Who makes what? AR parts.

C-doodle

C-doodle

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So I was shopping for some stuff and my search lead me to Midway's website. Along my search I saw an add for an AR-Stoner upper that looks exactly like one of the cheaper BCA uppers. Same handguard, same squared off "budget" milling on the bolt carrier. Even the same cheesy spiral style muzzle device.

I wasn't shopping for an upper but I was curious if they are actually the same thing. I emailed midway and asked them if AR-Stoner was their own line of parts and also asked if they are produced by BCA. I also asked them if they were not produced by BCA, then where/who are they made by?

Email I got back basically just said

"yes, AR-Stoner is our own brand"

But they didn't even acknowledge my real question about who makes them.

I also emailed BCA and asked them if they supply parts to midway specifically for the AR-Stoner line. I received and email with a huge wall of text about confidentiality and "ITAR"

All it said was "we are not able to answer that question at this time and we recommend reaching out to midway with your question"

I'm going to take that as a "yes, AR-Stoner uppers are our BCA uppers rebranded"

This has me wondering how many companies are selling BCA stuff. It was interesting to see both companies just completely blow off my question. I know a lot of ar parts are made at a few select locations and rebranded. I wonder what is the most expensive production AR-15 on the market right now that is running the cheapest budget components?

Not trying to crap on these companies. Personally I have had pretty good luck with the cheapest of the cheap (BCA, Combat armory, PSA...) Just find it strange when a company won't disclose where their parts are produced.
 
Why would/should any company disclose their sources, means and processes to you? That would be a horrendously bad practice.

Pretty much every client site I go into has me sign an NDA saying I won't reveal such things, and I'm dealing with many hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of their data. Why would they share with some dude off the internet?

Reasons:
- I don't want my competitor snaking the contractor's time/resources/staff
- I want to be able to switch contractors if/as needed without impacting my marketing. It's my spec, the contractor is just a hired gun.
- I want to protect my brand
- yada yada yada
 
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There was a thread a few months back on ARF from a former DPMS employee. They made parts for several other AR manufacturers, including Colt iirc. What specific parts, i cant remember...... But DPMS also outsourced a lot of work.
 
Tim said:
It's my spec, the contractor is just a hired gun.
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You raised a few good points but this one definitely helped me understand a little better. I hadn't considered that although two separate distributors may use the same manufacturer the parts may be made with completely different specs.

I was just so boggled to see uppers priced at $500+ that really look like BCA's.
 
I have a 10.5 inch upper that looks like bca. I know for a fact it isn't because I built it and I didn't source anything from bca
 
Back in 2010 and older you could say less then 20 manufacturers did 90% of AR's.

After 2010 the only narrow field of OEM's is in forgings of lowers and uppers, CSS for springs and who ever owns a deep drill and button machine for barrels.

Beyond that select group, any machine shop can make any AR part.

John
 
As long as Midway backs it up, I'm not going to worry about it too much. I bought a barrel from Midway that I suspect is from BCA. I haven't tested the build yet, but I I have problems I'm going to Midway for the resolution.
 
DrScaryGuy said:
which was kind of the intention of the design in the first place, if my history books are to be believed.
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The key is VOLUME being an OEM for AR's is a run to the bottom. More suppliers in the market place more pressure to squash margin. This is why its smart to enter a parts field that's not already dominated by a OEM. Look at Bolt Carrier Groups and Tool Craft here in NC. I do not know if anyone can make a cheaper part, at the same high level of quality and high level of grade. Tool Craft is very hard to beat as a OEM. Same with CSS on springs, yeah, to buy a full spring kit is $3500 but you get in excess of 50,000+ springs. That's $0.07 per lower for all springs needed to assemble a MILSPEC AR.

These numbers seem like "hell yeah" lets get in the AR business, the only ones to survive at this point own the supply chain like PSA / Barnes does. Olympic and Colt are both classic examples of a assembly house Business model.
 
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YeeHaa said:
Besides Anderson, here's two more


https://whitelabelarmory.com/

https://www.unbrandedar.com/
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I've put in a few orders for small parts at unbranded and i have no compaints at all. Good luck finding enough in-stock items to do much though. I check them periodically and I rarely see much available. But hey, they're selling stuff as fast as they can make/get it and they've apparently cut custom work to do more profitable stuff. good for you, Rocky.

I don't know if I heard about whitelabel until into the corona thing. Seemed their prices were higher than i wanted... but 'rona.
 
We used to have a sticky or thread with the common manufacturers for uppers and lowers. 90% come from the same handful of manufacturers. Same can be said for most of the parts I imagine.
 
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