[QUICK UPDATE]

Got up to 300 round of 7.62x39 through the rifle with the Plum Crazy lower on it.  Everything still looks/feel new.  Should be able to get up to 500+ rounds through by the end of next week.

[/UPDATE]

I'm posting this up here to try an consolidate some of the posts I put in another thread (that also strayed quite a bit off topic as well)

I just got two lowers in. They were complete, LPK installed with buffer/tube/spring and 6-position stock (commercial tube). I bought them for $99/each, which was a hard price to pass up to try them out!

First impressions;

Nicer then I expected, actually. The molding is nice, no real noticeable burrs/blemishes. I was surprised that EVERYTHING is polymer. I kind of expected the take-down pins to be metal at least. Nope. Not including the stock, the only metal I can see are the trigger springs. I'd be lying is I didn't admit that everything being polymer does nag a bit in the back of my mind, in terms of how well everything will hold up long-term. As it sits right now though everything fits well and it nice and tight.

I attached two different uppers to each lower to inspect the fit. Each upper snapped on easily, and had a tight fit, but not too much that made it a PITA to swap them out. One upper is an ASA 16" M4-style chambered in 5.56, the other is a Model1 16" chambered in 7.62x39.

One thing I noticed right away was the weight, or lack of. These lowers are LIGHT, and it's very easy to feel the difference.

All of the metal mags I tested dropped free from the mag well very easily. However, both the PMAG and Lancer L5 magazines needed a tap or shake to get them to drop. They just had a little bit of a drag to them. I'll be curious to see if they "wear in" at all.

The trigger has a very crisp feel. The reset is quick, and there is little to no creep. Again, I'll be curious to see if it stays that way after everything wears in.

Here are a couple pics with the ASA upper on the Plum Crazy polymer lower;





With the 7.62x39 upper;

(I moved my Ergo grip and ACS stock over to the lower)





Weight

Essential Arms aluminum lower with standard parts kit installed (no stock/buffer tube) - 1 pound 0.3 ounces (16.3 ounces)

Plum Crazy polymer lower with polymer parts kit installed (no stock/buffer tube) - 8.8 ounces

Weight savings of just about a half pound (7.5 ounces)...not bad, especially if you want to put together a real light-weight rifle.

First trip to the range;

Fired 180 rounds of 5.56 and 150 rounds of 7.62x39. The lowers ran great. No problems. The trigger is heavy, but crisp, virtually no creep and the reset is quick. I was surprised that this lower worked 100% with my 7.62x39 upper, as I needed to install a heavier spring in the original lower to deal with the notoriously hard primers, the springs in these are heavy enough as they sit.

The 7.62x39 felt like it had a bit more recoil, possibly due to lack of weight or the lighter buffer the stock had in it. I just swapped everything from the original lower (ACS stock with tube/spring/buffer, Ergo grip) over to the polymer lower and will try to get back out to the range this week to see how it feels. The 5.56 rifle felt lighter in-hand, but I didn't feel any more recoil, but the 5.56 round is pretty soft as it is. I didn't notice the 7.62x39 as being too much lighter, probably because it has a fairly heavy setup (M.I. rails, 1-4x scope/mount, heavy barrel) compared to the 5.56 setup (Magpul handguards, EOTech, M4 barrel).

I loaded the magazines light, only 5-10 rounds, each time to work everything as much as I could with the short time I had. The mag release and safety switch showed no signs of any wear, the trigger is just as tight. Everything looks good. The only thing I noticed that I thought was odd, was that I could set the safety ON when the hammer was not charged. I can't do this on any of my other lowers. Just had to remember that if/when I saw the safety on it didn't mean that the rifle was charged.

Post range trip inspection

No pin-walking of any kind.  Everything looks/feels just as tight as it did initially.

One of the hammers showed some wear on the edges where the carrier passed over it, the other still looks brand-new.  After looking at the bolt-carriers it turns out one (7.62x39, left) has a shielded firing-pin while the other does not (5.56, right).  Here's a pic;



I'm going to take out the hammer and radius the edges to relieve the area getting "cut"

Conclusion so far

Still pretty impressed with the lowers overall.  For the $$ they are, at this point, a steal.  We'll see how they fair with some use.  I'm leaving this lower as the full-time lower on the 7.62x39 gun.  That one should show signs of wear before the 5.56 model.  I've got a couple more range trips coming up so when I hit the 500 and 1000 round marks I'll update this post and any new information.

