What's the beef with A.R.M.S.?

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SpeedAKL

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First off, I am not looking at buying any ARMS product. I have heard enough warnings from people who are knowledgable regarding AR accessories to avoid doing that.

Having said that, what are the more specific reasons as to why the AR community (and gun-owning community in general) gets up in arms (no pun intended) over them?
 
I have heard that they have paid off politians for defence contracts.

I've also heard that they sue alot of people for minor things.

could be just hearsay.....

If I buy, it will not be ARMS!!
 
They are of outdated design and made of cheap material. They are far to easy to break because of the above reasons.

Now the company and owner is another issue. Dick Swan has a reputation of living up to his first name. Instead of innovating and coming out with new products, they sue any competitor who comes out with a new competing product.

That I know of he has sued Troy, Magpul and Larue. Larue was the latest and biggest. Mark decided not to just fight it in court but fight it publicly as well. See ARMS claims they own the right to such terms as Throw lever, 50 BMG, 5.56, the number 17, etc.

ARMS is a dying company, they are trying to shore up sub par sales with a litigation strategy. It may work in the short term, but it has turned the shooting community against them.
 
They do not do business as they should and it is starting to bite them in the butt. You won't find any simpathy for them on this site or any other site that has any clue as to what they have done. The last thread about arms drew in a troll who tried to justify their greedy actions but just made him look like an uneducated schmuck.
 
They most recently lent political support to Martha Coakley, the Massachusetts Attorney General that lost the Senate race to Scott Brown.

Not exactly who you'd think a manufacturer of firearms accessories would support.
 
Their lawsuits against competitors.

The owner's support of anti-gun politicians, Coakley in particular.

General high price and snotty attitude.

I would buy any other brand - any.
 
Colt, DPMS, Oly, BCM. We all often disagree on AR companies. Yet we all share a dislike of A.R.M.S. =) Nice that we can all come together LOL.
 
I actually agree with Azz. The one ARMS item I owned was complete trash. A loaded mag slid off a range bag (fell 3" maybe) hit the ear on the #40l and broke that sucker clean off. Pot metal.

I have no real insight as to their political dealings, so I can't comment on that, but they make junk, I can tell you that.

FWIW, I like Troy Industries' products.
 
Another issue is that their throwlever type mounts tend to eat up rails, becuase of the rubbing action of the cam.
 
Damn, I hadn't heard all that.
I'd just based my opinion on my own experience. I bought a scope mount for my FAL that replaced the original dust cover with one from A.R.M.S that had a rail on top. $135 about six years ago.
Thought the price seemed pretty damned high for what it was, at least $50 more than the competition, but I thought I was buying the best.
When I got it, I saw that it was attached exactly like the original dust cover, bent sheet metal that slides into the receiver. Seemed ok after scope install, but after twenty rounds fired it no longer fit tightly enough to keep the scope securely mounted.
Back to iron sights.
When I contacted ARMS, their response was something to the effect of "your receiver must be out of spec, there can't be anything wrong with our part, sucks to be you."
I've never considered another ARMS product.
"Outdated design and made of cheap material."
Yeah, sounds right.
 
Basically, in an attempt to hamstring companies that make competing products (LaRue and Magpul) as well as companies that make non-competing products (3Gun Stuff, etc.) A.R.M.S. has taken to filing dubious lawsuits for trademark infringement over the use of numbers as well as terms such as "throw lever".
 
1. Dick Swan is a Dick Swan
2. ARMs has an inferior product that is over priced
3. ARMs sues every competitor they have. Betting that the crooked polititians they support will rally to their aid. (But hey, isn't buying votes to elect evil, that will support your evil causes, the American way???) I can let this slide because this is commonplace in the new USSA.

4. General bad behavior and trying to start trouble with good companies that support our interests.




Just get a Larue mount. And make sure you get it direct from Larue, unless you like crooked fake replicas.

Laruminati or death!
 
I dont know about the lawsuit stuff, or buying off politicians for defense contracts (sounds like business as usual, so why is that all of a sudden a big deal?). Really dont care either.

I have, and have had a number of ARMS mounts and rings, etc, and have never had any issues with them. They all seem well made and work as advertised.


Another issue is that their throwlever type mounts tend to eat up rails, becuase of the rubbing action of the cam.
Click to expand...
Do you have actual experience with this? Seems it would be an issue with any of them if it were an issue.

I've had a #35QD double throw lever mount on one AR for a number of years now, and its been on and off on a fairly regular basis, and I have yet to see any damage to the rail.

Havent had any problems with my ARMS Aimpoint mounts on true mil spec rails either. I did have some troubles with my Springfields SOCOM rail though, but then again, my Larue mount would not go on the same rail at all.
 
I think Larue may still have a promotion going on where If you were duped into getting a ARMS mount, you can exchange it with one of their equivilant mounts no charge.

I never tried it. Learned about ARMs watching others scream at thier optic mounts at the range, so i got lucky and avoided them. Go to ar15.com industry section for larue for more info on that.
 
Zero they had two deals going on. The first was if you had any broken ARMS stuff you could send it to Larue and they would replace it with an equivalent Larue mount. I sent in a 68 mount that would slide forward and backwards on any rail you placed it on. ARMS told me this was acceptable performance so they would not replace it.

ARMS got pretty pissy about that deal so Mark Larue then expanded this to replacing any mount that you could intentionally break. I took advantage of this deal and replace an ACOG mount. Ironically while removing the mount to try to break it, one of the throw levers snapped off. Since I felt deprived of the fun I still broke the other level before I sent it in however.

I am pretty sure it is over though. Check out the Larue Forum over on ARF.com though to be sure.

Myself, and many others also made sure we supported Larue during this by also purchasing some of his products when he replaced the broken crap from ARMS.

Truth be told American Defense and Bobro make just as good a product as Larue, however I am supporting Larue right now while ARMS is picking on them.
 
^ You could always buy a Stag 2T or RRA Elite Comp and break the rear sight they give you with the rifles...replace with LaRue product.
 
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