I am going to take advantage of the ban just  like everyone else and build myself a couple of AR's.  My question is who makes the best lower receivers for under $200 and why in your opinion are they the best.  A few of the brands I am thinking of purchasing are Double Star, Bushmaster, Olympic, and DPMS.  Locally I have a gun shop that specializes in custom built AR's including teflon finishing.  The owner seems to prefer Double Star, he says they are the same as a Bushmaster with a different logo?  What do you think?

I just purchased a RRA lower because it was cheap and I heard good things about them.  I also like the LMT lowers and the Bushmaster lowers.  

As for why I like them?  Both BM lowers I have look great.  All the LMT lowers I have seen have looked great.  All the RRA lowers I have seen have looked great plus they are cheap.  

Love my Stag, except for the logo.  But I got them for $79 each so I'm not complaining. :)

I read very good thing about Ameetec Arms

So I bought one have
I paid $90 for mine stripped

I like the Armalite ones......but those come complete only.

I also like the RRA's.

I've built on MEGA, Stinger, STAG and Eagle Arms without nary a hitch.

Some LPK's gave me a fit, especially gunshow throw togethers.

Danny

I like the RRA ones.

Recently, I bought a couple of Doublestar (J&T Dist.) ones that are as good or better than any others that I have seen.  My next ones will be Doublestar.

I'm partial to Colt and RRA-in that order.

That being said, unless you have some .170 Colt FCGs laying around building an AR from a Colt lower will blow your budget cap.

Of a dozen RRA builds my problems have only been minor ones.

I agree with ftierson, I have built on Olympic, RRA, and Doublestar. The Doublestar was the nicest of the three.

I have built lowers with RRA, Bushmaster,Mega ,Ameetec and Stag Arms. My favorite lower is the Stag, I have never seen a better fit and fininsh lower and i payed only $86 shipped. I also like the deer head but maybe thats the hill billy in me. I would recommend these lowers to anyone.

AMEETEC or MEGA both are very affordable, both are great fit and finish, both are available from Ameetec Arms LLC

I have or have had

SGW (Olympic Arms "stop sign logo" Model CAR-AR - forged)
Olympic Arms (model PCR - forged)
PWA (Pac West Arms "Commando" - forged)
Essential Arms (J-15 - cast)
several DPMS (A-15 - forged)
Eagle Arms (M-15 - forged)

The roughest looking one was the Essential Arms cast  receiver.  However it functioned just fine.  No problems.  Reason for swapping it off (for the PWA), it was gray, and I wanted a black lower.  (If I had been familiar with Norrell's Moly Resin back then, I would probably still have the Essential lower)  I know several deputies who have personal AR's built on Essential lowers, with no problems.  I have seen a lot of these over the years, and no problems due to the lower.

All of these lowers are "to spec", parts fit and worked well with no special fitting.

Finish on the SGW was an eggshell, almost semigloss, very deep black.

All the others have similar flat black finishes.

I recently built a rifle on a DoubleStar receiver and I wouldn't hesitate to buy another.  The finish is excellent and all the holes were in the right places with no burrs.  What else could you ask for in a lower?

I have used Mega, Stinger and Stag Arms.  The stag was the "best" of the lot and I wouldn't recommend the Stinger, as it wasn't nearly as tight as the Mega or the Stag.  I'm currently waiting on a PWA commando from rbprecision, and I am considering a LMT made Lauer from Denny/Global Tactical.

Thanks for the info, I picked up three double star receivers today for $109 each, the quality is great and so was the price.

I just purchased a couple of LAR lowers, they seem fine to me.

Im kinda partial to my own SNS MAX-15 receivers..... however several of you made a good point in my eyes...  basically saying they're all the same for the most part, which is true.  

One company's forged lower receiver is just as good as the next... we generally make them to the same specifications and standards, the most notable exception being Colt of course, never know what yer getting with them.. very non-standard, even for themselves.

Find a forged non-colt for a decent price and you're good to go for a GP build.



~Devin~


SNS Industries, Inc.
Sno. Wa.

Mfg,. of quality AR15's

Quoted: Im kinda partial to my own SNS MAX-15 receivers..... however several of you made a good point in my eyes...  basically saying they're all the same for the most part, which is true.   One company's forged lower receiver is just as good as the next... we generally make them to the same specifications and standards, the most notable exception being Colt of course, never know what yer getting with them.. very non-standard, even for themselves. Find a forged non-colt for a decent price and you're good to go for a GP build. ~Devin~ SNS Industries, Inc. Sno. Wa. Mfg,. of quality AR15's

I have to say yes and no.  Colt has been known to use different parts on the occasion.  For example:  KevinB stated that a friend's Colt 6920 had standard small milspec trigger/hammer pins when his had the larger Colt spec pins (which is standard on Colt semis).  There have been numerous reports of odd things like that happening.  However, that doesn't mean the product is shoddy.  Colt generally has the best QC in the busines and the tightest spec parts and receviers of any company.  Just because they may use whatever parts on hand or adapt parts to fit the spec (like machining in feed ramp extensions into a recevier if it wasn't done prior to anodizing) doesn't mean the parts aren't the tightest speced parts you will find anywhere or that the QC isn't the most stringent of any brand.  Colt has excellent products, the best hands down, with the occasional variation in what exact parts are used.

