Some of you guys probably think I'm an AR snob. I get it. And for most users, their PSA carbine is probably a decent gun. However, since the gun panics of the post Obama election, Sandy Hook, etc. there has been a major shift in the AR market.
Ten to fifteen years ago, there was little to choose from, outside of the the ABC manufacturers; armalite, bushmaster and Colt. Dpms and RRA were also big players back then. Olympic was fairly common too. Colt was literally unobtanium during their heyday as a government contractor, so the others dominated the civilian AR market. Then the AWB ended.
Somewhere along that time Noveske popped up and they were primarily focused on SS barreled guns initially. Then, a little company called Bravo Company started up, selling complete uppers made 100% to milspec. At the time, they were the only company other than Colt that offered an upper with milspec barrel steel, chrome bores, 1/7 twist, HP/MPI testing, milspec bolt carrier groups milspec receiver extensions, F marked front sight bases, etc. Over time, others followed suit. Keep in mind, that a complete Colt easily cost $2k+. A lot of folks don't realize how Bravo Company changed the face of the AR market by bringing a high quality gun to the civilian market. At the time, Daniel Defense was only making rail systems, Knights Armament was strictly a government provider and the dozens of budget brands we know today simply didn't exist. This was the start of the Golden Age of AR rifles.
Fast forward to the Obama administration and the numerous gun panics that ensued. The threat against "assault weapons" was real and manufacturers could not keep up with an ever expanding demand for AR pattern weapons. Items like bolt carrier groups were unavailable for months at a time. Naturally, capitalism did what it does best. Dozens of new companies sprung up to fill the gap and profit from the insatiable desire for more AR's. There was only one problem...
The OEM manufacturers that produced the majority of parts for the top manufacturers and had access to the correct materials and specs, would not sell parts to these little guys. Many of these new companies also realized that a large portion of the market was uncomfortable spending $800-1000+ on a gun. So, they went and found new companies to produce parts from more cost effective materials in order to fill the gap. And the budget AR market was born.
What do I mean by that? Well, let's look at Carpenter 158 steel as an example. It's made by ONE steel mill. The OEM manufacturers using it for bolts, buy in large quantities. Much larger than these new companies that were entering the market. So, the new guys are effectively cut out of the supply loop. They also didn't have access to the TDP. So, they simply reverse engineered the parts and found someone to make a replica from different materials. The same process took place for every single part of the gun. Less expensive parts made of inferior materials began to flow like water. It seemed like a new brand popped up every week for a while.
Today, the state of the market is very different than 10 years ago. The age of the Internet has made everyone's opinion important and many times it's difficult to decipher who knows what. More often than not, when someone asks for advice, they'll have 90% of the respondents recommend a budget part or budget gun. Usually supplanted by a "just as good as" argument, a price comparison and a testimonial about how their XYZ brand has run "flawlessly". Rarely do you hear them say that they've run thousands of rounds through the gun, attended training with it or really put any stress on the gun at all. But it's more awesomer to them and "it only cost me $450!".
Well, more often than not, those guns are the ones that have issues. Some minor, some major. Gas key staking and assembly, chamber specs, gas port sizes assembly in general are all common issues. But for me, the real issues I see are the quality of some of the parts. I've actually seen AIRSOFT parts used in real guns. The story is always the same. "Where did you get this peice of crap?" It's almost always some online retailer you've never heard of, eBay, Amazon, Sportsmans Guide and on and on and on...
Here are a few examples of what I'm talking about. Some of these are guns I've had on my bench to un****, others are pictures taken by people I know.
Ten to fifteen years ago, there was little to choose from, outside of the the ABC manufacturers; armalite, bushmaster and Colt. Dpms and RRA were also big players back then. Olympic was fairly common too. Colt was literally unobtanium during their heyday as a government contractor, so the others dominated the civilian AR market. Then the AWB ended.
Somewhere along that time Noveske popped up and they were primarily focused on SS barreled guns initially. Then, a little company called Bravo Company started up, selling complete uppers made 100% to milspec. At the time, they were the only company other than Colt that offered an upper with milspec barrel steel, chrome bores, 1/7 twist, HP/MPI testing, milspec bolt carrier groups milspec receiver extensions, F marked front sight bases, etc. Over time, others followed suit. Keep in mind, that a complete Colt easily cost $2k+. A lot of folks don't realize how Bravo Company changed the face of the AR market by bringing a high quality gun to the civilian market. At the time, Daniel Defense was only making rail systems, Knights Armament was strictly a government provider and the dozens of budget brands we know today simply didn't exist. This was the start of the Golden Age of AR rifles.
Fast forward to the Obama administration and the numerous gun panics that ensued. The threat against "assault weapons" was real and manufacturers could not keep up with an ever expanding demand for AR pattern weapons. Items like bolt carrier groups were unavailable for months at a time. Naturally, capitalism did what it does best. Dozens of new companies sprung up to fill the gap and profit from the insatiable desire for more AR's. There was only one problem...
The OEM manufacturers that produced the majority of parts for the top manufacturers and had access to the correct materials and specs, would not sell parts to these little guys. Many of these new companies also realized that a large portion of the market was uncomfortable spending $800-1000+ on a gun. So, they went and found new companies to produce parts from more cost effective materials in order to fill the gap. And the budget AR market was born.
What do I mean by that? Well, let's look at Carpenter 158 steel as an example. It's made by ONE steel mill. The OEM manufacturers using it for bolts, buy in large quantities. Much larger than these new companies that were entering the market. So, the new guys are effectively cut out of the supply loop. They also didn't have access to the TDP. So, they simply reverse engineered the parts and found someone to make a replica from different materials. The same process took place for every single part of the gun. Less expensive parts made of inferior materials began to flow like water. It seemed like a new brand popped up every week for a while.
Today, the state of the market is very different than 10 years ago. The age of the Internet has made everyone's opinion important and many times it's difficult to decipher who knows what. More often than not, when someone asks for advice, they'll have 90% of the respondents recommend a budget part or budget gun. Usually supplanted by a "just as good as" argument, a price comparison and a testimonial about how their XYZ brand has run "flawlessly". Rarely do you hear them say that they've run thousands of rounds through the gun, attended training with it or really put any stress on the gun at all. But it's more awesomer to them and "it only cost me $450!".
Well, more often than not, those guns are the ones that have issues. Some minor, some major. Gas key staking and assembly, chamber specs, gas port sizes assembly in general are all common issues. But for me, the real issues I see are the quality of some of the parts. I've actually seen AIRSOFT parts used in real guns. The story is always the same. "Where did you get this peice of crap?" It's almost always some online retailer you've never heard of, eBay, Amazon, Sportsmans Guide and on and on and on...
Here are a few examples of what I'm talking about. Some of these are guns I've had on my bench to un****, others are pictures taken by people I know.
