Skull & Crossbones on AR-15 receiver

[Bart Noir]

Hi, I've been seeing some AR-15 style receivers, and completed rifles/carbines, at gunshows here in Washington State. These have a skull & crossbones symbol on the left side.

Let's put aside snide references to strange college clubs that certain US presidents are supposed to have joined. Does anybody know who makes these and if they are of good quality?

Bart Noir
A new candidate for "best gun for pirates?" thread?

 

[OEF_VET]

Most likely, they are SNS Industries, out of Sonomish. They built what was supposed to be a VERY limited run of recievers for a Lightfighter.net Group Buy. The skull & crossbones design was created by one of the members of LF.net, specifically for the Group Buy.

(I have one of the recievers from the Group Buy, with my birthday as the custom serial number.)

Apparently, SNS decided to mark some of their recievers with the skull & crossbones logo, after the Group Buy was completed. Devin, the owner of SNS Industries, took an extremely long time to deliver the recievers, upsetting many of the LF.net members.

There are also some airsoft replicas running around Asia with all of the markings from the LF.net Group Buy. These included the skull & crossbones on the left, serial numbers which began with MCLMM (Mushroom Cloud Layin' MotherF, MotherF - from Pulp Fiction), models ARRRR-15 and LFT-15, selector switches marked SAFE-SEMI-SHTF, and "Restricted: MegaForce Use Only" on the right side of the magwell.

The skull & crossbones design, as used on the Group Buy recievers, was essentially an intellectual property of Jeff Cooper (no, not that Jeff Cooper), the LF.net member who designed the logo. Any use of the logo outside of the Group Buy should not have used it. However, some folks have issues with their scruples.

 

[Andras]

Pirate lowers see this link on afrcom and this link

 

[Rupestris]

Tom Sawyer Mfg makes Pirate lowers

I want one! Anyone know what the going price is? Are they still available?

 

[Kaylee]

These included the skull & crossbones on the left, serial numbers which began with MCLMM (Mushroom Cloud Layin' MotherF, MotherF - from Pulp Fiction), models ARRRR-15 and LFT-15, selector switches marked SAFE-SEMI-SHTF, and "Restricted: MegaForce Use Only" on the right side of the magwell.

THAT is absolutely hilarious!

I love this country.

 

[wdlsguy]

Tom Sawyer Mfg makes Pirate lowers

Sadly, Mr. Sawyer is getting out of the business:

First , I want the thank all for the kind words and your businesss.
Due to family issues, I have transfered the engraving business to another close FFL/SOT.
Ryan Buck at Orion Arms here in the Twin Cities.
He has been working with me, has my equipment and jigs etc.
Pleae give him a shout if you need any engraving
You can also call or PM me if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Steve
Tom Sawyer Mfg

Contact info for

Ryan Buck
Orion Arms
651-210-6456 Fax 651-653-4870
07 FFL / 02 SOT
email:
[email protected]

http://ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=7&f=118&t=221158&r=-1&page=9

 

[beerslurpy]

Any use of the logo outside of the Group Buy should not have used it. However, some folks have issues with their scruples.

Upon what ground does he claim exclusive right to use a skull and cross bones symbol?

A skull and crossbones isnt distinctive enough on its own to be a trademark, and I am fairly certain that you cant copyright a symbol that has been in regular use for several centuries.

 

[Kaylee]

Upon what ground does he claim exclusive right to use a skull and cross bones symbol?

A skull and crossbones isnt distinctive enough on its own to be a trademark, and I am fairly certain that you cant copyright a symbol that has been in regular use for several centuries.

The words or any trade name I reckon are his.

As to the image.. I imagine if he's gonna lay claim to it, he'll have to be fighting Captain Jack Rackham for the honor.

 

[Bart Noir]

Hey, more answer than I thought I'd get!

Do you think that SNS out of Snohomish, WA, (not far from me) was actually getting the engraving done by that Tom Sawyer Mfg outfit in Twin Cities?

Bart Noir

 

[OEF_VET]

Bart,

Devin at SNS did the engraving in-house. The only thing he didn't do, which was apparently the reason for the delay, was the anodizing. The anodizer he used has a major contract with Boeing, so our 60 lowers got bumped, in order to complete the Boening project. (Which is completely understandable. A $ contract, or a $$$$$$$$ contract? Hmmmmm, tough choice on who gets priority.)

Of course, there were also several recievers (about 12-15) that Devin "lost" for awhile. It took over a year for some folks to get their lowers. Suffice to say, i wouldn't do business with SNS Industries again, even if they were the only AR builders left on the planet.

 

[Justin]

Upon what ground does he claim exclusive right to use a skull and cross bones symbol?

I would imagine it would hinge on just how stylistically unique this particular skull and crossbones design is.

 

[Correia]

I have a local engraver who does awesome work. We do AR receivers engraved with unit crests: http://www.fbmginc.com/index.php?pa...ufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

 

[noresttill]

I believe ive seen one of sawyers lowers saying "Keep texas zombie free" with a crossed out zombie on the magwell.

The kicker was the selector read "Alive" -- "Dead" -- "Undead"

Jesse

 

[Mumbles_45]

Being in Washington, I'd be willing to bet that it was SNS. I was at a gun show in Centralia a while back and SNS had a table. They had a few built ARs and numerous stripped lowers. All of them had the skull and crossbones on the magwell, but the rest of the markings were pretty standard (SNS Industries, Cal.-Multi, Safe, Semi, etc.) I was looking for a lower at the time (and still am) and I liked the skull and crossbones, but couldn't afford it at the time (and still can't).

I've asked about SNS on THR before but never got more than a "use the search" response (searching, by the way, got me nothing but a pistol caliber AR carbine built on an SNS lower being sold, that's why I asked...smartasses). Oh well this thread has been very informative, so I guess I got my info in the end. I'd still like an AR with a skull and crossbones on the magwell, but if the SNS ones are someone else's thing, I don't want to infringe on that. Kind of like wearing a T-shirt with a big Ranger tab on it, not technically wrong, but I wouldn't feel right doing it.

 

[Harry Tuttle]

i have designed a couple of Zombie lower engravings that Sawyer executed.

http://premium1.uploadit.org/docZox//parasolX.jpg

 

[JeepDriver]

Mine came from Tom Sawyer. But he is out of the gun engraving bussinness. He sold his stuff to Orion Arms, not sure if they are going to be producing custom lowers of not.

Pic of my Pirate gun. (registered as a SBR, I paid my $200)





And the Zombie Gun TSM engraved for me:

 

[FTF]

What a fantastic idea!! That rocks!!

 

[Mumbles_45]

Nice AR JeepDriver. Real nice. What's the allen looking things you have in place of pins? I see the bayonette lug, but is it possible to mount a bayonette on a barrel that short?

 

[Hawken50]

ARRRR-15

oh, now that's awsome.

i saw a pic of one somewhere, may have been a photoshop, with the selector switch marked "SAFE" "FIRE" and "F#@K YEAH"

 

[kjeff50cal]

I want my ARRR selector switch to say At ease, Urrrr-rah & Get Some

 

[OEF_VET]

What's the allen looking things you have in place of pins?

They are KNS anti-walk pins.

I see the bayonette lug, but is it possible to mount a bayonette on a barrel that short?

No, it is not possible. The handle on the bayonet fits properly on either a 14.5" bbl with M-4 handguards, or a 20" bbl with A2 or A1 handguards. It won't fit on a 10.5", 11.5", or 16" bbls(unless it's actually a 14.5" w/ permanently attached flash hider).