With major manufacturers like Ruger and Smith & Wesson driving the price of entry-level AR rifles down, Colt responded in 2016 with a new rifle called the Expanse M4. The new rifle is a (very) basic AR-15 that comes in with a suggested retail price of $699.
The new rifle is a direct impingement gun with the basic M4-style features. It has a collapsing buttstock, pistol grip and A2-type front sight assembly. A polymer two-piece handguard is standard.
As is typical for AR-15 rifles, this gun is chambered in 5.56 NATO. It can safely fire both 5.56 and .223 Rem ammunition.
The 16.1″ barrel has a 1:7″ twist that should allow it to stabilize most of the bullet weights commercially loaded for the calibers.
Colt uses a flattop upper and does not ship with a rear sight. However, the Picatinny rail makes adding one a quick process. Many people will opt to add a red dot like the Trijicon MRO instead of, or in addition to, a rear sight.
A single 30-round aluminum magazine ships with the Expanse M4.
Colt states on its web site that these rifles do not ship with a forward assist or dust cover. That’s unfortunate as these items are pretty standard with even budget AR rifles. (Thanks to reader TechnoTriticale for pointing this out.)
Colt Expanse Specifications
Here are the specs for the Colt Expanse:
| Model # | CE1000 |
| Caliber | 5.56 NATO/.223 Rem |
| Magazine Capacity | 30 |
| # of Included Magazines | 1 |
| Barrel Length | 16.1″ |
| Overall Length | 32.0″-35.5″ |
| Action | semi-automatic, direct impingement |
| Stock | 6-position, adjustable length |
| MSRP | $699 |
In the wake of the Sandy Hook buying frenzy, there was a glut of AR rifles on the market. In economic terms, supply exceeded demand and prices dropped.
While there have been a number of smaller manufacturers that have targeted the budget-priced AR market, additional pressure was applied by the introduction of lower-priced models from more prominent gun makers adjusting to consumer expectations of less expensive rifles.
| Colt Expanse M4 | PSA FDE AR-15 | Ruger AR-556 | S&W Sport II | |
| Caliber | 5.56 NATO | 5.56 NATO | 5.56 NATO | 5.56 NATO |
| Magazine | 30 round aluminum | 30 round Magpul PMAG | 30 round Magpul PMAG | 30 round Magpul PMAG |
| # of Included Magazines | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Barrel Length | 16.1″ | 16.0″ | 16.1″ | 16.0″ |
| Twist Rate | 1:7″ | 1:7″ | 1:8″ | 1:9″ |
| Chrome Plating | no | no | bolt carrier, gas key | firing pin |
| Finish | unknown | hardcoat anodized FDE | Milspec Type III | Armornite |
| Handguard | 2-piece | 2-piece Magpul MOE M-Lok | easy removing 2-piece | 2-piece |
| Pistol Grip | A2-style | Magpul MOE | Ruger grip | A2-style |
| Front Sight | A2-style | A2-style | milled A2 Style with QD-socket | A2-style |
| Rear Sight | none | folding Magpul MBUS | folding Ruger | folding Magpul MBUS |
| Price | $699 | $749 | $799 | $739 |
On a price-to-features comparison, the PSA AR-15 makes the most sense for a budget rifle. You can see my PSA AR-15 review here.
Smith & Wesson seemed to be doing well with it’s budget friendly M&P15 Sport rifles that were selling for less than $700 in many shops. Then Ruger introduced the AR-556 – another entry level rifle that came very well equipped with an MSRP of $749. Both of these rifles allowed a novice AR shooter to buy a rifle from a readily recognizable name.
With the Expanse M4, it seems Colt is trying to capitalize on its name to reach new shooters buying their first AR rifle and more experienced hands who prefer the Colt name as a basic platform to build a more custom gun.
Watch for additional information on the Colt Expanse M4 and other new guns at the special 2016 SHOT Show page I have set up.
Last Update: June 26, 2022
27 replies on “Expanse M4: Colt’s Cheap AR”
The Expanse M4 looks like the LE6920 minus the Magpul hardware. I’m
struggling to declare this a “new product”. At best, it’s a budget
6920. In fact, the Expanse M4 doesn’t have a bayonet lug the 6920 has. Not a
huge deal, because who really dons bayonets? But, it seems this rifle
is geared towards the freedom hating crowd who think such “feature”
makes it an “assault rifle”.
As far as I can tell, the only difference between the Expanse M4 and the LE6920 is the lug.
http://www.colt.com/Catalog/Ri…
Overall, not impressed with it as a “new product”. More of a change of pricing
on an existing product, plus the fact they change the FSB.
re: As far as I can tell, the only difference between the Expanse M4 and the LE6920 is the lug.
