Who Really Made Your AR 15?

[Dr. Bullseye]

Here is another guy discussing forging marks on the lower. At one point he seems to confuse forging and casting. Evidently the metal is all the same and what would differentiate one lower from another would be the milling as people stated above.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twkcsBpiEeI

[sundance435]

So no one actually has info, anecdotal or not, that any forge produces better or worse forgings? Asking rhetorically for a friend.

[tehpwnag3]

Defects are possible from any forge, but I would say that the quality of the forgings are very similar across the industry. If there are stark differences, I've never heard of them. I've typically let the brand reputation (Colt, BCM, etc.) ease my concerns despite certain forge marks.

So no one actually has info, anecdotal or not, that any forge produces better or worse forgings? Asking rhetorically for a friend.

[Sry0fcr]

So no one actually has info, anecdotal or not, that any forge produces better or worse forgings? Asking rhetorically for a friend.

That kind of proprietary data usually won't be released publicly; but I'll tell you from experience that I've never audited a forge/mill, machine shop, coater, assembler, fab shop ect that had zero nonconformance reports. Th important thing is that they catch it through inspection and disposition it properly. This includes folks with DOD contracts from everything from .50cal pintle mounts, to Tomahawk cruise missile components, to explosive charges for Sidewinders.

But boy you don't know hot until you're standing next to a furnace at a Texas forge in July...