List Of Manufacturers

[Old School Punk]

Hey Guys, just wondering if anyone has ever done up a list of Airsoft Manufactures and their "alternate" brand names.

What I am thinking is like;

Jing Gong = Golden Bow =
ARMY = Socom =
KSC = KWA =

If such a list doesn't exist, maybe we could try to compile one here on this thread. I think a list like this would be really helpful.

Let me know what you think please

Gordo

[Disco_Dante]

I think WE makes the Socom Gear items.

Echo1 and Cybergun are mostly JG, CYMA, and AGM.

[TaroBear]

What about WEs? Are they also Army/Socom?

[Old School Punk]

See that is why we need a list like this?

You hear different stories all the time about which guns are actually made by so and so, but then you hear something different from someone else and you don't know what the heck to believe.

It would be nice to figure out who makes what, especially when your looking for upgrade or replacement parts for your guns.

As far as my "ARMY = Socom =" statement, I think that was a load of crap.

I "believe" that ARMY is the same as "Western Arms" and "Wilson Combat", but what the fuck do I know!

Also I "believe" that "WE" is the same as "SOCOM" but it would be nice to confirm that.

Anybody know what "WE" stands for?

Anyway keep throwing some names out here and I will try to compile the info into some sort of list. It would also be great to identify which ones are TM or Classic Army compatible etc.

Gordo

[EagleDriver]

WE stands for Wei E Tech

http://www.weairsoft.com/

[Shooting Addict]

Originally Posted by Old School Punk

I "believe" that ARMY is the same as "Western Arms" and "Wilson Combat", but the fuck do I know!

NO
Western Arms has it's own design that is completely superior to anything out there. They DO NOT have distributors under different brand names.

[m102404]

Socom Gear makes licensed replicas of Daniel Defense items for Madbull Airsoft...but they're going to stop doing that soon and Madbull Airsoft will take over production of DD stuff, leaving Socom to focus on other items.

Maybe...sometime this summer...or sooner...or never


..........good luck with keeping you list up to date

[The Saint]

There is a very complicated web of OEM in the airsoft industry. Some of it is visible, but vast majority of it is like the rest of the iceberg that you don't see, am likely to never even suspect or fully grasp unless you're apart of it.

[Old School Punk]

Hmmm... I found a list of Airsoft Manufacturers on Wikipedia;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._manufacturers


It does seem to shed some light on some of these tie ins between companies, but I am starting to see that this may indeed be an almost impossible task to lay this all out into a chart form.

Still it would be nice to keep the discussion going to see how much info we can scoop together. I am still willing to try to put something together if you guys continue to throw some "tied in" company names here on this thread.

Gordo

Hmmm I smell some controversy coming on that Western Arms thing. Could be some fun coming on that one yet.

[pusangani]

TopTec=
G&G
Combat Machine

[krap101]

I think these kinds of lists might be hard, and possibly misleading because some companies rebrand other companies and make slight changes. Some names might be interchangeable, but something like echo 1, they can be jg dboys etc etc. Something like this if it is made will need quite a few exceptions and crossovers.

[Styrak]

Yeah the OEM -> front line brands "map" can sometimes be crazy and intertwined. Not THAT many companies actually make guns.

[Drake]

Originally Posted by Old School Punk

I "believe" that ARMY is the same as "Western Arms" and "Wilson Combat", but what the fuck do I know!

Not a whole lot if that's what you believe.

Western Arms is a very old company from Japan that originally started off as an aftermarket parts manufacturer for MGC

"Wtf! I never heard of MGC before and it's not in the list!"
That's right, they closed up shop years before you ever heard of airsoft.

MGC made a whole range of guns (both airsoft and other models) and W.A. specialized mostly in parts for 1911s and Berettas, which is why until recently the bulk of their lineup was almost exclusively 1911 and Beretta variants. They innovated, among other things, the Magna blowback system which they licensed to other companies (like MGC).

"Magna, smegma! Wtf is that shit?"
It's only the design by which almost ALL blowback pistols work to this day.

"So what about Wilson Combat?"
Wilson Combat is a real firearms manufacturer by Bill Wilson. They aren't involved in airsoft except in licensing their name/logo to some manufacturers (Madbull, etc). Wilson's claim to fame is from their 1911s.


That Wiki list is informative but contains errors (there's some seriously clueless fucks contributing to that article), a few of which I spotted just glancing over it, I'm sure there are many more if I bothered reading it in detail.

Chiefly:

Cybergun - they don't produce anything, they're distributors -- although in many cases they're performing additional QC on the products they rebrand and also managed to obtain official licensing (for trademarks and such) from a large number of firearms manufacturers. Therefor Cybergun usually offers "officially licensed" versions of guns. Cybergun operates under the name Palco in North America.

Deep Fire - They're a Hong Kong company, not American (although there's a Deep Fire USA that distributes their products in the US).

Guay & Guay Trading Co./G&G Armament - Taiwanese, not American. Originally an aftermarket parts manufacturer. As Pusangani mentioned they also run the TopTech and Combat Machine banners. They distribute in the US under the name "101 Tech USA"

Hudson - "Produces high-end" ? lolwut? No.

Olympic Arms - A real firearms manufacturer. Doesn't produce any airsoft. They've licensed their name to several companies (including some really shit Walmart grade stuff, as well as ICS).

Omega - Was Taiwanese, not Japanese.

SOCOM Gear - is only related to Madbull in that it was started by a [former] Madbull designer (albeit with Madbull's blessing, and they do seem to co-op on some projects). As previously mentioned they were doing licensed productions of DD parts, which has now been transferred over to Madbull. SOCOM Gear also rebrands the WEI-Tech (W.E.) 1911 (with some minor revisions in the earlier models along with extra QC).

TOP TECH - See G&G


It probably doesn't help that a lot of companies rebrand from various sources, certain products are manufactured at the same factory (OEM) but marketed under different banners (sometimes with minor differences), and many products are clones of other products (in whole or in part).


Edit:

Since you brought up ARMY (Army Works / Army Armament), they're a Chinese (mainland) company that produces inexpensive clones (Tokyo Marui pistols, so far).


More edit:

Jing Gong = JG = Golden Bow - those are ALL names for the one and same company.

Echo1 - US distributor, like Cybergun/Palco.

ACM = "All China Made" - it's not a fucking company! It's a reference to the array of Chinese (mainland) -made products, made at not-always-so-legal-factories (airsoft guns aren't supposed to be manufactured in P.R.C. and factories usually operate clandestinely) and sold under various banners (or sometimes none, such as the infamous ACM M500 shotgun/Marushin M500 clone and Magpul knockoffs).

[TaroBear]

Is AGM just people misspelling ACM?

[Boyso]

Originally Posted by Drake

Not a whole lot if that's what you believe.

ACM = "All China Made" - it's not a fucking company! It's a reference to the array of Chinese (mainland) -made products, made at not-always-so-legal-factories (airsoft guns aren't supposed to be manufactured in P.R.C. and factories usually operate clandestinely) and sold under various banners (or sometimes none, such as the infamous ACM M500 shotgun/Marushin M500 clone and Magpul knockoffs).

Posted just above you, TaroBear.

AGM seems to stand for Airsoft Gun Manufacturer, from my quick Google search. Don't quote me on this tho, could be wrong.