re: Official AR-15 thread

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The advantages are in the manufacturing; a forging requires a large initial investment in tooling, but the payback comes in the ability to mass produce consistent, strong parts relatively cheaply on a per item basis.

Manufacturing from a billet (assuming a forged billet) has a lower initial cost investment for the manufacturer since the parts are produced on a one-off basis. The drawback of this approach is that it takes longer to produce a part, and is therefore more expensive on a per item basis.

The strength issues compared to a forged part can be compensated by adding more material in the billet part, but realistically I don't believe that the strength differences between a forged billet upper/lower and a forged upper/lower are all that great.

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