Poll: Unbranded

[MasterChief]

Anyone heard of this? Purchased anything from them? I understand the concept and since there are very few actual manufacturers I wonder where this stuff is coming from. Not as cheap as one might expect for being "unbranded." I have run across a few sites like this and just haven't had the guts to pull the trigger when I know I can get something I trust for the same price, cheaper, or just a few dollars more.

Thoughts?

Unbranded AR

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[MilitantBEEMER]

Never heard of them, but thank you for sharing. I am not opposed to trying new things to see how they will perform. The Titaium parts though few, look decently priced. Nice to see some small parts inventory as well.

 

[MasterChief]

Another one that I found was:

<broken link removed>

I asked them about multiple products and they said all of parts I asked about are made in the USA (Charging handles, muzzle devices, parts, etc).

 

[MasterChief]

Update - I heard back from Unbranded and they said "ALL parts on the website are made in USA."

 

[clearconscience]

Don't care much about unbranded as much as un-registered

 

[sed]

I'm not opposed.

There are some great unbranded deals out there, but also some bad ones.
It can be a roll of the dice sometimes.

"Made in the USA" doesn't automatically mean "top tier." Yes, it's absolutely better than made in China IMO!
But important to remember, there are (what some would consider) low end AR manufacturers that are still made in the USA.
Yes, sometimes you pay for a name, but many times you are also buying better quality (at least better QC).
Full disclosure, I don't own any "top-tier" AR's - I like to build.

The "market" generally does a good job of ranking good vs bad manufacturers (even with the fan boys constantly sounding their horns). The bad part of a company going "unbranded" is it allows a bad-reputation-company to still sell their products without the baggage of their bad reputation killing sales for them (good for company, bad for us as the consumer).

Toolcraft is an example of a good unbranded deal. Toolcraft makes and sells a LOT of bolt carrier groups. They provide BCG's to the US military, to rifle manufacturers as OEM BCG's for their complete rifles and they sell many as individual BCG's (you may already own a Toolcraft BCG and not know it).
Toolcraft is generally considered a solid BCG, mostly sold as an ubranded part and they are usually very competitively priced! A great buy IMO.

Regarding the actual company Unbranded AR, it's run by Rocky Harrigan and was started by her and her husband, an Army green beret.
I first heard her in some interviews on the AR15 Podcast last year. They've had her on a few times. In the interviews she explains how they started and more about their business model.
Springfield had her participate/compete in the Night of the Saint project they did when they launched the Saint rifle.
She is a very stand up person in my opinion. She's very Pro-2A and a great 2A advocate. She's a great business leader for the firearms industry and a great leader to have in the 2A community.

Bottom line, regarding buying no-name parts, as long as you know what you're getting (or not getting) and comfortable with it, it's all good in my opinion.

 

[Boboclown]

"Made in the USA" doesn't automatically mean "top tier." Yes, it's absolutely better than made in China IMO!

That depends. I'd much prefer a Chinese AK over an American made one.

 

[titsonritz]

No thanks. Contrary to popular belief all AR parts are NOT the same.

 

[titsonritz]

That depends. I'd much prefer a Chinese AK over an American made one.

I've not seen an American built AK that I would own.

 

[bbbass]

I bought my 18" spiral fluted 1/8 Wylde stainless steel upper from these folks thru Gunbroker.com and it is flawless!!!


ARpart.com
5.56/223 Rifle

 

[sed]

That depends. I'd much prefer a Chinese AK over an American made one.

My thoughts on the made in USA vs China are also somewhat biased - I'd rather support an American manufacturer vs a Chinese one.
China can produce good products if they want to (they do it with other products and in other industries).
But it seems in the AR parts world, the Chinese parts commonly available today (a lot on eBay and Amazon) don't match the quality of most US produced parts IMO.

There will be companies that push and change this as the market dictates. Strike Industries for one is currently doing exactly this with AR parts. They offer some pretty innovative products, generally very good quality (can be hit or miss) and at competitive prices for what you get. But sadly, much of their product line is not made in the USA (mostly Taiwan).

This has been done with optics. There are still some GREAT optic manufacturers in the US (Leupold in our backyard), but there are also some very good (even great) optics coming in from overseas.
Look at Vortex, they are generally accepted as a great optics company. However, their offering is comprised of items largely made in China, Philippines and Japan, depending on the product line.
**edit - there are also a lot of junk Chinese optics in the market - way too many!

