Don’t let the name ‘Astra’ have any influence on your choice. As far as I know an Italian businessman bought the name ‘Astra Arms’ to commercialize some guns made elsewhere. According to some Swiss friends the Swiss address of the new ‘Astra Arms’ company is nothing but a mail-box. Rumor says that the Astra AR15’s are made in Vietnam and aren’t even assembled in Switzerland as they claim. So far nobody is able to say where in Switzerland there is something like an ‘Astra production/assembly facility’.
The Astra AR15’s are too new on the European market to find any reviews. I had a quick look at them at the gun store, but only briefly as I don’t intend to buy an AR15. To me the difference in quality and finish between the Astra’s and Oberlands was obvious. Just as I was there, another customer brought back the new Astra he bought the same morning because after disassembly he noticed several internal parts had rust on them !
Only good thing I can say about them is that over here they are some 40% cheaper than the German made Oberlands. But then again, when something coming from ‘Switzerland’ is much cheaper than the same thing coming from Germany … I tend to be very, very skeptical.
