I purchased a Spikes standard LPK from an online retailer and after it arrived and inspecting it I have my doubts about its authenticity. This is the first spikes kit I have used and my expectations may be too high, but I have noticed a few differences in the kit from the one posted on spikes website so could someone tell me what to look for?
thanks
Vince

Pics? I cant tell the difference between most basic LPKs that I have received from many manufactures.

Most basic .mil spec kits look just about the same.

Why are you doubting on this one, what is different?

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This, and where did you buy it?

just the difference in the kit and the pic on spikes website. not the forge marks I expected, but I know that changes from manufacturer to manufacturer. The mag release has a thru hole, I was expecting a blind hole, trigger and hammer pins are different, trigger contact surfaces didnt have the slight polish and a couple other things.
Thanks
Vince

Honestly it looks like a standard .mil spec LPK, nothing fancy about it, but nothing looks out of spec and in looking at the tag on the bag that is what it says it is, I am pretty sure you are good to go, but if you are really doubting, send an email to Spikes with the pictures and see what they have to say.  Like I said, pretty much a standard .mil spec LPK.

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Where did you buy it?

That stylized handle is the one they include in their .308 kit, their regular kit includes the regular A2 pistol grip, did the company you purchased from show that image on their website that you posted? if so, they have the incorrect LPK displayed for what they are selling.

Thanks DaveP1, I've only used CMMG LPK so I guess my expectations were a little high.

Looks like it could be old stock that uses same part no. SLPK101

Quick search shows this
http://www.bravotac.com/spikes-tactical-slpk101-standard-lower-parts-kit-lpk-for-ar15-stripped-receiver


You can see the standard A2 grip and double grooved trigger pins. It could also be a customer return that someone swapped out parts from. If you got it off eBay or something I would return it asap.

I pulled that off of spikes website, the company I ordered from had a smaller pic with not a lot of detail but did show the standard pistol grip. Im not going to mention the company because I don't want to start any crap just because I don't know what I'm talking about.

Wayback-machine only has a few archives but Spikes had the old style kit pictured at least last May/2017. It would appear that since then they updated the quality of the what comes in the kit. The people you ordered from may have just had a stockpile of the old inventory. Spikes didn't change the part no. so your seller may not even know there is a difference.

Thanks Xeon

Spikes uses KNS small parts and coiled roll pins.  Are the roll pins coiled or split?

Back in January I purchased a Spike's LPK without FCG from Primary Arms and it came with the grip and magazine release that you were expecting.

Spikes has probably sourced LPK parts from different companies over the years

I doubt what you got is fake. More likely the place you ordered it from just had a different kit than what was represented on Spikes website.

Possibly a more basic kit or new/old stock

Yep pins are Coiled QtrHorse. Learn something new every day, thanks

I've been keeping my eye on some LPK's since I need to pick up a few more when I find a good deal and have the money for them at the same time.  I really wish I would have bought more Stag kits on black Friday for $15 shipped each minus FCG.  Anyways OP since the kit isn't a fake and the company is all good, just curious where did you order it from?  Just wondering if they had the best deal or what.  I'd prefer to order one of the newer kits if I found somewhere that had one in stock for a good price.  AIM has a pretty good price on the Spikes one without FCG with the newer spider logo grip but they are always out of stock.

I never examined LPK's that closely until this past year or two when I started putting together more builds and I have been trying to keep an eye on the parts differences myself.  One thing I have found is my favorite parts are the ones that are stamped with an S, they make the triggers, safety, bolt catch, etc.  They seem to be top quality parts and I really wish they sold parts kits themselves with all of their parts in them instead of buying from companies that only have 1-2 of their parts.  They are also a military contractor from what I remember, just can't think of their full name.

I'd prefer not to buy any parts that were made with MIM based on what I have read so tend to stay away from the cheapest parts kits.  For the average priced kits the Stag, and CMMG both seem to be pretty nice.  My buddy ordered a LPK from RightToBear called "Fire For Effect" and it looks like the parts are mostly CMMG and from what I read it is just their parts rebranded but somehow the price is cheaper.  Point is the trigger my buddy got from his $40 lower parts kit in that Fire For Effect kit is  nicer then my PNT, 2 QMS's, and 4 PSA Enhanced triggers.  It is a very very nice trigger and I am waiting on them to come back in stock because at $40-45 it is a pretty good deal.  I am just hoping they aren't discontinued.

The ones with the S are made by LW Schneider and I agree with you, they are my favorite. Tom's Tactical used to use them but they changed and I'm not pleased with my latest purchase. I've been trying to find another company that uses them so let me know!