Nice, but not my cup of tea.

Thanks for interesting info though.

Yeah I'm not a big fan of polymer lower . So even the lower parts are polymer ? Not sure i would like that. What about the pins are those plastic too? They don't look too beefy where the back take down pin is. Looks like you could put an auto sear in there. Not a DIAS. i'm talking an Auto sear like an M16 has. Looks like that matrial that an AR15 lower would have there to prevent someone from just drilling the holes and putting it in there isn't there.

Very interesting. Thank you. I will be looking forward to your reports.

Regardless of how I feel about these, your range trip photos / writeup / review were done very well... Great job.

+1. Nice review.  I still dont like the polymer lower parts at all though. That hammer shows just why.

X 2...  Could you put a regular LPK on the polymer lower?

Yes, but I wouldn't.  Having metal parts in there would almost certainly oval the holes after a while.

The hammer is not damaged at all, and if you have a bolt-carrier with a shrouded firing pin it won't happen at all.  I'm not too worried about it, I'll just remove a little bit of material on the sides so it won't ride the edges of the bolt carrier that doesn't have the shrouded firing pin.

Awesome!!! What foregrip is that?

Tango Down stubby, one is a standard mount, while the other is the quick-detach version.  If you were looking to get one, get the QD, the standard one can be a PITA to take off/on

I have to say, I do like the trigger.  I wish it was a touch lighter, but the break is very clean.  You might be able to put a lighter spring in it, that may reduce the weight slightly.  Overall though, the trigger has been impressive.

I've one of these lowers on a 14.5" carbine (ASA Barrel, Vltor cas-v AZ AR FTW!!) but with a DPMS LPK. I've put several hundred rounds through it and have had 0 problems so far.

Just about every weapon I own is covered in polymer parts and the lower is a relatively low stress part.

Someone cut one of the lower parts in half and see if it's polymer coated metal like the parts on a new Beretta 92FS.

Later,
Chrome...

No reason to destroy good parts.

Interesting. I would never use it for a hard use rifle but it might be fun doing a cheap/lightweight .22 build with one of these.

Tag !  

IMO, it would also make a great lower for a .22LR build...thanks for the write up.

It would be a fine plinker for the kids but not for LE use.  

I'm thinking a lightwieght build for the wife.

You guys DO realize that it's not unusual in this day and age to have polymer internals, including the hammer.  Anyone have an MSAR STG-556 or E4?

Where can one order one of these??

I ordered mine through GunBroker, but here's the contact info I used for them;

866-669-6434 or [email protected]

tag

Well... Columbus took a chance    

Upon first inspection I was surprised at the quality of the Plumcrazy lower. With plans for a liteweight build this lower is the ticket. It will drop an empty pmag freely but I cannot say the same for the metal mag...mabe loaded, but not empty. The trigger has almost zero creep and breaks clean. It does require a little more pull but it's not bad. We ran 100 rounds thru a known good upper and had zero issues. It does seem to me to have a bit more recoil but it is the first time I shot a rifle with an adjustable stock. All in all I'm happy with the purchase but it will be interesting to see how long it takes for any problems (if any) to crop up...only time will tell. I'll update this post from time to time with the round count and any issues.

200 and still going  
400 and still going  

I think I am going to try one out.

I'm debating getting this for 140 +tax and missing out on the fun of putting together a stripped one from my del-ton kit on a DPMS lower for 130 +tax

Who's charging $140+tax?

bump

US Autoweapons next to the Scottsdale Gun Club

I was going to get the DPMS lower from SGC for the 129 +tax but then I head saying how this Plum is superior and he was being a real dip about it telling this guy to sell his dpms lowers and get some of these and how they are coming out with a complete rifle for 299
the guy asked why and the employee said "cause they want every man woman and child to have one of these" think its true? sounds like some BS..