That being said, most other brand receviers are machined and finished well.  With the widespread of CNC machining, the tolerances on the great majority of recivers are tighter than ever.  I wouldn't worry at all when buying any of the receviers onthe market today, expecially if it were being sold by any of the industry partners on this site.  

I hope you did'nt think I was saying Colt has shoddy workmanship, even though it's my experience and opinion they do,.... however.... Im going to now.....

As I go through life, I hear more and more about Colt not giving a rats-butt about it's customers and how they don't have the very best products, (which in all reality is an opinion held by a growing number of people.)  The most recent thing I heard was a unit armorer in the army was saying most of the new COLT M4's have to be heavily reworked... for a comapny that has "the best QC in the busines and the tightest spec parts and receviers of any company", they sure are sending out a lot of junk to the people who need it to be the best  the most... the US miliatry.

Im not trying to trash on any of the other industry partners here on ARF.com.... but what makes a receiver from one of the industry partners here better than one from who is not an industry partner?

I think it's good that you stick up for Colt from your own good experiences(if i had good one's with Colt's AR15s, I would as well)... however, I feel you're on a sinking ship.... jump now like so many others have and save yourself !! -lol-

Now don't get me wrong here....Im not trying to flame you personally,  just a debate and exchange of information, ideas and opinions Mfg. of quality AR15's

Quoted: The most recent thing I heard was a unit armorer in the army was saying most of the new COLT M4's have to be heavily reworked... for a comapny that has "the best QC in the busines and the tightest spec parts and receviers of any company", they sure are sending out a lot of junk to the people who need it to be the best  the most... the US miliatry.

I have heard numerous reports of improperly torqued barrel nuts, but not of anything else as far as military M4s and A4s are concerned.  I would be interested in hearing about any other problems that might have been encountered and how often it is encountered.  Please share with me if you can about this.

Quoted: Im not trying to trash on any of the other industry partners here on ARF.com.... but what makes a receiver from one of the industry partners here better than one from who is not an industry partner?

It's been my expereince that Industry partners around here remain industry partners because they take care of their custoemrs.  If they didn't, they would be run off.  It's sort of like added insurance.  If they have been around the boards for a long time, then they are a safer bet to deal with.  I have done business with a number of people who frequesnt the boards, are vendors, but aren't industry partners at all and have good experiences as well so it's not like anyone has to be a partner around here to get my business.  It does give me a little extra feeling of security, though, and it it helps that those vendors help support my favorite message board.  

Quoted: I think it's good that you stick up for Colt from your own good experiences(if i had good one's with Colt's AR15s, I would as well)... however, I feel you're on a sinking ship.... jump now like so many others have and save yourself !! -lol-

I have actually have good experiences with just about all the AR manufacturers, even some of the ones that are often bashed for being thrid tier (like DPMS and Oly).  So I have no beef about any other AR manufacturer.  Colt does go the extra mile in what I know of them and many experts swear by Colt.  However, by no means am I a Colt snob, fanatic, or otherwise infatuated with the Pony.  Please feel free to share your expereinces with me.  I think we would all like to hear what to watch out for when buying a Colt AR.

Quoted: Now don't get me wrong here....Im not trying to flame you personally,  just a debate and exchange of information, ideas and opinions

No flaming construed.  I am very open to debate and the exchange of information, ideas, and opinions.  

BTW, if you are afraid of geting accused of Colt bashing by those who always make those accusations, feel free to IM me with any info you would like to share.

Quoted: That being said, most other brand receviers are machined and finished well.  With the widespread of CNC machining, the tolerances on the great majority of recivers are tighter than ever.

Unfortunately, I have not found that to be true. I have in my possession BFI, RRA, and LMT lowers. The differences in dimensions are visible to the naked eye. It's rather frustrating.

Quoted: Quoted: That being said, most other brand receviers are machined and finished well.  With the widespread of CNC machining, the tolerances on the great majority of recivers are tighter than ever. Unfortunately, I have not found that to be true. I have in my possession BFI, RRA, and LMT lowers. The differences in dimensions are visible to the naked eye. It's rather frustrating.

Well, tighter to each respective companies' specs.  



Remember that everyone except a very, very few companies have the actual technical drawings that state and measure the military specifications for the dimensions of the receivers.  Most everyone else figured out in some way how to copy them.  The specs might be slightly off from one another depending ojn who reverse engineered the receiver and so the specs and tolerances may be different from company to company.  More often than not, it is close enough and will work fine without any prblems whatsoever.  At least I have never had any problems and most of my receviers come from those companies who do not have access to the actual gov't owned drawings.