If PWA, Sendra, Oly Arms and a few others made lowers in A1 configuration, what happened to the molds used to make the forgings? Were they all destroyed when the A2 molds were made? Are they sitting in a warehouse somewhere, lost to history?

Quoted: If PWA, Sendra, Oly Arms and a few others made lowers in A1 configuration, what happened to the molds used to make the forgings? Were they all destroyed when the A2 molds were made? Are they sitting in a warehouse somewhere, lost to history?

A very good point.  Might be on to something here for those of us who desire vintage lowers.

I just shot a message to Oly Arms asking them what they did with their A1 dies/molds. We'll see what they say.

Good chance they are sitting at the foundry, but there is also a good chance that they have no idea where....20-30 years is enough time to loose anything.

Hmm..that is interesting...hope to hear something back from Oly.

Is there a list of the companies that made the original style forgings? Not the manufacturers who milled them into recievers, but the actual forging companies? The two big forgers of new lowers are Anchor-Harvey or Cerro Fabricated Products. There may be smaller forging companies, but  those are the two main sources.

Even if they did have the molds in a warehouse somewhere, I doubt it would be worth it. I think the minimum individual  order for new lower forgings is 1000 @ $15 plus expensive shipping, and that with them making a large number of that style. Then someone would have to do all of the milling, which is slightly more complex than the current style. If it is really impossible to mill an A2 forging to A1 specs, then your best bet is probably to just cnc machine it straight from billet.

Bump...would like to find out about this.