So this topic can/will be very fluid as manufacturing and technologies improve. Quality production is not exclusive to one country - China can do it too if the resources are there and the market will support it.

I'm personally not opposed to buying quality products made somewhere else.
But if I have the chance to buy US produced parts, I will do it every time I can.

 

[Boboclown]

My thoughts on the made in USA vs China are also somewhat biased - I'd rather support an American manufacturer vs a Chinese one.
China can produce good products if they want to (they do it with other products and in other industries).
But it seems in the AR parts world, the Chinese parts commonly available today (a lot on eBay and Amazon) don't match the quality of most US produced parts IMO.

There will be companies that push and change this as the market dictates. Strike Industries for one is currently doing exactly this with AR parts. They offer some pretty innovative products, generally very good quality (can be hit or miss) and at competitive prices for what you get. But sadly, much of their product line is not made in the USA (mostly Taiwan).

This has been done with optics. There are still some GREAT optic manufacturers in the US (Leupold in our backyard), but there are also some very good (even great) optics coming in from overseas.
Look at Vortex, they are generally accepted as a great optics company. However, their offering is comprised of items largely made in China, Philippines and Japan, depending on the product line.

So this topic can/will be very fluid as manufacturing and technologies improve. Quality production is not exclusive to one country - China can do it too if the resources are there and the market will support it.

I'm personally not opposed to buying quality products made somewhere else.
But if I have the chance to buy US produced parts, I will do it every time I can.

Let me clarify. While generally I'd like a U.S product, U.S made AKs so far has been nothing but a crap show. A Chinese AK will work and is much less likely to blow up in your face than an American made AK. PSA is so far one of the few, if not only, American AK that wasn't complete crap. And even that is questionable until time proves otherwise.

So if we were to somehow get the imports legalized again (won't happen, once banned it stays that way for the most part apparently, yay pro-2A politicians right?) a Norinco Mak-90 would still be leaps ahead in quality compared to an American AK.

While American made optics are, for the most part, leaps ahead in quality of most Chinese optics we get now.

 

[sed]

Let me clarify. While generally I'd like a U.S product, U.S made AKs so far has been nothing but a crap show. A Chinese AK will work and is much less likely to blow up in your face than an American made AK. PSA is so far one of the few, if not only, American AK that wasn't complete crap. And even that is questionable until time proves otherwise.

So if we were to somehow get the imports legalized again (won't happen, once banned it stays that way for the most part apparently, yay pro-2A politicians right?) a Norinco Mak-90 would still be leaps ahead in quality compared to an American AK.

While American made optics are, for the most part, leaps ahead in quality of most Chinese optics we get now.

I probably shouldn't have directly quoted you as my reply was in no way a disagreement with you or your statements.
I'm with you. It can change category to category and product to product. There are great products in the firearms industry that come from all over, just as there is junk from all over (even from the US). You have to do your homework to know what you're getting and if the details are too vague, you should probably pass - even if it seems like a "great deal."
If there are good/great US options, I try and support those options the best I can, but you still have to be careful (like buying unbranded AR parts).

 

[Boboclown]

I probably shouldn't have directly quoted you as my reply was in no way a disagreement with you or your statements.
I'm with you. It can change category to category and product to product. There are great products in the firearms industry that come from all over, just as there is junk from all over (even from the US). You have to do your homework to know what you're getting and if the details are too vague, you should probably pass - even if it seems like a "great deal."
If there are good/great US options, I try and support those options the best I can, but you still have to be careful (like buying unbranded AR parts).

Gotcha. Pretty much. With AR prices though, one should just go with a brand that generally gets positive reviews. Not much of a reason to non-branded stuff at this point.

 

[JedB]

Anyone heard of this? Purchased anything from them? I understand the concept and since there are very few actual manufacturers I wonder where this stuff is coming from. Not as cheap as one might expect for being "unbranded." I have run across a few sites like this and just haven't had the guts to pull the trigger when I know I can get something I trust for the same price, cheaper, or just a few dollars more.

Thoughts?

Unbranded AR

From their website:
About Us

Also goes by "Critical Capabilities"
I'm guessing you can google that and see if any of their clients have had issues.

 

[MasterChief]

From their website:
About Us

Also goes by "Critical Capabilities"
I'm guessing you can google that and see if any of their clients have had issues.

Critical Capabilities is there commercial side and Unbranded AR is their retail I believe.