Just courious, I saw a guy with a Palmetto lower.It was deffinatly a older lower. It had Oly Wa on it also. It had some odd style cuts and risers on it. Not typical AR lines anyhow. Quality stuff? Still in business? Or early Oly stuff?? TIA Wardawg

I saw Palmetto Arms lowers around 1980 or so. Some guy named Miller was building AR clones with these receivers and surplus parts. This was in Philadelphia.

Don't know too much about the receiver, only that it is not forged and it is machined from a casting.

I still need a Hi-res image of a palmetto lower if anyone gets a chance!

Thanks

A friend of mine had a Palmetto 11.5" with the 5" flash suppressor quite few years ago, he sold it due to non-stop jamming. It was the only Palmetto I've ever seen. I'd never even heard of them when he bought. I don't even remember what the lower even looked like.

Quoted: A friend of mine had a Palmetto 11.5" with the 5" flash suppressor quite few years ago, he sold it due to non-stop jamming. It was the only Palmetto I've ever seen. I'd never even heard of them when he bought. I don't even remember what the lower even looked like.

My first build was a carbine  on a Palmetto lower in 1981.  A piece of crap!  It took extensive 'fitting and filing' to get that piece of shit to run.  For example, I had to file the left side of the receiver to allow the safety to pass through.  i got  it to work reliably and got rid of it.   Avoid them!

I was cured from non-Colt  parts for a long time.  


I did fall off the wagon though and bought a BM barrel.

I built a total of 4 rifles on Palmetto lowers back in the 80's, 2 - 20" rifles and 2 - 11.5 w/5.5 FS carbines. All 4 worked and required only minimal fitting to the uppers. Nothing remarkable about any of the four that I remember. About $400 each at the time as I recall, maybe 450.

Don in Ohio

My latest project is an XM-607 Clone  I'm building on a Palmetto lower.

The first AR I owned was in the mid 80's.....M16A1 20" upper on a Palmetto lower with an A1 butt......I never remember it giving me any problems.

I just picked up a "BH-15A1" Palmetto lower in the 4XXX ser. no range.......I really like the no-mag release-reinforcement look (slabside),  the ability to use small-hole uppers without  offset pins/ bushings, and ,to be honest, the Palmetto Armory logo!  Apparently they were made '79-'82 (according to Oly Arms website). Every upper I've put on it seems to fit well (so far anyway). Definitely milled from bar-stock. I don't know what kind of anodizing they used, but both I've owned had a  very light , almost greenish-grey finish........like that of a well-worn SP1. I just polished the finish off of my upper to match it.....kind of a "well used but not abused" look...........

I can try to get some pics of mine

As soon as Tom in WA is done with my barrel/handguards (wink wink) I'll post some finished product pics

Seeing a Palmetto lower is what got me intereted in trying to build an AR.  Of course I didn't get a Palmetto-by the time I started looking for parts ('84 or so) I couldn't find them at gun shows.  I do so miss those Austin gun shows...

Anyway, I can't remember what lower I got for my first build, but it was a nice forged piece for a good price.  I built that puppy from the gound up-the only things that were assembled when I got 'em were the FSB was on the barrel and the bolt was complete.  That was a LOT of fun.  I'm still sad that I had to sell that rifle.

Yes this lower seemed to be milled from a solid Bar stock also. It had the Tree (Palmetto ) on it and the finnish was a light Greenish color.. Thanks guys... Wardawg

Pics..............
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/villafuego/palmetto.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/villafuego/palmettomarkings.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/villafuego/proyecto.jpg

These were made by SGW for Palmetto, SGW is now Olyarms.  Bar stock.  A bit soft, tended to egg out the FCG pin holes.  I sent one in for refinishing a few years ago and they remanufactured a new forged lower with the same serial numbers as a replacement instead for safety concerns.