Once I received the lower receiver from my local FFL dealer I went to pick it up and he assembled all the parts on it as a bonus buy (that was nice of him) but once I got to his place with my Red X Arms upper kit, he put them together and the very first thing we notice was how the pivot pins snap in, it was extremely tight.  Then next thing he tried was pulling charging handle back and he was struggling, literally pulling it back as hard as he could.  He thought the issue was charging handle so he took another CH and swapped them out, still the same, he tried another CH and still the same.  He lubed it wet and still the same.  At that point I told him to try another one of his upper to see if the issue is the upper since he was leaning toward Red X Arms upper kit.  He pulled another upper from one of his AR and it was exactly the same, so while he had his AR apart I told him to try Red X Arms upper on it and it worked like it was made for it so we know definitely not the upper at this time.  Of course I was running out of time, wife waiting out of her office on the road and I am over an hour away from her and it was cold and getting constant txt telling me where I'll be sleeping that night.....

He lubed the pistol well and send me home with it.  When I got home I was curious as hell on what is the issue so I took my M4 apart and put the upper on my pistol and same issue, tight as hell to push the pins in and pulling charging handle seems incredibly hard, put the Red X Arms upper on my M4 and works like a charm, charging handle pulls back so smooth like a butter, no binding whatsoever  So I told FFL dealer about it that I think the issue is definitely the Phase 5 lower receiver.  I am going to buy another lower receiver and put it together, I will let my FFL dealer check with Phase 5 on this, I don't want to wait weeks to get this B.S. straightened out as he told me it would.  I spoke with someone yesterday regarding this and he mentioned that could be the bolt catch so I removed the bolt catch and tried it without it and still tight as hell so that's not the case.

Any suggestions????

Upper - Red X Arms

Lower receiver - Phase 5

Buffer assembly - Phase 5

Trigger assembly - ACT

Lower parts kit - Spike's

BCG - NiB by Ice Arms

Charging handle - Fortis

Nope, sorry I should have mentioned that in my post that we messed with that too, moved it back a bit and still the same, I even tried the upper without the buffer tube and pivot pins go in very tight.....so definitely not the buffer assembly....

When one of them checked on it they felt it was kind of weird to be tight like that but when he pulled the CH back, he said it should shoot fine and for me to send couple of hundred rounds down range.  It should loosen up after that so I am going to do that but checking with the FFL dealer I bought if from to make sure if I shoot it and something is not right will Phase 5 have a fit for not sending it in to them first to check on it first...so I'll have to wait for him to reply back then heading out to blast some shells.....oh yea, can't wait....either way if he tells me no then I will swap out parts to Stag Arms lower receiver and going out to blast some shells....

I moved it back and still the same...

Checked that and no issue...

I have been charging the CH a lot after lube the heck out of the BCG & CH and now it seems much easier to pull, so you may have the answer to this madness.....I will continue charging it and hope to loosen it more and it should be ready to shoot...

Got home put that Spike's lower receiver together, then removed the upper from Phase 5 and tried it and HOLY BATMAN.....no tightness at all, pivot/takedown pins go in without having to force them, charging handle pull like a butter, smooth as it should.......switch it back to Phase 5 and pivot/takesown pins are hard to go in and charging handle is not as smooth to pull back but since I have been working it's not as bad as before but I just dont' feel right about it.

I just have a question on my Spike's lower receiver, it has SBR-(serial #) but Cal. Multi so is this lower for SBR or I can use it for Pistol build

I did not look at it until just now....

You are exactly right, I just called the shop owner where I bought it from to see how he logged it as and he told me as as long as it's a stripped lower they log them as Other so what I build it as first is what it'll be....so in my case I built it as a Pistol then it'll be pistol....now I can relax and enjoy my AR pistol.  I have to get out there and shoot this thang

Wow, thanks for sharing your story with Phase 5, until a friend of mine told me that he is getting Phase 5 lower receiver because it has Pistol engraved on it is the only time I have heard of Phase 5 and for that same reason I went along with him and bought mine and I ran into this problem...  He has not put his AR Pistol together yet due to injury to his wrist, since they both came from the same dealer I am wondering if he may have the same issue but we'll know once he is able to work on his pistol.

My next build I am going to stick to name brands I am familiar with like Spike's, Core15, etc......I like Noveske but like buying a Benz, still uses 4 wheels and get from A to B so not wanting to pay high dollar for their name.....

Will do.....hoping to take it out in few weeks

I am quite disappointed with FFL dealer I bought this lower receiver, not because I got bad receiver just the way he blew me off after he got the money, not willing to correct the issue for me.  I will never buy anything from him again and hope he doesn't do this to others as well.























 

Yes, he ordered it for me, also the lower parts kit and on top of that he put the lower receiver together for me and he found out something was wrong with the lower when he tried the complete upper that I purchased and brought over to his place.  I have moved on from this FFL dealer, I am buying my firearm stuff from two other gun shops near me, one shop has pretty much everything a person would want and the other also has a ton of stuff plus lower price than other gun shops.