Model 727 = early M4?
 

What is the difference between the Colt Model 727 and the early M4 which were called Model 777 with the fixed carrying handle. From looking at photos, they both seem identical

The only difference is that the Model 727 is full-auto, the Model 777 fires burst. Otherwise, they are identical, as best I can tell.

The 727 is best used with M193 and 777 is best used with M855, am I wrong?

BTW, anyone have any images of the 777, I can't seem to find any.

I have no idea, but that strikes me as unlikely. Just about any mil-spec AR variant made since the early/mid-80s (which means, both the 727 and 777) was built with the M855/SS109 in mind.

Of course, there are some people who will tell you that the M855 is total shit, especially in carbines.

I thought that during the figthing in Mogadishu (filmed in "Black Hawk Down"), the Colt Carbines they were using were burst guns. I can assume in actual life they weren't using the 727 Carbines (at least not Gary Gordon, who was said to fire his Commando in three-burst when defending the second crash site), but what were they using then? The M4 (777 model) came out a year after the event.

Didn't even know the 727 have burst fire

It's really hard to be sure. You have to remember that before the standardization of the M4, there really wasn't any specific model of CAR-15 serving as the U.S. military carbine for all branches. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, the DoD bought lots of different AR carbine models in various quantities, which were used by different services, different units, and, when it came to SF, different individuals (especially the D-boys, who had a lot of latitude in their choice of weaponry). So, the CAR-15s used in Mogadishu could have been any of a range of different models.

About the only service where there was any consistency in the carbines used was the USAF, who, as I've said before, tend to be very stingy when it comes to buying small arms. Their Vietnam War-era GAU-5s (XM177s) were pretty much the standard USAF carbine from the 1960s until as recently as 2001.

They don't; the 727 is auto, according to the AR variants chart. Burst fire = 777 (AKA earliest model M4).

So none of the early colt carbines had burst?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AR-15_variants

This chart says that the models 733A, 734A, and 735 (all of which were 11.5-inch barrel models) had burst.

Also, I think there may be a typo in this chart, because I'm pretty sure I remember reading that the Model 725B also fired burst. I'll have find my copy of the book that this chart comes from to be sure.