[Drake]

Originally Posted by Old School Punk

I "believe" that ARMY is the same as "Western Arms" and "Wilson Combat", but what the fuck do I know!

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).