[Guest]

I know this is going to sound silly, but assuming a lower is made out of good materials (figure the pins get loose in the crappy ones) what do you gain from buying a name brand lower? In my mind its just a frame, who cares about it beyond the material and it being smooth and dimensionally correct?

I read all these things about LMT have nice lowers, but honestly I just don't understand why you care.

The buffer spring, the trigger set, bolts, barrels, gas systems I understand all of that, just not the lower.

I know I just opened myself up to a pounding, but I really am at a loss.

 

[Guest]

The lower needs to be built to spec or the parts wont fit right. Given that the parts in in spec. But in general yes, all lowers are going to be pretty much the same as long as you stick with a known name brand.

 

[Guest]

I know this is going to sound silly, but assuming a lower is made out of good materials (figure the pins get loose in the crappy ones) what do you gain from buying a name brand lower? In my mind its just a frame, who cares about it beyond the material and it being smooth and dimensionally correct?

I read all these things about LMT have nice lowers, but honestly I just don't understand why you care.

The buffer spring, the trigger set, bolts, barrels, gas systems I understand all of that, just not the lower.

I know I just opened myself up to a pounding, but I really am at a loss.

I agree with you, as long as they are to spec and made of the same material, I don't see an advantage other than the name.

 

[Guest]

The only thing I can think of would be the finish, but even that is mostly identical across brands.

I own expensive lowers (RRA) and cheap lowers (Essential Arms) and a few in between (DPMS and Stag), and to be honest, they are all interchangable to me.

 

[Guest]

Very interesting read:

http://ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=12&t=318113

 

[Guest]

As long as it's a forged lower, ANY manufacturer is fine by me. All milling should use standard LPKs. If it doesn't, then it's out of spec and needs to be sent back to the manufacturer. I believe that there are only 2 or 3 forging plants of the AR blanks. EVERYONE buy them from one of the 2 or 3. From COLT to Essential.

Now... if a manufactuer doesn't mill a lower correctly, that's different problem.

Hardwarz

 

[Guest]

thanks for the read badshot, it was nice.

A similar question, what type of coating is the most preferred?

 

[Guest]

Stay away from Olympic and Vulcan/Hesse crap, and you'll be fine. The actual lowers themselves, not including the internals, are pretty much the same, as long as they are built to spec. I have RRA and Bushmaster lowers, and aside from the fact they have different rollmarks and the RRA has a two-stage trigger, I can't tell the difference. They both interchange with all of my uppers, are the same color, etc. Parts kit quality may vary, I like RRA parts kits. Some people have had problems with DPMS lower parts kits (missing parts, parts not made to spec), so be wary.

 

[Guest]

great post thanks!