Windham Weaponry?

[Michael Cox]

Have any of you had any experience with this company? They claim the employee's are all former Bushmaster employee's. I did notice that they do 1-9 in their barrels.

http://www.windhamweaponry.com/

[Cameron]

Originally Posted by Michael Cox

Have any of you had any experience with this company? They claim the employee's are all former Bushmaster employee's. I did notice that they do 1-9 in their barrels.

http://www.windhamweaponry.com/

Why would someone claim that?!?!? Isn't that a negative?

I think this is the company that took over Bushampster's old factory.

Cameron

[dfariswheel]

Apparently Windham IS the old Bushmaster company and many employees.

A former Bushmaster employee posted on the Colt forum that the original owner sold the company to Remington, waited until contract provisions expired, then re-started the company under the Windham name, with many original Bushmaster workers.

Here's a link to the info:

http://www.coltforum.com/forums/loun...-weaponry.html

[Redhat]

Originally Posted by Cameron

Why would someone claim that?!?!? Isn't that a negative?

I think this is the company that took over Bushampster's old factory.

Cameron

No way man...I love mine!

[jonconsiglio]

No way. Stick with the professional grade, highly regarded manufacturers.

[dsk]

Originally Posted by Cameron

Why would someone claim that?!?!? Isn't that a negative?

I think this is the company that took over Bushampster's old factory.

Cameron

To me the first negative is using a name that has such a hard time rolling off the tongue.....

[Munch520]

Originally Posted by Cameron

I think this is the company that took over Bushampster's old factory.

Cameron

Yep. No idea why they rebranded and changed nothing. I'm assuming one of the reasons to change the name was to distance themselves from Bushmaster? The WW AR I've seen is the exact same, save the rollmark.

[Michael Cox]

Well that settles that. Thanks for the replies.

[1saxman]

The reason they changed the name is somebody else owns the Bushmaster brand now. There is no reason the same people can't start a company and make ARs under a different brand. And 'Quality Parts/Bushmaster' was one of the premier brands and also one of the first brands to complete with Colt. I've had a couple of them and always thought they were very good quality. It is true that they are making 1:9 barrels at this time, but a great many shooters are still using 55 gr to 69 gr and will be as long as its available. I imagine they will offer 1:8/1:7 before long.

[Munch520]

Right. Never said they couldn't start another company. It however is unfathomably retarded to do so and make 0 improvements. Doing the wrong thing twice..definition of stupidity.

Yes it's 1:9 made from 4140. And the WW I saw not only had shallowly staked fasteners, but two different types of fasteners! And of course an unstaked castle nut that was hand tight.

[SRJim]

Originally Posted by Munch520

Right. Never said they couldn't start another company. It however is unfathomably retarded to do so and make 0 improvements. Doing the wrong thing twice..definition of stupidity.

Yes it's 1:9 made from 4140. And the WW I saw not only had shallowly staked fasteners, but two different types of fasteners! And of course an unstaked castle nut that was hand tight.

If it was a successful business, regardless of opinions of quality, after they sold the brand (and I'm sure the Freedom Group made it a lucrative deal) why would they invest in changing what was a good business before under a different name? The wise money says keep doing what works.

[Michael Cox]

Originally Posted by Munch520

Yes it's 1:9 made from 4140. And the WW I saw not only had shallowly staked fasteners, but two different types of fasteners! And of course an unstaked castle nut that was hand tight.

This is why I love this place. Yes, the above is an opinion/experience with said weapon but for a new guy just getting into buy/build your own AR this info is priceless.

[Twaits]

Originally Posted by Munch520

Right. Never said they couldn't start another company. It however is unfathomably retarded to do so and make 0 improvements. Doing the wrong thing twice..definition of stupidity.

Yes it's 1:9 made from 4140. And the WW I saw not only had shallowly staked fasteners, but two different types of fasteners! And of course an unstaked castle nut that was hand tight.

