Eagle Arms

[William B.]

I recently saw an A2 style AR15 made by "Eagle Arms by Armalite." Are these rifles any good? Are they of the same quality as Armalite rifles?

[scottryan]

I recently saw an A2 style AR15 made by "Eagle Arms by Armalite." Are these rifles any good? Are they of the same quality as Armalite rifles?


They are Armalite's budget line that do not have a chrome lined barrel IIRC on a product line that is already substandard.

When Eagle Arms was a separate company back in the 1980s in Coal Valley, IL they were good.

[chadbag]

My understanding, which may be flawed, is that Armalite IS Eagle Arms. Eagle Arms bought the Armalite name in the late 90s(?) and renamed themselves.

Today, my understanding is that you cannot buy an Armalite lower that says Armalite. Today, Armalite uses their old Eagle Arms name for their parts business so the gun is most likely a parts gun.

[Dunderway]

So Eagle Arms is to Armalite, as Maverick is to Mossberg?



They are Armalite's budget line that do not have a chrome lined barrel IIRC on a product line that is already substandard.

When Eagle Arms was a separate company back in the 1980s in Coal Valley, IL they were good.

[chadbag]

My understanding, which may be flawed, is that Armalite IS Eagle Arms. Eagle Arms bought the Armalite name in the late 90s(?) and renamed themselves.

Today, my understanding is that you cannot buy an Armalite lower that says Armalite. Today, Armalite uses their old Eagle Arms name for their parts business so the gun is most likely a parts gun.

It seems my info is outdated. After Eagle Arms reincorporated as ArmaLite in the mid 90s after purchasing the trademarks, Eagle Arms was the label Armalite used for a while on their lower receivers they sold not as complete weapons in order to differentiate parts guns made from ArmaLite parts from real guns. That seems to no longer be the case. ArmeLite now lists a lower marked ArmaLite on its website. Interesting however that the part number is EA900G -- a remnant of the Eagle Arms division (EA) being the parts division it looks like

http://www.armalite.com/ItemForm.aspx?item=EA900G&ReturnUrl=Categories2.aspx?Category=b5877938-548b-414f-bcb7-e45f80d451dc

This link is the ArmaLite history link at ArmaLites website:

http://www.armalite.com/Categories.aspx?Category=376e8176-9800-47af-ad62-932357d7be9f

When you get down to "ArmaLite Incorporated II" you read about Eagle Arms. Originally Eagle Arms seems to have been taking over LMTs retail business and LMT made a lot of the Eagle Parts. One of the founders of Eagle Arms was the same Karl Lewis of LMT. Once it changes name to ArmaLite it does not mention much more about Eagle Arms.

Cheaper Than Dirt has this to say (yeah, I know, probably not the most reliable but interesting)

"EAGLE ARMS, INC.
Previous manufacturer located in Geneseo, IL. Previous division of ArmaLite, Inc. 1995-2002, located in Geneseo, IL. Manufacture of pre-1995 Eagle Arms rifles was in Coal Valley, IL.
During 1995, Eagle Arms, Inc. reintroduced the ArmaLite trademark. The new company was organized under the ArmaLite name. In 2003, Eagle Arms became a separate company, and no longer a division of ArmaLite.
Currently, Eagle Arms is making lower receivers only, and no longer manufactures complete rifles."

(http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/EveryGun/GunMfgDetail.aspx?id=320)

It seems possible then that Eagle Arms position within ArmaLite changed over time and that a gun with an Eagle Arms div of ArmaLite lower receiver could be a parts gun or a gun that was at one time made by ArmaLite, possibly as a budget brand. One reference I found claimed that Eagle Arms guns (perhaps pre ArmaLite?) that were assembled complete at the factory has some sort of proof mark or stamp in front of the magwell while receivers sent out alone do not.

As of 2003 the website http://www.eagle-arms.com/ was the Eagle Arms division of ArmaLite and separate from the ArmaLite website. A reference where I found that also seemed to indicate that they were making rifles under that name that were priced for people on a budget. Today that website is unresponsive and Google has nothing on it so it probably has not existed for quite a while.

http://www.eaglearms.com/ is some other business.

Anyway, that is what I found through my adventures in trying to look info up on them.

I have an Eagle Arms receiver that I purchased pre AWB in 1994 and it is one of the ones I have on my normal fun rifles that I have had and remade since then. It is a very nice receiver and seems to stem from the time that LMT was involved in making their stuff.

Good luck on it!

[Blankwaffe]

And if you happen to check the FAQ on the Armalite website,specifically question GT-6 of the FAQ,it explains the differences in the Eagle and Armalite brand.
Eagle Arms is Armalite....and Armalite is Eagle.Regardless of what is said on the CTD website.A phone call can confirm this as well.
The last Eagle Arms rifle I purchased was a 10A4 circa 2002.Same customer service folks,phone numbers etc..P.O. box #'s were different due to the fact of being in a different building for assembly but still a division of Armalite.
A couple years ago MAW released a statement that the Eagle line was going to be ceased to allow more focus to be put on the primary line of Armalite.Shortly after that Armalite started selling Armalite brand stripped and assembled lowers rather than under the Eagle label.Which,by the way, caused alot of upset Armalite owners on TOS.
If you look at many of the part numbers the EA prefix is still used on many of the parts.
The Armalite complete rifles still have the eagle proof stamp at the front of the receiver to show that they are complete factory assembled rifles,and carry a lifetime warranty.The Armalite stripped,assembled lowers and complete uppers carry a one year warranty which is basically the same policy that was used under the Eagle brand..
Otherwise as was stated earlier the Eagle line was the economy version of the Armalite brand and only carried a one year warranty..The receivers were basically those with small blemishes that did not meet the fit/finish requirement to be built as an Armalite complete rifle.The Eagle uppers used non chromed barrels and most that I saw there at the end did not have any muzzle devices.Otherwise all the other parts were the same.
Thats the info I have from my Armalite Technical Binder and from owning and dealing with both brands since about 1999.

Ive personally had excellent luck with Armalite/Eagle in the past.Thier customer service and warranty is outstanding IMHO.If you have the desire to make them more durable/reliable then do some basic upgrades and shoot the darn things and enjoy....thats what I did and have done with great results.
That said if you want a rifle to use hard and abuse right out of the box,then you better spend a little more money and buy a LMT,BCM or Colt.Again my general order of selection in the range of things.
HTH

[chadbag]

I missed the FAQ. I looked on lots of pages (article, announcements, etc but missed the FAQ).

Thanks for the update.

Eagle seems to have changed its role across time after combining with ArmaLite.

[markm]

They are Armalite's budget line that do not have a chrome lined barrel IIRC on a product line that is already substandard.

I agree. I've used the eagle stripped lowers for builds because S.A.W. used to sell them, but Armalite really doesn't inspire confidence in me beyond that.