“I’ve never seen a stamped aluminum AR-15.” (post 23 by smokingfrog)
“Armalite & Olympic make them among others.” (post 25 by Roman_War_Criminal)
No one makes “stamped aluminum” AR-15s.
All makers forge the upper & lower receivers from aluminum billets, then machine them to final dimensions. Same goes for the makers of AR-10-style rifles. Except for the receiver extension (aka “buffer tube”), all other major parts are steel.
Stamping isn’t necessarily a bad thing. HK used stampings to make the G3, the MP5, and a number of other arms. Whoever made the CETME Modelo 58 for the Spaniards and the Portuguese did the same. And the Red Army’s AKM (superseded the AK-47 in 1959 or so) was stamped.
And don’t forget: anodizing is an electrochemical process that converts the metal surface into a decorative, durable, corrosion-resistant, anodic oxide finish. Aluminum is ideally suited to anodizing.
AKs are sprayed with a can of black BBQ grill paint.
Anyone else have a couple dozen of those little hex head wrenches in various sizes that come with all the crapola we bolt on our evil black guns?
Look up the Armalite 180 - it’s stamped. It’s the bottom line AR that I was referring to. Olympic Arms tried the same years ago with epic failure results.