I was at the book store and in a book called "The Gun Digest AR-15," Vol. 2 by Patrick Sweeney. They claim major components of the S&W M&P 15 come from Continental Machine & Tool (CMT). It claims S&W will one day do all parts in-house.

Anyone read this?

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SW1911, MP45, 5906, 3913, BG38

That book was published in 2007. It is a good book (if you don't mind Patrick Sweeney) but some of the manufacturer info in there may be old.

Anyway, does it really matter where the parts are made? As long as they are high quality and to spec.

No and all good points. Just kind of interesting. CMT is said to produce other brands, but I did not see who. S&W still backs it with a lifetime warranty so its all good

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SW1911, MP45, 5906, 3913, BG38

CMT's commercial stuff is known as Stag Arms.

When referring to CMT stuff, it's usually as a parts supplier for military contractors. They make bolts, carriers, fire control parts etc on government contract. For their retail civvie stuff, they make uppers and lowers and now complete rifles.

Seems to be about 2-3 forges that make all uppers and lowers, then everyone just mills them to their liking. You'll find the "keyhole" symbol on CMT stuff, on Bushmaster, even the much maligned Model 1 Sales kit guns...that stuff comes from Cerro Forge.

Most parts for AR's come from 2-3 major players. The difference between the commercial brands are the final finish steps they perform to these parts, or quality control testing.

CMT makes Colt's triggers and hammers. When you buy a CMT one, it is marked "C" and is the same as the Colt for all practical purposes. However, the Colt parts are immaculate, because Colt actually has quality control people who sort through the bins of them by hand and pick the best ones. Colt also does a lot of other testing and QC to the rest of the rifle. I'm not sure what "best" means, but you can tell there are less tooling marks, forge seams, flashing or whatever else...less flaws in general on the Colt parts. If you have an eye for detail, it is quite noticable.

That's the difference in price, and sometimes in function.

CMT Website? - THR

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SW1911, MP45, 5906, 3913, BG38

The CMT/Stag parts are generally good bang for the buck, IMO. Others are slightly cheaper, others are more expensive (sometimes much more...) - but as no frills works as advertised, don't get caught up in advertising or obsessed by that bloody "Chart" - CMT stuff is good to go.

This info comes from an AR thread at XD Forums and refers back to AR15 dot com.

There are currently FOUR manufacturers that produce the majority of lower receivers for the AR market. MMS, CMT, LMT and LAR receive orders from many licensed manufacturers who obtain an ATF variance to have them cut and logo receivers on their behalf. JVP and Superior Arms cut for a couple of different companies as well


Links to the manufacturers:
LMT = Lewis Machine and Tool
Lewis Machine & Tool Company :: www.lewismachine.net

CMT= Continental Machine and Tool
Continental Machine Tool Company, Inc.
Stag Arms - Worldwide Leader In AR Manufacturing (an individual corporation that was started by CMT)

LAR = some combination of the original owner's last initials
www.larmanufacturing.com
www.largrizzly.com

MMS=Mega Machine Shop
Mega Machine Shop :: Tumwater Washington (new)

JVP=JV Precision
jvprecision.net

Superior Arms
Superior Arms Inc.


LMT = LMT, Lauer (old), DS Arms, PWA, Eagle, Knights Armament, Barrett, Bushmaster (?)
CMT = Stag, RRA, High Standard, Noveske, Century (current), Global Tactical, CLE, S&W, MGI, Wilson Tactical, (some?) Colt, Ratworx
LAR = Grizzly, Bushmaster (L Prefix), Ameetech, (?)DPMS, CMMG, Double Star, Fulton
JVP = Double Star, LRB
MMS = Mega, GSE, Dalphon, POF (forged), Alexander Arms,
Olympic = Olympic, SGW, Tromix, Palmetto, Dalphon, Frankford, (old) Century
Sun Devil = Sun Devil forged billet receivers
Superior = Superior Arms, Lauer (current)
Grenadier Precision


Taken from a post at AR15.net

Lewis Machine & Tool LMT
Lauer
DS Arms
PWA
Eagle
Armalite
Knights Armament
Barrett

Continental Machine Tool CMT
Stag
Rock River Arms
High Standard
Noveske
Colt
Century (New)
Global Tactical
CLE
S&W
MGI
Wilson Tactical
Grenadier Precision??


LAR Manufacturing
LAR
Bushmaster
Ameetec
DPMS
CMMG
Double Star
Fulton Armory
Spike's Tactical

JVP
Double Star
LRB
Charles Daly

Mega Machine Shop
Mega
GSE
Dalphon
POF
Alexander Arms

Olympic
Olympic
SGW
Tromix
Palmetto
Dalphon
Frankford
Century (Old)

Sun Devil
Sun Devil forged billet receivers

Superior
Superior Arms
Lauer (New)

MPDC,

Very cool info...thanks for posting!

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SW1911, MP45, 5906, 3913, BG38

Hi, I was wondering if anyone here can tell me the best manufacturers for ar15 rifles are. I tried to gather information about companies but found few of them. Do you on what basis ar manufacturers deal with each other.

ar 15 manufacturers

I think that info is outdated, as S&W now forges all of their receivers in house. I just saw a show the other night that showed their plant and some of the processes to build the M&P 15s.

So what other AR manufacturers use the progressive twist barrels like S&W?

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Grover Oathkeeper

No one that sells commercial barrels. Only ones would be custom barrel makers that I could figure.