Any ideas why Smith & Wesson made the M & P Sport without

[jss4uva]

The short answer is to save money.From a manufacturing standpoint, the upper is machined from a solid piece of 7075 aluminum. If you look at the attached pic, to have the forward assist and the dustcover features machined out of the solid "chunk", the material has to be over 2" nominal thickness to machine down to size. For the sport, the material only has to to be 1.5" nominal thickness to achieve the final product. This equates to less wasted material you are machining away, less raw material ordered, less shipping cost (less weight) etc. Over a run of several thousand this can add up to a tremendous savings.

 

[M29since14]

...From a manufacturing standpoint, the upper is machined from a solid piece of 7075 aluminum.

I would have thought S&W would use a forging for both, but having a look at their website it doesn't say so. Both the FA-models and the Sport simply say 7075 T-6 (material).

Naturally, if they are actually using barstock for both the FA- and Sport-models, the savings in machining for the Sport-model would be huge, but I doubt they do that.

 

[jss4uva]

Yeah you are probably right. So it would just be the material savings and machining cost of just those features

 

[wordslinger]

Picked one up yesterday for a good price, and shot it today. I bought this rifle with value in mind, as my son (12) was eager to shoot it with me. We were discussing the "economized" aspects of the Sport on the way home from the range, with big smiles of course, and we agreed that our "next" AR platform would have all the bells and whistles. Ours shot great, and I feel great about the purchase.

 

[JaPes]

Picked one up yesterday for a good price, and shot it today.

Congrats and welcome aboard!

we agreed that our "next" AR platform would have all the bells and whistles. Ours shot great, and I feel great about the purchase.

I chuckled when I read this. I have two AR-15's: a 15-Sport and a full featured AR I assembled. My 15-Sport ended up with all the aftermarket bells and whistles. The full feature AR (dust cover, forward assist) is the iron sight, no frills, KISS rifle. Your 15-Sport may end up with more bells and whistles than you planned on.

 

[WR Moore]

Back in my college economy classes I learned that items sell for around 5 times the cost of production. Of course this varies between a bag of potato chips and a new Cadillac, but it would be interesting to learn the real cost to manufacture each.
.

The gent who postulated the 500% markup never met a cost accountant. Although it does matter how many times the product changes hands. The general rule of thumb is that every time the product changes hands, the price goes up 30%.

So...... if we assume that MSRP of an item is $1000 and it goes factory, to distributor to retail outlet, the factory got about $400. [ Yeah, the exact figure is a wee bit different, this is a generalized example.] Technically, this also includes 'profit'. The cost accountant will tell you that 'profit' is part of your costs. Otherwise, you (and your investors/stockholders) would just park your money somewhere where the return was better. The company/factory could not and would not exist if profit wasn't included.














5

 

[Maddmax]

Funny thing. That ("cheap"),stock, basic, bare bones 1-8 5R Sport shoots just as good as the rest of my MSR's and hasn't given me any troubles what so ever. AND it gets treated just the same as any of the others "flavor" MSR's" I have. NONE are safe queens or babied.

Half the time the dust covers are never (remembered anyway) to get closed except after cleaning... Using the FA is/can just be adding to a problem or just creating a bigger one. BANG !!! and loss of your upper/barrel. If it (bullet), don't fit. Forcing things never works out for the best.

They made it so anyone could afford a GOOD basic, reliable MSR at a very reasonal price and also be able to build off at your own pace and choise.

 

[Kilibreaux]

Forward Assist, and Dust Cover. Seems like not much more cost when doing a production run?

Considering the sheer number of mil-spec receivers that come with fwd assist mounting point one is forced to wonder WHY anyone would come up with a receiver lacking such. The answer is that the FA is pretty much not needed. The AR pattern rifles generally chamber just fine, and if you want to avoid the added cost of parts and installation of a FA, you might as well specify YOUR upper receivers come sans FA capability.
Same with the dust cover...dust covers are all about extreme conditions...MOST civilian purchasers of AR type rifles BABY them...and even those who shoot bazillions of rounds on some range while imagining themselves the next SWAT sensation, don't carry them around for weeks or months under field conditions where dirt can enter the ejection port. Again, the parts and labor cost to mount the ejection port cover add up so why not leave it off when you KNOW your consumer will never put the rifle in such conditions.
The port cover is designed to protect the gas piston system located inside the bolt carrier...those tiny holes located in the depressed section of the carrier...not really needed at all unless one is definitely going to be wading streams and low-crawling in much and brain goo.

 

[uncledoggle]

Amazing, this thread has been going on for almost a month. Maybe S&W should consider installing a "Dead Horse" button on their next receiver innovation.