List Of Manufacturers
 

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

I think WE makes the Socom Gear items.

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

What about WEs? Are they also Army/Socom?

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

WE stands for Wei E Tech

http://www.weairsoft.com/

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.

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 :)

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.

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.

TopTec=
G&G
Combat Machine

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.

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

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).

Is AGM just people misspelling ACM?

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.

Well, that's what I was referred to. Do these people just not know that ACM is not a manufacteur, and then type in AGM? Or are they going for "All Ghina Made"?:D

Yes, AGM supposedly stands for "Airsoft Gun Manufacturer" and appears to be an actual company (although not a whole lot of info about is available). Not a very original name but then again MGC stood for "Model Gun Company."

So AGM, along with other PRC companies, is one of the ACM gun companies.

I've heard that "Caspian Arms" licenses their stuff to WA, ie. if you get a "Caspian Arms 1911" you're getting a WA 1911 with "Caspian Arms" trades anyone confirm that?

As for TSD I've heard they rebrand some SRC's as well as rebranding rebrands or something.

In short this might be interesting to study if you're into the networking and graph theory stuff and might be an interesting applied/independent study or for an Honours Thesis but it's probably way too hard and complex for people like us to comprehend (I'm referring to non Mathematicians/Computer Scientists/Engineers, the "Average Joe" if you will).

While we're on the topic. Whatever happened to "Angel Airsoft Parts"? I've been wondering, it seems like before people were proud that their gun had Angel upgrade parts in it but I haven't heard too much about it and it seems like a defunct company now (on Redwolf they're "Discontinued").

Not sure about WA, but I know W.E. had a Caspian -trademarked 1911 (not sure if it was officially licensed or not).

Part of the problem with "mapping the network" is when it comes to Chinese companies, information is limited due to the illicit nature of the operations. There's also the problem of distributors like Cybergun which carry nearly identical products from different manufacturers (Cybergun P226s, for example, which are rebrands from both KWC and KJW).

I'm think they licence trades to WA but i'm not 100% sure.

Good Discusion gents! Thanks for setting us straight on some of this stuff Drake.

So while you mentioned them, who are "KWC and KJW" ???

Gordo

Except not nearly the same quality, so you can tell them apart easily if you have any sense.

I believe they have gone the way of the DoDo or; it is not worth the time/expense for major retailers to carry their products. Angel products can still be found in Japan and some retailers still have stocks. Echigoya still carries some of there products so either the production runs where gigantic or they are very small to begin with and are a local niche manufacturer

KJW = Kuan Ju Works. Taiwanese. Their longstanding claim to fame has been all metal version clones of Tokyo Marui pistols (Berettas and Glocks, originally). This started way back when the only full metal pistols were the result of metal upgrade kits. KJW also balanced out some of the components so the gun would function properly with the heavier metal slides, etc (anyone who's upgraded a GBB with an aftermarket kit knows how troublesome it can get). They also did a gas version of the Marui VSR and now entered the GBBR market as well.


KWC = Kien Well Co. (Kien Well Toy Industrial Co., LTD). Another Taiwanese manufacturer that's been around for a long time. They originally produced low end guns (Taiwanese gas guns, back when Japanese TM, WA and KSC were the norm); these were part of the harder shooting "green gas" -powered guns which paved the way for green gas/propane to becoming the norm. They also produced a large number of low end springers. KWC produced their own designs, some of them innovative, like their .357 revolver which used fake casings containing a BB each (creating a more realistic revolver-shooting experience). Their best known gun is probably the Mini Uzi GBB which ran on CO2 and featured an unusually heavy bolt, creating comparatively heavy recoil compared to other GBBs (specially in that era).



Yeah, that's what I meant. The KJs are metal and half decent (I have a P229 and it's actually pretty impressive) while the KWC stuff is plastic and pretty low end overall. But in their rebranded state, the manufacturer is never mentioned so you end up with two very different "Cybergun P226s."