I feel I need to respond to some mis information posted above. I work at Windham Weaponry and am the moderator on ARF.com and the tech support guy.
Our barrels are 4150 chrome moly vanadium steel. We do not stake castle nuts but none of them are simply on hand tight. In fact they are pretty difficult to remove unless you have the right tools. We decided not to stake the nuts as many people like to install aftermarket parts and we don't want to make this difficult for people to do. Staking a castle nut is very easy to do and any armorer can do it in about 5 minutes so we feel it's best left up to the customer.
This is the first time I've heard a complaint about our staking of the gas keys. And we only use one kind of fastener. If you see a different kind someone has switched the bolt carrier from a different companies gun. Here's a picture of one for you.



Thank you dfarriswheel for refering my thread from the coltforum.

I welcome any other questions about our weapons for anyone interested.
Thank you.

[Redhat]

Originally Posted by Twaits

... We do not stake castle nuts but none of them are simply on hand tight. In fact they are pretty difficult to remove unless you have the right tools. We decided not to stake the nuts as many people like to install aftermarket parts and we don't want to make this difficult for people to do. Staking a castle nut is very easy to do and any armorer can do it in about 5 minutes so we feel it's best left up to the customer.

Thank you dfarriswheel for refering my thread from the coltforum.

I welcome any other questions about our weapons for anyone interested.
Thank you.

Twaits,

Thanks for joining in. I am curious, since you do not stake the castle nut, how do you secure them?

Thanks

[Twaits]

Originally Posted by Redhat

Twaits,

Thanks for joining in. I am curious, since you do not stake the castle nut, how do you secure them?

Thanks

With a really robust custom made telestock wrench. I'll eat my hat if one ever comes loose on it's own. We used the same method when I worked for the previous company and the only complaints we had were people who couldn't remove the castle nut because it was on so tight. I had many people send me their lower because they needed to have the stock removed but could not do it.

[Redhat]

Originally Posted by Twaits

With a really robust custom made telestock wrench. I'll eat my hat if one ever comes loose on it's own. We used the same method when I worked for the previous company and the only complaints we had were people who couldn't remove the castle nut because it was on so tight. I had many people send me their lower because they needed to have the stock removed but could not do it.

So are you saying you rely on torque alone? No locktite or anything?

[ssn vet]

I think it's pretty awesome that after Freedom Group consolidated production at their Remington plant and shut down the Bushmaster plant in Windham, ME and laid off all the employees, that Mr. Dyke (who's retirement age and obviously doesn't need the money) started the new company and put most all of his former employees back to work.

I built a Delton middy from a kit. It is a tack driver and has never failed. It has a "lightly staked gas key" that hasn't budged after several thousand rounds.

Aside from LEOs who's life depends on their duty carbine every day, I've concluded that most of the fuss and nit picking over such details is just "mines better than yours" internet bragging rights.

Bushmaster made solid ARs, and they made a whole lot of them for years, paving the way for many others in a vibrant civilian AR market.

[Munch520]

Originally Posted by SRJim

If it was a successful business, regardless of opinions of quality, after they sold the brand (and I'm sure the Freedom Group made it a lucrative deal) why would they invest in changing what was a good business before under a different name? The wise money says keep doing what works.

It does work. I agree completely. But this is a perfect PR opportunity to say "this is what we're doing now, this is why it's better, and oh by the way it will cost the same amount". It's a sourcing adjustment, and maybe some manufacturing/QC adjustment, but worth it. Highlight important things like QC, barrel steel, carrier type...instead of what they currently push: tacticool stock, handguard, etc.

Short term, what they did is fine. Long term, I think making a quality change would get them a appreciative and loyal customer base. BCM and perhaps PSA are perfect recent examples of this.

Originally Posted by ssn vet

Aside from LEOs who's life depends on their duty carbine every day, I've concluded that most of the fuss and nit picking over such details is just "mines better than yours" internet bragging rights.

This an interesting post. I don't get it.

