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Posted: 12/27/2016 2:30:30 PM EDT
| How many actual lower receiver makers are there out there? I keep hearing..many ,,, around 10 , only 3..... |
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Different stages are done by an increasingly large number of companies as you progress through the stages. For instance Cerro makes a tremendous number of forgings, which is the source of the "there are only 3 companies that make lowers" but there are stages of additional machining beyond that done by a multitude of manufacturers which is why you will find differences in the rear shelf of the fire control pocket, the front side of the magwell, and can have out of spec hole positioning and other issues depending on the quality of those finishing operations.
So the level of involvement can range from soup-to-nuts 0% to 100% in a single shop to nothing more than the roll mark, or even outsource that and just market the finished product which has been made and marked by someone else. |
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If you are talking about the forging very few.
These days anybody with the right equipment can machine the forgings. I have never heard of how many shops are supplying places like PSA. There is a local startup in my area that reputedly does their work in house and judging from the pictures I saw has a lot of capacity. Obviously the ATF knows, but I am not sure how available the numbers are. |
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Quoted:
How many actual lower receiver makers are there out there? I keep hearing..many ,,, around 10 , only 3..... As was pointed out, there are only a few companies forging the BLANKS. As to machining out the raw forgings, I'd guess in the dozens, if not over a hundred. There are quite a few companies machining out raw billets into lowers and don't even bother with doing forgings. |
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I believe that I found this list of foundries and their forging marks right here at ar15.com, but I can't swear to it. It was also at least a couple of years ago, so I do not know how current it is.
A (splintered) = Anchor Harvey Aluminum AF = Alcoa Forge C AF = Colt Alco Forge C MB = Colt / Mueller Brass Cardinal (stylized) = Cardinal Forge CH = Colt Harvey Aluminum Circle/Crosshairs w/"AR" = ArmaLite CK = Colt / Kaiser Aluminum CM = Colt / Martin Marietta D (stylized) = Diemaco DK = Diemaco / Kaiser Aluminum E = Emco EK = EMCO/Kaiser E MB = EMCO/Mueller Brass F keyhole = FNMI / Cerro Forge FA = FNMI / Anchor Harvey FK = FNMI / Kaiser Aluminum FM = FN/Martin Marietta FMB = FNMI / Mueller Brass Keyhole = Cerro Forge L = Lewis Machine & Tool LK = LAR / Kaiser Aluminum LM = LAR / Martin Marietta M (under diamond) = Mueller Industries PA = Capco / Anchor Harvey PM = Capco / Martin Marietta box= BrassAluma Forge (mainly for Colt) |
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