Who manufacturers AR15 uppers for hire?

Anyone who has military contracts should have the ability to make every part themselves, but that doesn't mean they don't outsource some, or all, of the time.

Just to throw out a few names, Colt, FN, Remington, Olympic Arms and CMT/Stag should have the ability to produce every part.

The majority of the AR industry though are parts assemblers. Some will turn their own barrels from blanks, while others will machine their own receivers from forgings. But for the most part, companies will outsource all of their parts and then assemble them in house. I don't know of any companies that just straight up swap product boxes of something like a completed upper, though I don't claim to be an industry insider.

I used to work for these guys when they were a different company. They are making billet uppers and lowers to order. They are around the corner from where I work now and make good stuff. The lowers and uppers are not listed on the website but they are making them. You will want to get ask for Don Scheer. He is in charge of sales. The former company was Next Generation Arms if anyone is interested.

Rosch Works
www.roschworks.com
208-714-4220

Correct analysis - most of the companies offering goods don't make the actual gun parts. Colt doesn't even drop forge the receivers, they truck those in and machine them to control the fit - it's how the pins on a lower fit the holes on an upper right straight out of the factory. It's a matter of a few thousandths but it has to be precisely controlled to meet inspection standards.

There are about a dozen who drop forge, most machine, along with another 20 or so who also machine forgings, and most of the dozens of roll marks come from them. So from the very beginning it can be seen that a lot of Brands - including Colt - ship in parts. If anything, those that start from raw materials and make whole guns are the rare ones. FN? Remington?

It's not discussed as much on the net because major makers don't want a outsourcing to be part of their reputation. They aren't talking much. Therefore, we don't precisely know other than a wink and a nod from somewhat anonymous posters.

There is also the number of M16 factories who make them for their nation - AR's aren't 100% American on the world market. Open up a Brownell's catalog and spot which parts are shipped from non US sources - over 50% of the items are from another country. Much like the number of "GI" 1911's on the market which are actually built in the Philippines, Croatia, Turkey, or Korea. We get AR parts from those makers, too. You can be very assured that is not discussed and nobody will talk about off shore parts for AR's - but there they are.

If you want to know where the forging came from, look at the mark. Cerro Forge and Anchor Harvey are the most common today, but there are plenty of others.

List of AR forge markings:

A (splintered) = Anchor Harvey Aluminum
AF = Alcoa Forge
C AF = Colt Alco Forge
C MB = Colt / Mueller Brass
Cardinal (stylized) = Cardinal Forge
CH = Colt Harvey Aluminum
Circle/Crosshairs w/"AR" = ArmaLite
CK = Colt / Kaiser Aluminum
CM = Colt / Martin Marietta
D (stylized) = Diemaco
DK = Diemaco / Kaiser Aluminum
E = Emco
EK = EMCO/Kaiser
E MB = EMCO/Mueller Brass
F keyhole = FNMI / Cerro Forge
FA = FNMI / Anchor Harvey
FK = FNMI / Kaiser Aluminum
FM = FN/Martin Marietta
FMB = FNMI / Mueller Brass
Keyhole = Cerro Forge
L = Lewis Machine & Tool
LK = LAR / Kaiser Aluminum
LM = LAR / Martin Marietta
M (under diamond) = Mueller Industries
PA = Capco / Anchor Harvey
PM = Capco / Martin Marietta

But that's just the raw forging, tells you nothing of who machined it into a finished upper or lower receiver. There's really no way of knowing who is machining raw forgings and who is buying finished receivers and putting their marks on them

I don't know if Remington is now required to have forging capability with a military contract, that information doesn't seem to be publicly available. But I wouldn't doubt it.

Billet critters are a whole 'nother animal, and any outfit with a decent high speed machining center has the capacity to do that commercially. As with any other product, it's a smaller investment to turn out machined billet parts than forge, cast or injection mold, but also far more time consuming, hence the higher price of the items.