Adams Arms makes some pretty cool rifles. We’ve reviewed their guns in the past and found them to be pretty awesome — in fact, the biggest gripe I had was the price. The guns are good, but they either needs some upgrades or a price drop to make them better. Adams seems to have come to the same conclusion as they’ve dropped their prices and continued to make improvements on their products. Press release after the jump . . .
Press Release:
Big things are happening in the halls of Adams Arms these days. Today they have the ability to take superior products to the market at industry leading prices. A recent move to bring production in house coupled with increasing overall productivity allows them to pass savings directly to customers. While traditional piston systems can cost an average of $1,200-$1,600, the Adams Arms base piston rife now has a MSRP of just $995. These prices allow the company to compete with lower priced, traditional rifle systems, while still offering consumers the ability to afford high-quality piston rifles, parts and accessories.
Adams Arms President and CEO Michael Froning commented, “We are extremely excited to be able to reset the bar from a product cost standpoint while delivering the highest quality products on the market. While the industry is seeing reduced prices to combat lagging sales, we have been able to drive our costs down significantly and pass on savings of over 20% to the consumer”
The company also announced exciting new upcoming projects to include:
* .308 Rifles
* Pistols
* .22 Rifles
* Shotguns
* Custom Slides
* Projectiles
* Accessories
More news on the release of these products is expected in the next few weeks.
Established in 2007, Adams Arms began with an innovative design that improved the operating system of AR style rifles. The Adams Arms Retrofit Kit provided users the ability to upgrade their existing direct impingement rifles to a piston operated system in a mere thirty minutes or less using a 3/4 inch wrench and hammer. They received a patent in 2008 and gained major OEM partnerships which quickly made their system the number one piston system on the market with more than three times the OEM contracts of competitors.
By 2011 they were building their own upper assemblies and within a year manufacturing complete rifles. Adams Arms’ growth skyrocketed as they acquired their largest OEM manufacturer allowing them to produce the majority of their parts in-house. Adams Arms also develops and utilizes some of the most technologically advanced manufacturing processes, machining techniques and coatings, including QPQ, PVDs and Nickels, that far exceed Mil-Spec standards for quality and performance.
They launched VooDoo Innovations, a sister company, in 2013. VooDoo brings high end coatings and processes to the direct impingement market. With so much growth, a major decision was made to purchase $4 million in manufacturing assets. New equipment and the addition of key leadership and industry hires resulted in more than 75% of production moving in-house. Distribution channels were expanded to new distributors, buying groups, direct dealers and website retail sales.
This year they have continued to streamline production and grow their line with products such as:
XLP Low Profile Gas Block
C.O.R. Rifle
Ultra Lite Advanced Dissipator
Line of 300 BLK Products
VooDoo Rail System
VooDoo Innovations LifeCoat Parts
For more information about Adams Arms and their products, visit www.adamsarms.net or email [email protected].
I’m going to take a wild stab and say that by pistols they mean either AR pistols or 1911’s. In other words, nothing new under the sun.
I’d be interested in a good piston or DGI .308 AR-10.
I’ve got a rock river .308 that runs perfect.
They make a good rifle. (Not sure if they make a CA compliant rifle though)
Buy a FAL. Piston driven with Sub MOA accuracy.
Love my Adams Arms mid-length upper.
Ditto.
I’ve been using a Huldra Arms (built by Adams Arms for Fleet Farm stores) mid-length gas-piston upper in .223/5.56mm for several years with no problems. It’s not really a tack-driver (2 MOA on most days, sometimes better, occasionally much worse with certain loads), but it runs like a champ, and the upper/bolt/carrier area stays cleaner and cooler compared to any DI system.
I’m not ready to dump my DI ARs yet, but I’d recommend Adams Arms or Huldra Arms uppers/rifles for general-purpose use to anyone that doesn’t require a high level of accuracy.
My last Adams Arms middy piston build has turned out to be the smoothest and most enjoyable rifle I own. I also have no problems with the DI ARs I own either, especially the SBR suppressed 300blk. 🙂 I have had good results with the enhanced buffer tubes and the POF roller cam for piston guns.
