Man alive CanAm if there was ever an easy rifle upper to manufacture by machining standards, the stamped sheet metal and MIG welded rectangle receivers of the 180b are about as simple as they come.
If you guys can slam them out and keep them around the $1K mark you would be rolling your way to the bank. Just keep all parts simple. Take the Soviet approach. F**k aesthetics and tactical nonsense and over engineered comfort junk, that all translates to overblown sticker costs on the rack. Just make it simple and reliable like the original 180b with a low sticker price. That was the Armalite approach in the first place with the design and it's the answer to all our problems in this country with our laws.
The AR180b design was outstanding. Very simple, very light, very reliable and as accurate as any generic AR off the shelf. By production standards, if you guys can machine the lowers, the rest should not be too hard to pull off. I'm not into optics other than irons sights but a basic pic rail on top of the receiver would be the only modern addition required. There's already a lot of tactical mall ninja non res rifles out there for guys who like to wear skull face masks and play assaulter on the weekend. They all cost way too damned much in this country for what they are.
I guess it would all then come down to how low you can keep the price. I'm done chasing $3K+ non restricted bullet hoses in this country. I'm probably alone on this but if it's too far North of $1K I already have a mini 14 that works and shoots real good for less than that.
There's enough overpriced non res black rifles in this country that almost nobody can afford and they all more or less do the exact same thing with the exact same results in all honesty.
Make the simple, reliable and low cost semi auto black rifle for the every man in this country and you will be Canadian Firearms heroes and get rich in the process!
Just my personal opinion on the situation.