Tip! Who Made Your Lower Receiver?

[no4mk1t]

This is several years old now and things change, but it illustrates that there are just a few companies making stuff for everyone...

Found this on another site so take it FWIW. But it makes you wonder if company A is really any better than company B if the same manufacturer makes them for both.

RECEIVER MANUFACTURERS
The following is a listing of who machines the raw receiver forgings for whom.



Aero Precision

• Aero Precision

Continental Machine Tool

• Stag
• Rock River Arms
• High Standard
• Noveske
• Century (New)
• Global Tactical
• CLE
• S&W
• MGI
• Wilson Tactical
• Grenadier Precision
• Colt

JVP

• Double Star
• LRB
• Charles Daly

LAR Manufacturing

• LAR
• Bushmaster
• Ameetec
• DPMS
• CMMG
• Double Star
• Fulton Armory
• Spike's Tactical

American Spirit

• American Spirit

Lewis Machine & Tool

• LMT
• Lauer
• DS Arms
• PWA
• Eagle
• Armalite
• Knights Armament
• Barrett

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
• Lauer (New)

 

[clm2112]

Combine with the half dozen organizations who cast & forge the blanks.... Alcoa, Cerro, etc. Ahem, these receivers have far more in common than what makes them unique.

It's what I've said before. The weapon was intended to be manufactured en mass and by sub-contractors. Armalite was part of an aircraft company and had nothing in the way of manufacturing capability. Fairchild was never going to make the designs themselves, the philosophy was to design it and then sell the design to someone else to mass produce. That's how propeller-head engineers think

When selecting a lower, it doesn't matter who's name is stamped into it. What matters is that it is dimensionally correct and made out of a suitable material.

 

[One Ping Only]

I don’t see Anderson listed there, but I can tell you they fit our PSA uppers like a glove and seem to be made very well. No wobble, no perceptible gaps between upper and lower, I don’t think the fit could be any better, FWIW.

Thanks for the list!!

 

[no4mk1t]

I don’t see Anderson listed there, but I can tell you they fit our PSA uppers like a glove and seem to be made very well. No wobble, no perceptible gaps between upper and lower, I don’t think the fit could be any better, FWIW.

Thanks for the list!!

The list is several years old and predates Anderson making AR parts.
Olympic is on there, and it's my understanding they had a fire and went out of business.

 

[One Ping Only]

Combine with the half dozen organizations who cast & forge the blanks.... Alcoa, Cerro, etc. Ahem, these receivers have far more in common than what makes them unique.

It's what I've said before. The weapon was intended to be manufactured en mass and by sub-contractors. Armalite was part of an aircraft company and had nothing in the way of manufacturing capability. Fairchild was never going to make the designs themselves, the philosophy was to design it and then sell the design to someone else to mass produce. That's how propeller-head engineers think

When selecting a lower, it doesn't matter who's name is stamped into it. What matters is that it is dimensionally correct and made out of a suitable material.

Much in the same way the 1911 (and other weapons) were made by numerous manufacturers during wartime… its all spec-based and therefore parts interchanged…cheers!

 

[no4mk1t]

Much in the same way the 1911 (and other weapons) were made by numerous manufacturers during wartime… its all spec-based and therefore parts interchanged…cheers!

With AR's, it wasn't always that way. Now with CNC everything is closer tolerance and fits better, even between different manufacturers. Before CNC this wasn't always the case. I can remember having M16A1's at Camp Perry that had a poor fit between upper and lower and you could twist each half and get a fair amount of movement, more than would be acceptable today.
My first non Colt AR's were PWA's in the 80's and they need the "Accu Wedge" to take up the slop and not move.
All the commercial and 80% lowers I've used in the last 20 years have been much better in this regard.

 

[One Ping Only]

I remember the accu wedge!!! Wow that was awhile ago..

 

[Petey95]

It would be nice if lowers had forge markings like uppers do.

 

[no4mk1t]

It would be nice if lowers had forge markings like uppers do.

Some of them do. On the flat just to the rear of the trigger.
Who forged the blank is of less importance than who machined it into a finished receiver.