Not just: the barrel on this pseudo-economy model is not chromed (and not MIL profile); no FA; no dust cover; no rear sight; no sling loops; further de-features to be determined later.
Not sure where you saw one.
Mine has bayonet luga, standard sling loops.
No FA or dust cover ($25 fixed that).
Bought on 4/29/16 as the base for a project gun.
There sure is a lot of misinformation about this gun. Made even worst by what they are bitching about is pointless. What’s even funnier is my Daniel Defense M4V5… No sights whatsoever, no sling attachments, no bayonet lug, but it did cost a $1000 more. Oh and it was purchased when they just had the Magpul MOE stock, A2 grip, and that barely airsoft grade VFG.
Mine has a bayo lug.
$700 is still a bit too much.
DMPS AR is going for $500.
I built my custom 5.56 and 300BLK for about $600 each, not including optics.
I hear what you are saying, but keep in mind that $699 is the MSRP – not the price your local dealer will charge. The cheapest DPMS AR rifle, the Sportical, has a MSRP of $749 on the 2015 pricing list Remington put out. I imagine the Colt will sell for $600-650 locally, but could go less.
Per Colt’s own page: no forward assist and no dust cover, in addition to skipping the rear sight. I wouldn’t expect a cleaning kit.
Thanks for the update – I’m glad to see the company has now added the rifle to its site. The lack of forward assist & dust cover were omitted from the information I received earlier. I’ll update this page.
I assume the projection for the FA is there, and plugged, but since there’s no imagery of that side, who knows.
This move is a panicked effort to sell what they can make today, to people presumed to be largely oblivious to important details. That’s where you end up when you don’t invest in product development.
Yes, I would imagine that the bump has to be there because Colt says you can upgrade the rifle to add one. Seems like a small cost savings for a potentially bad customer experience, but I’m not looking at their numbers.
I agree that Colt seems to be without a vision for the future (product development, etc.) I don’t know where they are going, and I don’t think they do either. With the continued bankruptcy problems, the company needs real leadership if they are going to pull through.
I could see Colt getting bought out by one of the more successful and innovative brands, and I’m not sure that would be a bad thing, compared to chronic edge-of-bankruptcy and mis-management by people who seem to not actually want to be in the business.
Actually it takes less than 10 minutes and under $25 to add both the FA and dust cover.
In less than an hour I added them, changed out the fire control group, changed pistol grip, stock, and installed my rail.
I’ve been shooting the M16/M4/AR15 for 27 years both military and LE.
Granted I have built several from bare receivers up.
For the price and project I had in mind this was a decent starting point for $630.
I agree, picked mine up at $599, got a forward assist and dust cover for $12, a UTG rear A2 style sight for around $18. And since I had a few other things lying around. I find the rifle to be a bargain. Not to mention when it comes down to it. If I was to sell the gun; That pony on the side is going to command a premium over something that says “Sporter” on the side.
Also to the guy that says it doesn’t have front and rear sling points, it most certainly does.
Richard is right when he says Colt has no vision for the future. They made this rifle famous, made it a world wide icon. Their brand loyalty was built largely off of the “If its not a Colt, its a copy” marketing and reality of the AR15 starting way back before I was born. And now, facing bankruptcy, in tremendous financial trouble, their “new product” for 2016 has round plastic handguards, a shaved bayonet lug and a slick side upper. They don’t even bother to tell us what the barrel is made or whether it’s chrome lined (in itself quickly becoming a dated, obsolete feature even so).
A shaved bayonet lug. For your creepy weird uncle who is always talking about how great things were in 1992.
I feel embarrassed for them. “Stagnant” isn’t strong enough of a word to describe it. Its as if General Motors, facing bad publicity after a string of recalls and poor sales, introduced their new car for 2016, and its a base model 1980 Camaro with plastic body panels and a V6 engine. You don’t know whether to laugh in their face, be sad for what might have been, or just wonder what kind of fool has a choke hold on the corporate culture at the top of their food chain.
Comment of the day!
You gave a bad example of a company coming out of bankruptcy. GM was given 11.2 billion of taxpayer money to retool and re-innovate. Without the bailout money, they may have put out a hacked over 1980 Camaro. Was Colt provided the same opportunity to redesign and re-innovate? For someone looking to get their 1st (entry level) AR 15, the Colt Expanse M4 will get a look. I do agree the Colt company seems to lack “any insight of innovation” when one looks at all of the newer-designed firearms being produced.