I'm pretty sure Palmetto bi safeties are marked with an S and I know Colt ambi safeties are S marked as well. Would be interesting if they are the exact same safeties just 3x the price.

The hammer and triggers marked with the double S is supposedly made by this company. http://www.schmidtool.com/index.html

I have never seen LW list that they manufacture fire control parts.

For a long time people said the S was LW Schneider but then recently people have been saying it's Schmid. All I know is they are my favorites and as I said before, now that Tom's Tactical doesn't use them anymore, I'm trying to find builder kits made by them.

FWIW if you go to the LW Schnedier site they list Colt, Stag and FN  as their customers

It was pretty much confirmed who makes them a few years ago https://www.ar15.com/forums/ar-15/Who-makes-the-trigger-and-hammer-marked-with-S-in-square-casting-/12-633058/

Nice! Now I just need to find some

That's the place!  Almost every single mil-spec trigger that is of quality uses the S stamped ones, they are on the ALG QMS/ACT , BCM PNT, PSA's Enhanced trigger, and many others.  That says a lot about their quality when every single enhanced trigger uses them.

For safeties I prefer the longer armed one like in the newer Spikes kit listed above that has an S stamp on it.  I got a PSA kit a few years back and again more recently that both had this safety selector in it as well.  I believe Damage Industries offers it on it's own but I'm not sure if you are guaranteed the one they have in the pic which is the longer lever S stamped one.  For bolt catches I have had the S stamped one in many kits as well including Stag, Spikes, PSA, etc.

So the question is, why doesn't this company just make it's own lower parts kit since it makes the majority of the parts already for many/most kits out there?  I would very gladly purchase them since they seem to be of top quality in all regards.  From best I can tell the newer Spikes LPK's have all the major parts made by them with the S stamp so I will likely start buying them when there are good sales on them.  Seems like the best deals are the ones without the trigger groups in them and then buy a upgraded trigger for your kit like the one from PSA or RightToBear.

All three of my kits have looked like this, all ordered from AIM. Not saying the OPs isn't a spikes kit, could be an older kit like others have said.

I could be mistaken, but I believe the "S" marking designates parts for Semi-auto only systems?
The .gov parts that I have seen, I noticed were marked "MP", which I assumed was "Military" and "Police".

Again, I could be mistaken. It wouldn't be the first time, and probably not the last.

this would be the first I've ever heard such a thing.

Never heard of this but the S in a box symbol we are talking about here is a forge mark kind of like your upper receiver how it is marked with a Square forge, or a Keyhole, or an A etc.  It designates who made that part for the company selling them.

The MP you are seeing is more then likely on the bolt or barrel etc. and is for Magnetic Particle Inspection.  A form of testing that is done when the part is manufactured and has nothing to do with Military or Police and is seen on civilian rifles as well.  There are very few differences on a civilian Colt M4 and a Military M4.  The fire control group/auto sear and the way the receiver is milled to accept them would be about the only difference.

FWIW, I purchased a Spike's complete lower in 2016 with the "stylized" (read: ugly) grip factory installed. It was immediately removed in favor of an MOE and relegated to a role in a spare-parts basher build.

That said, I do not know if they were including the butt ugly spider grips in their LPK's. Just food for thought.

While the grips do seem a bit cheaper overall you can make the look quite a bit better with some stippling, they will also feel much nicer afterwards.  Still not as nice as an MOE though but much better then a standard A2 or whatever.  I stippled the one I have and instead of following the outlines I went a bit outside the "box" but still kept it squared and it looks much better then if you would have kept the stippling inside the spider design square since it isn't squared up right in my opinion.  The grip overall is similar to the MOE but a little thinner up top.

I wanted to check out the quality of the spikes kits so I went ahead and ordered one on the "new ones" sans trigger.

The good

NOT an S marked mag catch but it's still Excellent, it's the type without the seam in the middle and the fine lines on the face which is my favorite.
S marked Phosphated selector, my favorite
All the detents, springs and roll pins went in easily.
Allen bolt grip screw with locking washer is a nice touch as well.

The wonky
While the pivot pins were nicely machined, they didn't have a phosphate finish but instead that shiny/glossy blued finish I've been seeing more and more of.
The spikes grip. I'm going to replace it anyway but there is a noticeable gap where it meets with the trigger guard and there are sharp edges on it.
The mag release button. I don't mind that it's billet, it looks okay but it sticks out past the cage on the lower and it feels odd to me. I left it on, going to play with it a bit before swapping it out with one of my spares.