Guns.com — Arex manufactures the Rex Firearms line of handguns. I had a vague notion of the handguns as I had seen them, but honestly couldn’t tell you more than that. The handguns looked like a Sig and CZ had a child. A little more research and I found that they had only been on the market in the US for about 3 years.
At this point, I’m embarrassed to say that I was not expecting much from Arex, but I couldn’t have been more incorrect in my initial assessment. Arex was definitely not just some small startup operation that decided a couple of years ago that they wanted to make handguns.
Arex was founded in 1994 and they currently employee around 120 employees. On arrival to the Arex facility I suddenly realized that this was not a shop, it was a complex. The facility boasts roughly 26,000 square feet of manufacturing floor and nearly 7,000 square feet of warehouse space. The plant maintains ISO:9001:2008 compliance as well as AQAP compliance.
One of the most important things I learned, at least for me, was that Arex was not new to the industry. They didn’t just wake up one day and say, “hey let’s build guns.” Arex has been in the defense industry and firearms world for years. They make parts for companies we all know, companies like FN, Browning, Fiocci, Seiler and Beloit. They also have many military contracts and hold patents on military equipment used by some of the most elite units in Europe. Arex also currently manufactures dummy ammunition, and other military equipment such as ballistic helmets and vests. They certainly live up to their motto: Development as a way of life.