What’s funny is if colt sold stock m4s in semi auto for what the government pays for them it would be a win win for everyone last time I looked at my hand recite they go for 560 a pop the few M16 a4 we had where 580
Colt can command a higher price simply because of their name and reputation. So why in the world would they risk their reputation by going after the lower end market. Stupid if you ask me.
BRING BACK THE 6920LE Socom!
This model is a bit misrepresented in the marketing pitch. “…{for} the first-time buyer looking for a starting point on which to build a task-specific carbine.” The majority of buyers are likely to discover this was a distant second best Colt option once they understand all the nuances and have all the data. Colt has released this model out of cycle from a consumer perspective. To get excited about this model it would have needed to come out 12+ months ago. My grievance (and the kiss of death for me) concerning the Colt M4 Expanse is the A2 front site and the fact Colt already released the Colt LE6920-OEM2 in January of 2015. If you want “a starting point on which to build a task-specific carbine” the Colt LE6920-OEM2 at roughly the same price point (within $40) is a much better option as it is already setup with a low profile gas block and free float barrel nut. The Colt Expanse M4 is not much more than a Colt LE6920-OEM1 (which was the A2 front sight variant released in January 2015) that has been finished out with the cheapest most entry level peripherals on the market (that possess minimal resale value). So what you are getting with the Colt Expanse M4 is a finished out Colt LE6920-OEM1 with all budget peripherals at essentially no additional cost. (The Colt LE6920-OEM1 and Colt Expanse M4 are roughly the same price.)
The ONLY 2 good use cases for the Colt Expanse M4 are:
1. You want a true Colt AR-15, finished out as a full and complete rifle, your acquisition needs to be as thrifty as possible, and you intent to leave it as is.
2. You have a custom build use case that necessitate the A2 front site.
Short of that build up your M4 on a Colt LE6920-OEM2.
Colt M4 Expanse Pro’s – It is a complete AR-15 with a Colt M-4 marked receiver.
Colt M4 Expanse Cons – Everything else. It has no rear sight. It is the most entry level Colt AR-15 that could conceivably be built up. It is assembled with all the ‘throw away’ peripherals/furniture. It has an A2 front sight/Delta Ring setup.
While the A2 front sight isn’t the end of the world (it was what my Le6920 m4 came with), why go there now when the LE6920-OEM2 already exists for about the same money? While you are not likely to regret buying a freefloat setup (over the A2) – the same cannot be said of the reverse. Once a shooter understands the nuances of drop-in hand guards vs free float hand guards, the options you’ll be limited to, and that freefloated setups generally result in a more accurate platform; there is a far greater likelihood that you will grow to regret buying the A2/delta ring configuration.
Besides the afore mentioned luxuries this rifle eliminates, lol, I also think it has a Carbine length gas system. Mid length would be better. And I’m sure that the Buffer piston isn’t the heavier H1 or H2 weight.
But really, WTF, no Forward Assist ?
Let me guess, like the original Vietnam M16s, It shoots so cleanly that an FA isn’t needed !
This article hardly said anything.
no sling attachments or rear sight (or dust cover or forward assist), so add $100 to actual cost. #fail. Still Ruger #forthewin. 4150 barrel while only 6.4 pounds is interesting, however. admittedly Ruger does not come with the front sling attachment, so add $15 to the price of the Ruger. also 1:7 is arguable too much for common civilian 55g rounds. Does Colt not know how to make 1:8 or 1:9?
i had recently purchased the colt expanse M4 and am very pleased with it, mine also does have the bayonet lug too. the only thing i would change is i would really like to put a rail system on it. Any suggestions on the best rail system that would be compatible with this weapon?
Hi Will,
Thanks for the feedback on the rifle. You might want to take a look at the Magpul MOE SL handguard. It uses the M-LOK attachment system and should work with the A2 sight tower and delta ring on your Colt as it is designed to be a drop in replacement for the standard handguard. This is the handguard at Magpul’s site: https://www.magpul.com/products/moe-sl-hand-guard-carbine-length
Best,
Richard
Depends on how far you want to go with it. As Richard states the Magpul SL handguard is an excellent option, which is what I went with. You can certainly go farther, but by that time you could have just bought a rifle that included that stuff.
This is what I tell my customers at the gun shop I work at. Either build, or buy the gun with most the features you want.
you can buy a 25$ 4 rail handcover. It fits great. Most of these other guys are just pissed they invested so much money and I can still out shoot with my pony.. Giddy up boyz.