So I am looking at picking up a lower or 2, and found some that have a trigger guard built into the lower.

One pro I can think of is I won't be able to break the ears off putting the pins into the trigger guard.

Any other pros or cons that I should be aware of?

Lowers are the same price with or without the built in guard.

The built-in trigger guard doesn't have a gap at the rear of the guard to pinch your middle finger.....  The military trigger guard hurts me!  

Unless of course, you always wear gloves while shooting?    In that case, it probably won't matter to you.  

I always put an aftermarket trigger guard on my AR lowers, so my next one will likely have the trigger guard built-in.

I'm not sure if there are pros and cons when it comes to a range gun but I like the built-in style. I think they look nicer and have a cleaner look to them.

The original design was intended to drop down for use with heavy winter gloves.

I did 4 winters as an US Army Infantryman in Alaska and never once needed to drop my trigger guard, nor did I witness anyone else do it. . Maybe if you have really fat fingers and were wearing really thick gloves you would use it.

Most billet lowers come like that these days. I'm only aware of Anderson and some S&W lowers that are forged and have the integral trigger guard, but I've never seen the S&W available as a stripped receiver. I have 5 or 6 of the Andersons, bought for $30 or $40 from AIM. Great price and a good receiver. I've only built 3 of them but had no issues.

Bottom line. The original style has limited functionality so it basically becomes an issue of aesthetics. Get what you think looks cool.

BCM is one of several manufacturers of aftermarket, "not that simple, flat piece of metal" trigger guards.  BCM's and others' guards fill in the "gap" between the trigger guard ears nicely.  You can also find some versions that you install with screws instead of a roll pin.  And if you're handy, you can convert any of them (even the GI trigger guards) to be installed with screws.

Guards that are part of the lower aren't "bad," but I won't go out of my way to buy a lower with one, since it's so easy to put in an aftermarket guard, and maybe I might want to change it later...

Do you want a billet or a mil-spec  forged receiver?  With a few very rare exceptions, that is pretty much what it is going to come down to.

My two favorite lowers, Noveske and Mega billet,  both have the trigger hard built in. I think it looks cleaner and I can't think of any legit downside....

sounds like you might be talking about Anderson lowers?

all pros and no cons IMHO

I picked up 2 with the built in guards and love them,Im going to be getting a couple more.



 

Yeah, Anderson lowers.

I ordered 3 of them, I just wanted to see if there was anything I was missing going through pros/cons before ordering.

After using 3 closed trigger guard Andersons.... I'll not use open trigger guards again. They are cleaner looking, probably stronger, and I'll never remove the guard anyway. For open trigger guards, I like to use DOA snap in guards (no roll pin) that use plungers (same as mil spec front corner) for ALL 3 of the holes. That way, you still get an "enhanced" trigger guard that is STILL easily removable for whatever reason.
But yeah... closed trigger guards, for me, from here on out.

Looks better with an integrated trigger guard, but for some reason I prefer magpul enhanced polymer ones.

I have Anderson lowers with integral and standard. I really prefer the integral because the roll pin on standard is a real bitch to get in for me and you can break off the ears if you arent careful. The Anderson lowers are great for the money, BTW...