms sale of these historical uppers, so I've been scrambling to find some on the collector market. Unfortunately, this also means that I'm now paying a lot more for these uppers than what they originally sold for. Primary Arms sold each upper for about $1,000 and I've been paying about $2,000 per upper on average. The painted uppers are very rare and obviously command a higher price. I've heard that a few of these uppers have traded hands between collectors for $4,000 to $5,000, but I haven't completely confirmed this. These uppers have some absolutely amazing history, and they'll only go up in value. If a big gun-tuber like Garand Thumb ever does a video about these uppers and more collectors find out about them, expect them to double or triple in price from their current value. We've seen that happen with other original military surplus items, such as the M40A1 return stocks and the Mk13 DRMO stocks/chassis. Of you find one of these uppers for sale at a decent price (right now that would be under $3,000), buy it! Or let me know about it so that I can buy it, lol.
Here's my 3 unpainted uppers and my painted upper:
Here's one of my original 5th Group used LaRue Stealth uppers on an SBR lower. The Aimpoint T1 red dot sight is military surplus and has a UID engraving on the top side, but it's not correct for this upper and I only mounted it because I had it on hand. I need to find an older Eotech to put on the upper.
Apparently some of these uppers also had silencers on them, but most of the soldiers didn't use the silencers when running missions inside buildings (they needed them as short as possible for indoor CQB, and the silencer made the rifle too long). I think the KAC NT4 might be correct for some of these 10.3" uppers with the 9" handguard, but the extremely rare version of the upper with 11.5" barrel 8.2" handguard that possibly used some kind of SureFire silencer. Here's one of my unpainted uppers with a KAC NT4 silencer:
The painted rear sight that's on one of my unpainted uppers is actually a perfect match to the painted upper that was missing a rear sight. I couldn't believe that I had the missing painted rear sight on one of these unpainted uppers! So, that painted rear sight is now on the painted upper, it's an exact match! Most of the uppers also come with test targets (maybe 100 yard?) and their boxes were from the Mk18 CQBR uppers that the Stealth uppers were swapped out with. Also, these uppers are heavily used and are absolutely filthy! They were definitely used on a lot of missions and each upper probably has numerous terrorist/insurgant kills attached to it!
Any guns or gun parts that can be directly linked to a top tier Army unit are extremely rare! In addition to these coming from a top tier unit, most of these uppers have a name on the box and/or tag that can be traced back to an individual soldier. I don't think we'll ever see another item like this that can be traced back to a single user, so that really makes these uppers unique. I have quite a few original firearms and gun parts that were used by top tier Army units. and have that history documented in some way. One of these days I'd like to get a few photos of all those items together in my collection.
Did anyone else here get one of these original Army SF 5th Group used LaRue Stealth uppers? If so, please post a few photos of it here in this thread (please remember to sterile the names in the photos). If anyone has one that they'd like to sell, please let me know as well. I have a few collector friends who would like to pick up one of these uppers, and I'm trying to help them locate a few uppers.
Hopefully you guys find these historical uppers to be interesting and hopefully other people here will have some photos and/or information to add to this thread! Please let me know if you guys want to see more photos of the uppers in my collection, I'd be happy to share more photos if needed!
At the end of their deployment they had to do a 1:1 swap with these Stealth uppers for Crane NSWC made Mk18 Mod 1 uppers. A few weeks ago these 5th Group used Stealth uppers were send from LaRue to Primary Arms. This has also led to an OPSEC/PERSEC issue for these 5th Group soldiers.
Their names are on the cardboard boxes and this ties them to the unit, and can possibly be used to dox them when they're currently working sensitive jobs. So, if anyone here has one of these original used uppers, please don't post the name that's on the box or tag. Please don't dig into it, there's no reason that collectors would ever need information on these individual soldiers. It honestly crazy that these boxes and tags weren't sterilized before these uppers were sold, and some people in the SF community aren't too happy about it. So, please don't dox these guys if you have one of these uppers.
I missed out on the original Primary Arms sale of these historical uppers, so I've been scrambling to find some on the collector market. Unfortunately, this also means that I'm now paying a lot more for these uppers than what they originally sold for. Primary Arms sold each upper for about $1,000 and I've been paying about $2,000 per upper on average. The painted uppers are very rare and obviously command a higher price. I've heard that a few of these uppers have traded hands between collectors for $4,000 to $5,000, but I haven't completely confirmed this. These uppers have some absolutely amazing history, and they'll only go up in value. If a big gun-tuber like Garand Thumb ever does a video about these uppers and more collectors find out about them, expect them to double or triple in price from their current value. We've seen that happen with other original military surplus items, such as the M40A1 return stocks and the Mk13 DRMO stocks/chassis. Of you find one of these uppers for sale at a decent price (right now that would be under $3,000), buy it! Or let me know about it so that I can buy it, lol.
Here's my 3 unpainted uppers and my painted upper:
Here's one of my original 5th Group used LaRue Stealth uppers on an SBR lower. The Aimpoint T1 red dot sight is military surplus and has a UID engraving on the top side, but it's not correct for this upper and I only mounted it because I had it on hand. I need to find an older Eotech to put on the upper.
Apparently some of these uppers also had silencers on them, but most of the soldiers didn't use the silencers when running missions inside buildings (they needed them as short as possible for indoor CQB, and the silencer made the rifle too long). I think the KAC NT4 might be correct for some of these 10.3" uppers with the 9" handguard, but the extremely rare version of the upper with 11.5" barrel 8.2" handguard that possibly used some kind of SureFire silencer. Here's one of my unpainted uppers with a KAC NT4 silencer:
The painted rear sight that's on one of my unpainted uppers is actually a perfect match to the painted upper that was missing a rear sight. I couldn't believe that I had the missing painted rear sight on one of these unpainted uppers! So, that painted rear sight is now on the painted upper, it's an exact match! Most of the uppers also come with test targets (maybe 100 yard?) and their boxes were from the Mk18 CQBR uppers that the Stealth uppers were swapped out with. Also, these uppers are heavily used and are absolutely filthy! They were definitely used on a lot of missions and each upper probably has numerous terrorist/insurgant kills attached to it!
Any guns or gun parts that can be directly linked to a top tier Army unit are extremely rare! In addition to these coming from a top tier unit, most of these uppers have a name on the box and/or tag that can be traced back to an individual soldier. I don't think we'll ever see another item like this that can be traced back to a single user, so that really makes these uppers unique. I have quite a few original firearms and gun parts that were used by top tier Army units. and have that history documented in some way. One of these days I'd like to get a few photos of all those items together in my collection.
Did anyone else here get one of these original Army SF 5th Group used LaRue Stealth uppers? If so, please post a few photos of it here in this thread (please remember to sterile the names in the photos). If anyone has one that they'd like to sell, please let me know as well. I have a few collector friends who would like to pick up one of these uppers, and I'm trying to help them locate a few uppers.
Hopefully you guys find these historical uppers to be interesting and hopefully other people here will have some photos and/or information to add to this thread! Please let me know if you guys want to see more photos of the uppers in my collection, I'd be happy to share more photos if needed!
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