# More AR education please...



## weimedog (May 1, 2011)

One of the points brought up was the concept of some builders being "assembly" houses vs. actual manufacturing their own components....so that brings up the obvious question....WHO are the actual suppliers? I see some who machine components out of billet.....LWRC comes to mind....very high end stuff. From a strength perspective, Forgings have to be stronger (but uglier). Problem in my mind is the tooling for forgings is hyper expensive even as compared to the typical "CNC" environment....but more cost effective if the volumes are up or ultimate strength is a goal. CNC on the other hand is more cost effective for shorter runs as programming time, fixtures, equipment depreciation expenses, and cycle times favor that type of thing.....SO who makes those forgings for Colt and Armalite? Who makes them for the rest of the assembly houses?


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## Swamp Yankee (May 2, 2011)

Tough question

Virtually all firearms manufacturers buy their forgings and casting from manufacturers that specialize in this process / business. The process is completely alien from machining and assembling firearms parts. Not to mention foundries are extremely regulated by the various state and federal EPA(s) and other agencies making it very difficult to run as a branch of a larger, different business. 

Last I knew, Ruger still had their own foundry in New Hampshire, but that may have closed over the years.

Sorry couldn't be of more help.

Take care


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