02-18-2014, 12:23 AM
With the acquisition of DPMS, Remington, and Bushmaster, I think Freedom Group has leaned on the leadership, engineering, and long-term competencies of Remington to drive the firearms side of their business.
This clearly can be seen with the "DPMS" GII, which there is also a Remington R-25 GII being introduced this year. The manufacturing was streamlined to eliminate the Bushmaster facility in Windham, Maine, so now "Bushmaster" AR15's have lowers with a logo type font that appears strangely similar to the DPMS Panther logo, but with Ilion, NY as the location for manufacture. Break out the BCG and what is stamped on a recent Bushmaster AR15? "D", which is from DPMS's BCG line. Barrels are made by Remington's barrel line.
As I follow the developments of the Freedom Group as a firearms manufacturer, it's interesting to see some of the competencies they have brought to the table that have been severely lacking in many medium-sized AR15 companies, especially engineering, marketing, and distribution. Only time will tell if they are able to overcome Remington's hit-and-miss record with QC in the Remington 700 line (headspace anyone, lug engagement, non-square receivers and bolt faces...), Bushmaster's QC failures with cheap components, bad carrier key assembly, and DPMS's reputation for barely-passable vismods on the gun rack for $600 on up.
From what I'm seeing in the GII, I have a lot of hope for this business model, but we know how that goes.
This clearly can be seen with the "DPMS" GII, which there is also a Remington R-25 GII being introduced this year. The manufacturing was streamlined to eliminate the Bushmaster facility in Windham, Maine, so now "Bushmaster" AR15's have lowers with a logo type font that appears strangely similar to the DPMS Panther logo, but with Ilion, NY as the location for manufacture. Break out the BCG and what is stamped on a recent Bushmaster AR15? "D", which is from DPMS's BCG line. Barrels are made by Remington's barrel line.
As I follow the developments of the Freedom Group as a firearms manufacturer, it's interesting to see some of the competencies they have brought to the table that have been severely lacking in many medium-sized AR15 companies, especially engineering, marketing, and distribution. Only time will tell if they are able to overcome Remington's hit-and-miss record with QC in the Remington 700 line (headspace anyone, lug engagement, non-square receivers and bolt faces...), Bushmaster's QC failures with cheap components, bad carrier key assembly, and DPMS's reputation for barely-passable vismods on the gun rack for $600 on up.
From what I'm seeing in the GII, I have a lot of hope for this business model, but we know how that goes.