AR Help

[leopard6.5]

wojo14: Here's a post that LRRPF52 made about lowers that may help you in your decision:

Right now, I think the best deal on lowers is from Templar, and I would have ordered two from them for $55 or $65 before ordering the two from PSA for $49.95, although the anodizing on the two PSA lowers I received is better than most I have seen in the industry in a long time. The Templar lowers have a generously and well-executed funneled mag well, and a captivated take-down pin detent channel. They are basically a $175 lower for $65, in my opinion.

I've dealt with or owned lowers from PWA, Bushmaster, RRA, DPMS, Olympic Arms, DSA, Armalite, Colt, CMMG, American Spirit Arms, Fulton, POF, Essential Arms, Eagele Arms, JP, LMT, Spike's Tactical, High Standard, Noveske, Century, S&W, MGI, Wilson, Double Star, Mega, Sun Devil, Superior Arms, Aero Precision, NoDak, McKay, and a bunch of custom-made versions to boot. All those lowers I just mentioned are made by only 9 different machine shops around the country, and LAR makes the highest volume of them for the big names like Bushmaster, DPMS, CMMG, Double Star, Spike's, and others.

I personally don't care what name is on my lower, but price first, fit with uppers second (this is a trial-and-error game, unless you buy a custom-matched set), and anodizing third. Then I look at differentiation in features, which is usually only funneled mag wells in your basic forged lowers. Whatever you do, don't pay for a standard forged lower based on what name is engraved on it, as that is pretty meaningless nowadays. There are minor tolerance differences in mass-produced parts, but I just don't see many functional problems like I occasionally used to in the early 90's.

Good Luck with your build and welcome to the Horde.

Lee