Florida Shooters Network

Good Info:

Lewis Machine & Tool
LMT
Lauer
DS Arms
PWA
Eagle
Armalite
Knights Armament
Barrett
Continental Machine Tool
Stag
Rock River Arms
High Standard
Noveske
Century (New)
Global Tactical
CLE
S&W
MGI
Wilson Tactical
Grenadier Precision
Colt
LAR Manufacturing
LAR
Bushmaster
Ameetec
DPMS
CMMG
Double Star
Fulton Armory
Spike's Tactical
JVP
Double Star
LRB
Mega Machine Shop
Mega
GSE
Dalphon
POF
Alexander Arms
Olympic
Olympic
SGW
Tromix
Palmetto
Dalphon
Frankford
Century (Old)
Sun Devil
Sun Devil forged billet receivers
Superior
Superior Arms




(Thread title edited and thread generally cleaned up to remove nonsensical posts. This information is too good to let get bogged down by people that have trouble reading. Please keep future posts on-track with either questions as to the source of a given lower, or credible information answering such questions. rob_s)

Thanks Pam,

Good for a sticky please.

I wonder who makes the Les Baer lowers?
I have used the raw forgings on the bottom of this page:
http://www.lesbaer.com/ar223.html
excellent quality!

Anvil Arms?

avmech wrote:Anvil Arms?

+1

MAHA

Does DPMS make their own lowers, the cast and the milled?? Is the best way to tell one from the other I was told is the cast lowers have reaised letyters and the milled have indented letters, Is that accurate??

Good list. I'm suprised to see some names on that list that don't manufacture thier recievers. I wonder if it's a licence thing or they're just saving money.

Thanks Pam... I have a Mega that I really like and wondered who else the manfactured for...

No problemo. I'll add the other's that have been posted since mine as well. There are a couple of new ones that just hit the market that I have to do some research on.

force7 wrote:Good list. I'm suprised to see some names on that list that don't manufacture thier recievers. I wonder if it's a licence thing or they're just saving money.

Have you ever seen a press strong enough to forge an AR15 lower? It's about the size of my house. But costs a whole lot more, and has zero resale value because its weight makes it impossible to move (you just sell them for scrap steel when you upgrade).

A business needs to sell a lot of product to justify the cost of a forge, and the only way a single gun manufacturer could afford it is if they bought a plant that already had an intact working forge on-site, or they made many different forged components.

If a company wants to make its own lowers, it is much, much cheaper to spend a couple hundred grand on CNC machines and make billet lowers. CNC is also more versatile than a press forge when it comes to making many different components. But the startup costs on a CNC project like that still are beyond many firearms manufacturers.

So yes, it's a matter of cost.

However, the same forge can crank out flawless lowers or junk lowers, depending on the contract's per-unit cost and quality-control requirements. I can guarantee you that Noveske pays more per lower than Century does, even though they both come out of LMT's press forge. But Noveske has a very high reject rate; Century takes whatever LMT ships them.

YMMV.

Ther is going to be a new kid on the block soon. I have been to their shop and it is great. The majority of the manufacturers have other companys make their receivers for them. Tactical Machining makes their own. All forged and made to extreme tolerances. I had the opportunity to test some of their prototype guns and was truly impressed. As soon as I can get one for photos I will post them. BTW, I do not have anything to do with the company, they are just in my town.

I actually have an Ameetec. I have no idea who made the forging, but it's in the same class as my Stag -- possibly with a better trigger.

How about a billet lower section?

SMOS/ LaRue
http://www.smosarms.com/SM-15pf1-600.jpg

Magpul
http://www.magpul.com/pics/lower04.jpg

Sun Devil
http://www.sundevilmfg.com/

POF
http://www.pof-usa.com/lower/lowerreceiver.htm

Tactical Innovations
http://www.tacticalinc.com/t15bdx-bille ... -1082.html

BCW – can not find website
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewIt ... =101789166

SOCOM Mfg Diamond Series – can not find website

My buddy has an Essential Arms lower. I don't see it on the list. Great list.

Erik

I have an Tactical Innovations T15BDX CNC billet machined AR15 lower receiver. It is really a work of art. I wish I had the were with all to purchase a half dozen more.

OMG, you mean to tell me that Colt doesn’t make their own AR lowers, they’re made by Continental Machine Tool, the same company that makes Stag, RRA, and High Standard!!! Colt must have their own specs or something because I’ve heard that they don’t use the same size pins on their “sport” ARs everyone else does (mil-spec).

And my Bushy lower was made by LAR Manufacturing, the same company that makes Fulton, and DPMS!!!

I guess the world is becoming more specialized, everything is broken down in its individual parts and then some company specializes in making just that part.

Smith

I have a SENDRA reciever made by Dick Drasen it's also not on the list , from the 70's

so this list is of current manufacturers correct ??? like in the past 5-6 years maybe less - more ??

so what about older lowers from the 70's, 80's and up until a few manuf started making lowers for everyone else ???

Rent, from what I understand it's always been like this, outside of a few boutique lower manufacturers.

But, the market was different back then too. You had WAY fewer manufacturers of complete guns, so much less overlap in terms of who made parts for who.

Many of today's complete rifler makers were yesterday's lower suppliers to one or two big names. CMT/Stag is a good example of this.

wouldn't Quality parts Co and Bushmaster be another examply ??

so is there a way to find out what manufacturer made the SENDRA lowers I have , I know the story behind Dick Drasen and the SENDRA corp., but nothing more than that