Do you mean just the stripped receivers are from the same company? I'd say yes, still a frankengun. You're likely to buy a bunch of parts from other manufacturers (barrel, bcg, lpk, etc.). I think a factory built rifle is the way to not be a frankengun

I don't generally agree with this... Some people tend to think that if your rifle is not factory built then it's a franken/ parts gun...

CMT internal parts
FN barrels
Magpul accessories
many different branded lowers and uppers from the same forges
Sooner or later they are all "Frankenguns"
It's only a matter of degree

Even if I owned another Colt (had probably 10 of them in this life so far) I'd still more than likely add a Badass lever,Geissele trigger,Magpul furniture,some kind of free float forend,
etc...etc...etc...

I remember hearing the term 'frankenmag' on the AR variant board, referring to putting a 7.62x39 follower in an 5.56 AR mag. So to me a 'frankengun' would be any modification of an AR that's out of the norm. But assembling a 'standard' AR together with an upper reciver from here and a lower from there isn't a frankengun INHO. Almost everybody's LPKs wil fit into anyone else's lowers with no mods, any barrel can be bolted to any upper. Now when you cut a lower to accept a Suomi drum? That's a frankengun. And it's not a bad thing, just different, and usually custom. Not always pretty, but often very functional. Not for the squares.

Frankengun just means home built, and it was originally meant as a derogatory term, you used to, and still do, hear of 'experts" who opine about home built guns being unreliable "those always break in my classes" course I have heard the same experts claim that you can't get through a carbine class 'with that Wolf crap."

Franken gun derives from "Frankenstein" monster which was a collection of random body parts "Igor" collected from various cemeteries.....in questionable degrees of "freshness".....

The bride of Frankenstein was no Bo Derick that's for sure......anymore than a Frankenstein AR-15 is no Colt

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder on the other hand performance is where the metal meets the meat..so to speak and to mix a metaphor...however...

A trailer park ghetto barrio reservation homebuilt will probably never hold a candle to a Stag, Rock River, BCM ,LMT,or a Noveske

Ya got yer Frankenguns ...your quality home-builts....your average rack grade, your quality rack grades, and your elite custom shop AR's and probably a bunch more categories we could make up...to describe something better than a Frankengun

But then that would take all the sarcasm out the discussion and what fun would that be?

To some extant, they're all frankenguns. With the exception of Colt and Oly, almost none of the "manufacturers" do everything in house. A lot of them just assemble parts from outside sources.

splitting hairs


I'd define a franken gun as one that is put together using know sub-par parts or mystery parts. (like frankenstein) Think spare parts turning into a spare rifle type deal.

YMMV

While some might consider Frankengun to be derogatory, I don't. I have far more respect for an individual capable of assembling a wild array of parts from different sources, and making an effective gun than some one who just buys an already assembled gun.

Now, one might have better re-sale value than the other. Just like a pedigreed dog might sell for more than a mutt, even if the mutt is actually superior. Re-sale value is not the best indicator of quality.

My best frankengun is a 1911 clone, not an AR clone. It has parts that were manufactured over a 65 year spread. The safetly lock is WWII GI, (I think, it might be WWI, though), the frame is cast, some of the other parts are MIM, the slide and barrel are 36 years old. Cosmetically, it is some what deficient, even when its Duracoat finish was new. But accuracy wise it is reasonable, and reliability wise it is great. It is one that I trust. Most people turn their nose up at it, until they actually shoot it.

Frankenguns, each one is a new adventure.

You have lost me here. I don't trust any gun until I have fired it numerous times. Store bought or home built doesn't make any difference.

Home built is probably better, at least you know what was used, and how it was assembled. And if a part should break, you will know how to replace it.

A frankengun, to me, is a gun assembled from parts of more than one model, for example, putting milled M1903 Springfield bands, trigger guard, and buttplate on an M1903A3. In the AR-15 world, it would be something like mating a flattop upper with a slabside SP1 lower. A frankengun may be a perfectly good gun. The main significance is its "purity" from a collector's standpoint.