Been a lurker on this site for over a year now, finally decided to buck up and become a member

Anyway, my first AR build has just recently been completed and I have found myself more than pleased with the setup. I managed to score a Ranier Arms upper w/ 9" keymod rail, a 14.5" Voodoo ultralite barrel, and the Adams Arms piston conversion together for $650. I then bought the Ranier RUC lower with the MFT minimalist stock for $405. So far I'm totally in love with Ranier and am considering them again for my wife's lightweight build. I was wonder what all your experiences with Ranier have been and if you have any comments/comparisons with their products and their quality. Thanks!

Rainier is gtg if you can afford them for your situation...

As I said, my whole setup was just a tad over $1,000. In the realm of ARs,  that's a pretty sweet deal

And as I said they're gtg...

They are a local shop for me (Around 35 minutes away). I try to make it to every event they have and order from them when convenient. Though that's not as often as I'd like since I have to pay tax for them as well.

As far as quality of their parts, it's top notch. I've never personally had an issue and I've run quite a bit of it. I wouldn't hesitate to use their stuff in the future either.

When it comes to customer service? MOST of their employees are excellent. Very personable and a pleasure to talk to. I have had a problem with one person who I think was assuming I didn't have knowledge on a subject, but I've done my best to not let it sour me on Rainier as a whole. Heck, if they were hiring I'd apply. That's how much I like them overall!

If you like their stuff, definitely consider it for the next build for your wife as well. You can't go wrong.

They aren't the cheapest, but everything they carry is pretty much top-notch stuff.

Thanks Mike! I've had to do customer service with them a time or two before and they were excellent. I'm a little jealous that y [use only 35 minutes from them, I'd love to go in and see it

You should do some posting and reading around in their industry forum here.

Which would probably be a more appropriate place for this topic, no offense.

That being said, they are fantastic. Michael is one of the nicest people to deal with and they back up their products 110%. They are ALWAYS available to take your calls, unlike some companies out there (*AHEM BCM AHEM*) that NEVER answer their phone.

They also promptly answer emails. If you have a question or just need some clarification on something they have on their website, your order or anything else, and it's the weekend  or while they are closed, you can post your issues in their industry forum and someone from Rainier will answer there promptly. They are very active here on arfcom. And of course, their parts and services are top notch.

My recent order with them (which was for a large sum) has a different billing and shipping address and Michael contacted me to inquire about it, just to make sure the order was legit and that my credit card info/finances were secure. It's great to have a company that will take care of you, provide great parts and service and ha outstanding customer service. Great and hard to find, but Rainier has it all.

Honestly, they are a couple towns south, but not my first stop if I need something.

They have a decent selection of parts and a decent website. The shop itself is nice, but I find that the customer service is a little lacking. It may be better with the online community, but in person it was disappointing.

One of my friends bought muzzle device from them and they offered to put it on. The guy who did it though, used an ungodly amount of torque (90+lbs) and stretched the rifling ever so slightly. Friend had to go through a lot of bullsh*t to get them to admit what they did and replace the barrel.

I dropped off a barrel and flash hider to get a cut thread pin and weld. I dropped off the barrel without a flash hider on it, barrel nut still on and the fixed front sight post on with the taper pins halfway in. The sales guy then informed me that I would be charged a $20 fee to disassemble the barrel assembly prior to cut and thread. Honestly, a half seated taper pin takes 1 minute to punch out, not 15 minutes. Then when they were charging me for everything, they charged me the higher rate for the pin and weld. I asked why and he stated that it was because the flash hider that I dropped off was a Surefire flash hider. I then corrected him and let him know that it was a BE Meyers (Which is not on their list). He gave me a partial refund, but didn't apologize for it even though he failed to check and just assumed it was a surefire. After everything is done, I think the most annoying part is that when the gunsmith put the front sight post on before the pin and weld, he fully seated the taper pins instead of seating them halfway like I had dropped it off. I ended up not being able to get them out (both myself and a buddy of mine tried) and had to insert the gas tube through the receiver.

Your experience may vary, but for me, dealing with their sales guys is not worth making the trip to Auburn.

I find that their upper / lower combos are as good as it gets in a forged lower.   They alway fit nicely, and if you want it tighter than (insert inappropriate age related material here) they have a tensioning screw to really lock the two pieces tight.

Ranier is my go to vendor.

You should post this story on their industry page and see what they say. They are usually very eager to make things right. I'm sure someone from Rainier would respond.

That's a really shitty experience you had...

I run their BCGs in two of my AR's and they are great.  I had a firing pin issue with one of them but they were quick to fix it.

I order from them all the time.

The only Rainier product I own is Raptor CHs.  That being said, I've spent probably more than $10k on their website between various manufacturers parts and some gunsmith work.  They are solid and customer service is great.  About the only other place that I've seen offers the same CS and lower prices (for the stuff I buy, mainly Noveske) is DSG.

Michael, is my go to guy, although he does get me to buy shit that I did not go in to the store to buy.

They are about 10 minutes from work.

Great service and fast shipping. More than once I've ordered on my break at work (6am their time) and had a tracking number when I got home (1pm their time).

They'll spoil you.

They are a good shop with great selection and a large barrel selection.  That being said there are a lot of new boys on the block that have equal service, ship as fast, and have better prices and free shipping.  SKD comes to mind, AIM, etc.  Rainier's set flat rate shipping is a blessing on big orders but a real shafting on small one and is outdated when your competition is shipping for free or for $2.89

They've ignored emails from me twice. Once was a naive  " are these rails coming in or should I choose another".  This was before I understood there is a wall of silence about these situations.  Nobody, especially rainier because they are such industry insiders , is going to answer that question, I get it now. I'm not a pain, I would have just loved a " we don't know, might be safer to choose an in stock model"

The second was for a REALLY wobbly MOE stock. A FDE that was easily twice as wobbly as a black one I had.  I asked very nicely for help, I thought it might have been a commercial tube size instead of mil spec. Asked again a few days later in an emailed clearly titled " second request" nothing. And this was through their internal mail that we had conversed with before, they were getting the inquiries.  Magpul on the other hand answered immediately, taught me where to look to identify whether it was commercial or mil spec, and offered to inspect and replace it. Wow that was tough Rainier!

Rainier is still solid, but I go elsewhere now.