Colt CM901

The Colt CM901 is a modular firearms platform that can be converted from an assault rifle to a designated marksman rifle as well as short barrel carbine without the use of tools.

Design
The CM901 (Colt Modular) weapons system is based on Colt's existing M16/M4 military designs. It shares the direct gas impingement operation, as well as much of the action, controls, and basic aesthetics with previous Colt rifle designs. The system's heart is a common lower receiver housing an enlarged magazine well that will accommodate larger caliber ammunition than NATO 5.56x45mm rounds, ambidextrous controls for the bolt release mechanism, magazine release, and fire selector/safety lever, trigger group, pistol grip, telescopic stock, and buffer tube. The system will accept a series of upper receiver assemblies that contain the respective action required to accommodate the various caliber rounds accepted by the weapon. A re-designed upper receiver firing standard 5.56mm ammunition will be produced in various barrel lengths, all having a monolithic design with a full-length top rail, and three auxiliary rails for mounting accessories, free-floating barrels, and front and rear flip-up sights standard, when not using upgraded optics.

Upper receivers will be available in several calibers and barrel lengths, as short as 10.7 in for the 5.56mm model. The lower receiver will also accept older mil-spec M16 or M16 upper receivers with an adapter. Receivers will be available that accept 5.56x45mm NATO rounds, 6.8x43mm Remington SPC rounds, 7.62x39mm rounds, and 7.62x51mm NATO rounds. Each upper receiver has its own rail system, which allows scopes, or other optics to be pre-sighted for each configuration, and swapped quickly to perform different tasks.

The system can be anodized in a standard matte black finish, but has standard color options including Desert Brown, Digital Camouflage, and Vista Camouflage, which are applied during the anodizing process to prevent wear during use.

Civilian model
Colt released the LE901-16S to civilian buyers on July 20, 2012. The first 100 rifles sold received a certificate from Colt stating the serial number to authenticate that the rifle was 1 of the 100 distributed to the public.

At its unveiling, Colt planned to release several variants of the CM901 system over the course of 2011, with the civilian "LE901-16S" being the first, The civilian model will be available with all the same features and finishes as the planned Law Enforcement and Military models, but will ship stock with a semi-automatic lower receiver, and an upper receiver with a 16.1 in barrel chambered for .308 Winchester ammunition. The barrel will come with a Vortex Flash hider. This variant will also accept civilian AR-15 upper receivers of multiple barrel lengths, and includes a magazine well adapter to accommodate smaller AR-15 magazines.

Magpul Pmags are recommended.

Users

 * The Malaysian Army purchased 200 CM901s assault rifles, which will be used as a general issue rifle.