Bushmaster, DPMS or what ?

[TexasPatriot.308]

just got me a new Bushmaster 308 ORC, marked BFI, Windham Maine, but the lower is stamped LR-308....I thought Rock River Arms had taken over the Bushmaster design of AR10s but the LR-308 is a DPMS right? it is a great carbine, great shooter and I am happy with it, cant wait to wipe out a few hogs with it.

 

[mshootnit]

congrats on that rifle I bet it will shoot great.

 

[henschman]

DPMS and Bushmaster were both bought by the same company (The Freedom Group, a subsidiary of Cerberus). They are similar, except the Bushmaster .308s have chrome lined barrels, whereas that is not an option on the DPMS'. The receivers and internal parts are the same though, which is fine... the quality of DPMS .308s is a cut above their .223/5.56s.

 

[CCH71]

I'll second the statement that the DPMS .308 stuff seems to be higher quality than their 5.56 offerings. I've had the LRT-308 SASS for a couple of years and I've been pleased with it.

On related notes, the Remington .308 offerings are built on the same DPMS platform as well. Freedom Group's holdings include H&R, Marlin, Remington, DPMS, Busmaster, AAC, Para, Marlin and more.

The fact that they're all held by the same group doesn't necessarily equate a lack or surplus of quality across all brands, but I am seeing increasing sharing of parts and concepts across the Bushmaster/DPMS and Remington offerings.

Overall, it's a pretty solid platform in .308 for any of the three.

 

[mtrmn]

RRA bought the rights to the OLD Bushmaster design that uses FN FAL magazines. (I own one of the old Bushmasters, the BAR10) RRA upgraded the design and now sell it as their LAR8.

LATER, Bushmaster sold out to the Freedom Group (Cerberus) which had already purchased DPMS, Remington, Marlin and several more. They now have the right to the Bushmaster name. And mix/matching with DPMS parts is to be expected. DPMS made the Remington R-15.

What I don't understand is this: Freedom Group closed the old Bushmaster facility in Windham Maine and moved their facility elsewhere. It is my understanding that the old owner of Bushmaster is in that old facility making Windham weapons after the non-competition time limit expired. SO, WHY DO THE NEW BUSHMASTERS STILL HAVE WINDHAM, MN STAMPED ON THE SIDE? Or did I miss something here?

 

[TexasPatriot.308]

mine is brand new it is marked BFI Windham Me. USA next to the Bushmaster logo above the magazine is cal. .308 MOD LR-308. I dont own a DPMS (maybe I do now) but I am familiar with LR-308 being their version of this .308 rifle. I too have an old BAR10 in the A2 configuration and skeleton stock. that became the RRA LAR-8. just confused on exactly what I got.

 

[TexasPatriot.308]

the original owner of Bushmaster, Mr. Dykes, I believe opened up shop again as Windham Arms.

 

[gunlover_06]

As Windham Weaponry

 

[mtrmn]

The BUSHMASTER name and manufacturing facility allegedly is no longer associated with Windham Maine since they moved somewhere else, unless they kept an office open there so that they could still put Windham Mn on their guns. Hence my question as to why the new ones still touted that location as their base of operations.

My old BAR10 is also 20" A2 configuration with the skeleton stock. Very accurate gun.

 

[TexasPatriot.308]

my old BAR10 has one hellacious muzzle blast for sure, I was stupid enough to fire a 20 round magazine thru it without ear protection. when I got back in my pickup, I couldnt even hear my radio....lesson learned. but I love that Bushmaster.

 

[mtrmn]

I finally broke down and went through all the crap to buy a suppressor-YHM 7.62 QD Titanium. Rarely shoot without it now, got adapters for all my ARs. Sounds like a 22 magnum (or less) due to the remaining supersonic crack of the bullet breaking the sound barrier. Sounds like a daisy bb gun with subsonic ammo.

But back to the original question, it appears the Bushmaster of today is a mixture of DPMS and BM parts, which isn't a bad thing in itself. Just raises a lot of questions.