Those DPMS lowers go for 150+ online so I think 130 is pretty good locally

Now that I look at US Auto's prices they seem really good. Check out what a search for "lower" did..
http://www.usautoweapons.com/pgs/ShowSearch.php?list=0&mfg=Parts&q=lower

Anyone know how the weight compares to a Cav Arms lower? I know to compare the 2 it would depend on the buttstock that
you attach to the plum crazy lower. Does anyone know what the lightest, readily available stock is? (not counting AR pistol tubes,
anything modified at home, or sold from some guys garage work shop)

And if you're going light weight dedicated 22lr, wouldn't it be lighter to go with a full polymer upper and lower like bushmaster?

Don't mean to hi jack, just curious, since a few people have chimed in about making light weight builds.

Stripped lowers for $130 are a ripoff. You should be able to find quality stripped lowers in the $70-$90 range- the DPMS ones aren't going to be ANY better either.



Now, if you're hearing the PC poly lowers are BETTER than DPMS or other AL lowers....that is pure horse shit.





 

Don't go there!!  My dealer might have one of these complete lowers left (LPK, and 6 position stock installed), if so it would be $99.

Where have you been looking online?  The lowers that you've been pricing, are they stripped or complete?  

Shoot me a PM and I'll give you his contact info

These look worth testing out.  I wonder how they would hold up with a Bohica Upper..... I joke

In all seriousness I wonder if it would be a decent match to a AR57 upper.  I don't like to spend more than $800 a rifle (otherwise it upsets the better half).  I would expect everything would be fine as the 5.7 is a very low recoil system from what I understand and shouldnt stress the plastic parts too much.  My concern would be what would the spent cases do going down the lowers mag well.

Short magazine without guts or floorplate.

You guys know that the stresses on an AR lower are almost NOTHING, right?  

I ordered one of these but had to back out  when they kept pushing back their shipping date.  

I ordered on the 1st and they told me it would ship the following day.  

Nearly two weeks later I was told it would be another 2 to 3 weeks.  I am still waiting for my refund to post to my CC.  I will be sure to let you all know if it doesn't...

Either way, I would love to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I got different stories every time I spoke to these folks, and I find that unacceptable when they are holding my money.

And after offering to refund my money the guy wigged out on the phone over how stupid I was for getting a refund instead of just waiting for several weeks.

Their prices are pretty high IMHO.  And I would have serious issues patronizing a company that refers to AR's as "assault rifles"...

Tell that to all the guys who buy KNS Precision anti-roll kits for their lower receiver because they saw it on the internet and it looked cool.

Sort of like "Dude, what color is your favorite Pmag".

Mine is Foliage green, thank you very much...

I've had RRA 2 stage triggers where the pins liked to walk, so there might be a legitimate use for the KNS pins, even in a semi-auto, but I suspect I had something installed incorrectly.  Either way I never liked the RRA triggers so I got rid of them.

Anyhooo... I know what you mean.  This is why we still see the "which lower is better" threads all the time.

I dont see the point.  If weight is that much of a concern, go with a 14.5 inch pencil barrel with perm flash hider, standard handguards, standard stock, and be done with it.  Then you wont have that problem with the hammer needing to be radiused?!?!?

For just a less than half pound savings in weight and about the same cost Ill stick with forged aluminum lowers.

Yep, 1/2 a pound and about 1/2 the cost as well.  So far, for me they have been a screaming deal, and I'm happy with them...time will tell if it stays that way of course.

Most people won't have the hammer problem anyway, I haven't seen an un-shrouded firing pin on a carrier in a long time...I bought that one almost 10 years ago.

Please tell me where I can get a complete assembled lower with stock for $99.99, I'll be all over that

I was expecting it to be purple.

anyone got one yet?

Dude did you not read the OP's post?

-
 

Thanks for the review, its very well done and not the typical "plum crazy lowers are f&%$ing plum crazy"
definitely has me interested for a dedicated 22lr build.

This for sure.

I could be wrong (I think it happened once before) but I didn't think the $99 price included a stock.  Either way, for $200 complete I'll take a DSA (two actually).