Recently picked a cardinal forge carry handle up for my m&p-15. I then noticed the forge mark is reversed from all other examples I could find on the internet. Anyone have any ideas? Is This a fake? My cardinal faces forward as all other examples I can find seem to face backwards.. pics of both

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Not real common but not all that unusual. QC at its best.

My first thought was a reverse photo, or the bird is on both sides?? I've been wrong before so it would come as no surprise I'm wrong here too.

Did you get it for a realy cheap price ?

The very first photo of a Cardinal Forge handle I found has the bird's head facing to the left (rear)... no reason to believe it was a fake .They were showing examples of handles by different makers . The Outdoors Trader quality AR grab handles
That photo looks like your first photo .
There must be 30 different manufacturers of AR handles ... this article list them all with marks ...who knew !

Gary

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Paid $60 for it. Everything looks legit. Just thought it was interesting it's reversed n there isn't one other example of it I could find on the internet.. I don't see the page you refered me to. Where was it located on that page or what was it's title?

Looks great and original !

I am totally ignorant on how to do things on a cumputer .
I googled " Cardinal Carry Handle S&W MP-15" and it brought up that page at the Outdoors Trader Site , I clicked on the site and there was a question asked about different makers with examples shown and one (or two) were Cardinal Brand ... there was a list of makers and thier marks .
I'm sorry I don't know how to make that link appear here ... not born of the computer age ... lack the DNA to figure out how it all works . Try googling what I did and see if you can find it ...computers are just way smarter than I am .

I'm wondering if handles made for S&W MP-15 have the cardinal facing to the rear when they made the mould . They must have more than one mould and possibly the birds head gets swapped around either for a reason or just by accident when a guy makes another mould ?
E-Mail to Cardinal might get the real answer ... I'm guessing !
Gary

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NRA Member

It is as I say it is. Nothing specific to firearm brand. I have personally observed them in all 4 directions. For grins I googled yesterday and got 2 immediate examples.

If anyone cares, my circa 2007-2008 M&P 15 came with a Cerro Forge carry handle.

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

These companies provide the forgings, but the machining and finishing is done elsewhere, often in house by the rifle manufacturer.

You might ask Small Arms Solutions' guru, a nice gent named Chris Bartocci.

That looks to be a pretty complete listing of the forging companies. Knowing very little about S&W AR's, which do they use?