Any and EVERY weapon I purchase I consider one day staking my life on. I've sold many due to this manner of thinking. The "I'm not a cop/mil/etc" argument...I don't get it. This argument is especially ignorant when considering the fact that the "nit picky, quality, bragging-rights-granting" brands are cheaper, or a net wash, when compared to brands with inferior quality.

[SuHu]

Originally Posted by Munch520

But this is a perfect PR opportunity to say "this is what we're doing now, this is why it's better, and oh by the way it will cost the same amount". It's a sourcing adjustment, and maybe some manufacturing/QC adjustment, but worth it. Highlight important things like QC, barrel steel, carrier type...

I agree. As long as a company can get the materials required, building an AR now a days should be a complete no brainer. Look at BCM.. they can't build them fast enough.

I don't know how companies can screw this formula up anymore.

[Twaits]

Originally Posted by Munch520

It does work. I agree completely. But this is a perfect PR opportunity to say "this is what we're doing now, this is why it's better, and oh by the way it will cost the same amount". It's a sourcing adjustment, and maybe some manufacturing/QC adjustment, but worth it. Highlight important things like QC, barrel steel, carrier type...instead of what they currently push: tacticool stock, handguard, etc.

Short term, what they did is fine. Long term, I think making a quality change would get them a appreciative and loyal customer base. BCM and perhaps PSA are perfect recent examples of this.



This an interesting post. I don't get it.

Any and EVERY weapon I purchase I consider one day staking my life on. I've sold many due to this manner of thinking. The "I'm not a cop/mil/etc" argument...I don't get it. This argument is especially ignorant when considering the fact that the "nit picky, quality, bragging-rights-granting" brands are cheaper, or a net wash, when compared to brands with inferior quality.

And this is why anyone interested should come to our forum on A15.com or to our website and ask questions directly. I can't be on all of the forums. The only reason I joined this one is I found this discussion by chance on google.
And I don't mean to be disrespectful to the 1911 forum as I'm sure it's a fine forum. But if you are going to discuss AR15s maybe it would be best to discuss them on an AR15 forum. And if you have any specific questions or concerns ask them directly. We're a mouse click away.

[tc13]

Originally Posted by Twaits

And I don't mean to be disrespectful to the 1911 forum as I'm sure it's a fine forum. But if you are going to discuss AR15s maybe it would be best to discuss them on an AR15 forum. .

You're seriously suggesting ARFCOM as the hotspot for intelligent conversation?

[Grizzman]

He didn't specifically mention AR15.com, just an AR-15 forum. There are others.

Ahhh, my bad.

[herd48]

Originally Posted by Grizzman

He didn't specifically mention AR15.com, just an AR-15 forum. There are others.

Re-read post #26.

[Live2Ride]

Originally Posted by tc13

You're seriously suggesting ARFCOM as the hotspot for intelligent conversation?

I believe he was saying it was a place to go to discuss the guns his company sells, as he likely won't be frequenting this forum and he moderates on that forum so that's where he'll be. And just like the 1911 forum is a great source for 1911 information, an AR-15 forum is a great source for AR-15 information.

[Twaits]

Originally Posted by Live2Ride

I believe he was saying it was a place to go to discuss the guns his company sells, as he likely won't be frequenting this forum and he moderates on that forum so that's where he'll be. And just like the 1911 forum is a great source for 1911 information, an AR-15 forum is a great source for AR-15 information.

Thats exactly what I am saying thank you.

And regarding the staking of the castle nuts I outlined why we do not above.
The previous company that I worked for for 13 years never staked the castle nuts unless it was a request on the contract. I never had any complaints in those years and the company had been doing it the same way for about 15 years before that. A properly torqued castle nut isn't going to come loose. But if one is concerned about it it's super easy for anyone with a punch and a hammer to do. For the small percentage of people that want to see a staked castle nut there will be a larger percentage of people upset that they can't remove the nut. With all of the different stocks and endplates available for upgrades this is what we are going to run into. I used to have a lot of people send their lowers back to me for repair because they wanted to remove the stock but couldn't, and those nuts were unstaked
I've been at this game a long time