Anyone have any info on Sendra arms? I have an early 80s manufacture AR15 in A1 style, with a VERY different finish of lower (purple anodizing). Makes me think it was built on a kit?

I believe all Sendra were built on contract overruns back in the day. Somebody here will know more about the sendra (drasen) history. Basically they were one of the first companies building ar15 clones early on. There was colt, then there was sendra (poorly milled forgings), Olympic (castings) and one other company who I can’t remember that built on cast lowers. They were the only game in town for non colt.

Some of the Sendra lowers had really rough mag wells or out of spec take down pin locations.

I know mine did.

I had a frankford arsenal lower made by sendra years back. Looked like it was milled with a Dremel. Saw a purple sendra in the gun shop in the late 90s and regret not purchasing at the time since it was real cheap for a pre ban. It was gone when I went back there.

Most non colt brands back in the 80s and 90s were crappy lowers with mixmaster parts sourced from contract overrun or surplus.

“Factory” guns which were essentially completed kit guns, and the majority were sold as lower only. Fire control parts were milspec surplus FA that had been ground down and neutered.

No park/finish where the disco tail was ground off or on the hammer spur which was also ground off.

The industry was nothing like today.

thanks for all the info, this one is def a parts bin.

The upper has a shiny black finish, definitely not Colt gray, but it does have a Colt barrel.

A1 FH with split washer, A1 stock, A1 grip

FA FCG, with a stop machined into the lower so the selector stops at semi

Tear drop FA

Hand guards are triangular, probably Colt but who knows. It also has a "tick" selector.

BCG is commercial cut

All in all, it does shoot well. I put a TA01 ACOG on it, and it's a great, lightweight rifle.

I have a purple Sendra. It’s an odd mix. The bolt catch was soft and it bent from hitting it with my palm.

The guys today don't know how good they got it! I remember hand filing for hours (dremmels didn't exist yet) to get Upper & lower receivers to fit, then they had to be refinished.
Sendra was the first aftermarket (Non Colt) AR15 lower receiver available, quality was hit or miss but if you wanted a normal front takedown pin they were the only game in town for a while.
EA, SGW Olympic & Quality Parts (Bushmaster) soon followed & they fit like crap also.
The good thing about the early AR15 aftermarket was that pretty much all the standard parts (Barrels, Carrier groups, FCG, etc..) were surplus military parts, FCG parts usually were full auto parts ground down into semi only parts.

I bought a Sendra back a few years ago. It was all Colt 603 parts on it other than the lower. I kept the upper and sold the lower for what I paid for the entire rifle and the rest is now my 603 build.

I had two Essential Arms cast pre-ban lowers I sold off as well as an early cast DPMS

Those were all an odd mix of pieces and parts.

I know someone who used to work at sendra, and he remembers machining down fat head firing pins into standard configuration. He said that they had trouble getting firing pins, but since nobody wanted the fat head firing pins, they could pick them up for next to nothing.

Ouch

I purchased one a few years ago off Gunbroker. Yes, it has a purple tint to it.

Sendra and Nessard were both companies owned by Jerry Drasen. Drasen is known for selling many of the M-16 parts and short barreled uppers to David Koresh and the Branch Davidians of infamous 1992 Waco Siege.

M&A Parts, Model 1 and American Spirit Arms were started by his other family members after Jerry Drasen was indicted.

United States of America vs. Gerald Drasen, Anthony Aleo, and Cynthia Aleo

No one wanted any old parts, waffle mags, chrome bolt carrier groups, Slab sided uppers, Colt A1 barrels & 1/14 twist barrels were dirt cheap, as an example I purchased a 1/14 W marked barrel for $50 from a member here.
Saddest story I heard about retro stuff was from an AirForce reserve officer I worked with in the early 1980's, I was talking about Waffle mags with him & the next day he handed me 5 excellent condition Armalite marked waffle mags, then he told me how when cleaning out an Air Force storage room he found a full case of them & was told to throw them in the dumpster!
Same guy handed me 2 brand new inland M1 carbine barrels he had laying around with no use for them, amazing.

That company was local to me and unless I'm mistaken, DSA is now in the same building. I bought a upper and lower separate to avoid the 11% tax at a local gun show in about 1982 from Drasen personally, I thought it was Dick and not Jerry, but I could be wrong. In any case he was a real character. I think I paid $275, it was my first AR. It had the A1 lower with no fence around the mag catch and after I cleaned the shitty black paint off of the lower it had the famous purple anodizing. The parts, including the upper and barrel were all Colt (M16 carrier) and the thing ran 100% and was very accurate. The only problem was the front sight post was canted. I sold it in the early 90s, I have tried to but it back from the guy several times, but he has refused my generous offers.

I have a registered M-16 on a Sendra lower. Ive had it for over 25 years and its always run fine. Only drawback was it was light purple when i got it and the inner lip of the magwel was really rough. Within the first year of owning it I sent it to Stan Andrewski and had him clean it up and refinish it.

I bought a M16 kit gun in '81 with a Sendra lower. Still have it , I paid $250 . It came with AR15 selector and had the disconnector tail cut off .
As I bought it originally .


Used the upper and lower for this half ass 177 .



Can see the purple in this pic .



r

I have a complete Sendra rifle. Serial #023XX. Paid $250 for it 30 years ago and it's seen hard use and has been perfectly reliable. From the research I've read, Sendra produced several hundred complete guns. It has a shiny black finish the shows purple where it's worn through. It's in the A1 configuration but has a 3-prong flash hider, chrome BCG, a Model 602 flat-end bolt catch, and a Model 601 pistol grip. The dust cover is what I was told is a Sendra-produced piece. There is no cut for the detent body and the detent is a simple u-shaped bracket welded to the back side. The detent and spring are exposed and held in the bracket with a tiny roll pin. The pistol grip finish is worn through the green and black layers to the brown fiberglass. The only part that is out of spec is the mag catch. The threaded part has a slight angle to it and it's hole in the receiver looks like it was drilled a little off. It's always worked just fine but any other catch will not fit. The barrel is a 20" 1:12 marked 'C MP CHROME BORE'. I've fired probably thousands of rounds through it with no issues. Even lost in in the swamp for 3 days. I think it's a keeper.

I always thought that mine was a factory reject. That was for the Sendra A1 clone lower. Chewed up mag well.