Good quality guns at a price you can’t deny is AMAZING for its class. I gotta get me one of those. May need a trigger upgrade though…
I agree about the trigger – I got one of the $600 specials from buds gun shop (mid-length “blemished” rifle). Its nice, but the trigger was really bad – stock barebones mush-fest.
I had to do a trigger job on it, and the furniture that came on the thing was pretty much crap as well – stock handgaurds and collapsable stock.
FYI – I always wondered if the Buds Gun Shop deal was a way to unload these things. Honestly, the “blemish” I found was so incredibly small that I thought it was very unlikely that this was a blemished weapon.
FYI – I always wondered if the Buds Gun Shop deal was a way to unload these things.
Yes it was. Good way to unload excess of inventory while at the same time trying to maintain the regular sales channel pricing structure. Seems like they realized that that they have to be more aggressive in the normal channel pricing also.
The “blemished” version is still available at Bud’s for $600 and it sure seems like a great deal for someone wanting to tinker with a piston AR. Yeah the handguard/stock is low quality but most people want their own choices anyway.
http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/411554497/Adams+Arms+Base+Piston+Carbine+556NATO+16%5C%22+BLK+6-POS+30RD+Blem
Pretty much a way to unload. I just picked up 4 stripped lowers from PSA. I didn’t really want to spend the money, but at 49.99 a pop, I really couldn’t pass it up. Worst case scenario, if I end up not wanting to build 4 seperate rifles, I could flip them when the deal is over.
Same here. Picked up a blem mid-length. No blem that I can find. After function testing with the AA lower, I swapped it out for an extra lower I had that was setup with the trigger I wanted to use (CMC flat 4.5# SS). Rifle runs like clockwork and cleaning is a breeze. Been taking it to the range each time I go in case anyone is bring a new shooter so they can try an AR if they want.
Good to see, but it’d be more impressive if there was a move towards standardization in the AR piston marketplace. I’d argue lack of standardization is a bigger problem than cost/weight.
Is this really surprising though? There was never any reason for pistons to cost that much more.
Adams is about as standard as you are going to get. CORE, S&W, and a bunch of other brands use their system. Plus, they sell spare parts unlike Ruger. I LOVE my Adams Arms MOE Mid. Amazing rifle for <$800. Light weight too.
“Light weight” is so true. If you look at most piston offerings, they’re pretty damn heavy, somewhere in 7.5 lbs ballpark. With AA uppers, you can get 6.5 lbs easily, and even down to 6 lbs with a little bit of effort (in my case, I put an AA upper on a CavArms polymer lower to get very close to that). And, of course, in any piston AR, all that extra weight is going to be in front, making the rifle that much more front-heavy – so you will feel it!
Until someone else is manufacturing a compatible system it’s not standardized.
And I’ve heard mostly good things about AA, considering buying one myself. My point is that if gas pistons ever want to get serious on the AR platform in terms of replacing DI across the board, there needs to be standardization and cross-compatibility – that’s the whole point of the AR.
@NL, ah…..the jump!
I have an Adams Arms 11.5″ upper built into a pistol, waiting on the e-file to return for a final SBR build. Even shooting as a pistol, it has incredibly light recoil. Follow up shots are rapid, and on target. Unfortunately, I paid a premium for the upper assembly, but it is worth every penny.
When I twisted on my suppressor, it almost feels like a .22. The big bonus to suppressor owners (especially lefties) is that there is no gas coming from the chamber. All gas is exiting forward of the handguard (yay, no gas face). Also, the gas system has 3 settings. Full gas (for open muzzle shooting), restricted gas (for firing suppressed), and off (for manual cycling)…I guess there is some merit in turning a semi-auto into a bolt gun.
The gas piston cleans itself while cycling, so only the barrel needs to be cleaned after a range trip (you can clean it easily, but you will find it is almost pointless). The BCG can be lubed once in a while if you like, but it does not get hot enough to burn off your lube, and doesn’t get dirty from shooting as far as I can tell. I have put 500 rounds through it since assembling it, and only added lube once, when I stripped and cleaned it upon arrival at my door.
Definitely gonna buy another upper or full rifle soon. I don’t even shoot my DI rifles anymore.
Nick, can you do a followup article on Huldra/Adams Arms entry level uppers and rifles, for us guys who don’t have tons of cash to spend on a rifle?
Thanks
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