Who makes guns for the military?

Answer 1

Depends on which gun, and which military. In some countries, a factory operated by the government (known as an arsenal) makes them. In the US, private companies compete for a contract to make guns for the military.

Answer 2

Depends on which country. Some countries have state owned arsenals, whereas others contract out to private parties.

For the US Military, Colt previously made the M16 rifles and M4 carbines.. they outsourced much of their production - for example, their receivers were outsourced to Continental Machine Tool. Now Fabrique Nationale has those contracts, as well as contracts for the M249, M240, and even M2.

Colt is not the only company exporting AR15-pattern firearms. Bushmaster and DPMS have both made military sales of their non-Colt licenced rifles, as has Norinco of China, with their unlicenced M4 copy.

During the Second World War, many non-firearms companies had a hand in manufacturing firearms. Savage was awarded contracts to manufacture Enfield rifles to be sent to the UK under the Lend-Lease Programme. Singer Sewing Machine Company is one of many companies which re-tooled to manufacture M1911 pistols. Even Lousiville Slugger had a hand in the process, manufacturing the wood stocks for the M1 and M2 carbines.