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Posted: 6/30/2011 9:48:11 AM EDT
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I got no results from a search, but was curious about the Plum Crazy C15 complete lower. I was thinking of something different as I already have 4 ARs. Any comments or experiences? I read the article in Shotgun News, that is where I got the idea.
Thanks, Mark |
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I have bought and put together 3 rifles with them. They worked fine, fit nicely with DPMS uppers, and are cosmetically pretty decent. I had a couple hundred rounds through the first, but only a handful through the last couple.
That being said, in the past few days there have been some major specials from some of the more notable manufacturers on here that would sway me away from doing it again. JSE has an assembled SAA lower with grip for $115. Throw a stock at it and be done. The SAA lowers are $59 and PSA has their classic lower parts kit for $42. I personally haven't minded the PCF lowers I've dealt with, especially for $130 shipped. But especiallly since that JSE $115 lower is available, I wouldn't do one 'right now'. As someone else phrased it, the PCF lower is a $90 item that people just haven't realized it yet. It's a buyers market on the real deal stuff now, which changes the game significantly even from 3 months back when I bought mine. This thread where I talk about my recent budget beater has a lot of links to a lot of killer deals... The JSE lower will be on the way to me shortly. http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=118&t=540502 |
| I built a light weight rig for my wife and used a PCF lower. Haven't had any issues out of it so far, and it's got a sweet trigger pull on it. Honestly, I wouldn't use these lowers on one of my patrol carbines, simply because they are made of polymer and I'm rough on them. They do, however, make great plinkers or range toys, and I recomend them for that!! |
| I have one that I use as a dedicated .22lr and it has been fine, it's light and was cheap ($115 delivered for the complete lower). That said there have been several reports of them breaking posted here. I don't regret getting one, but as cheap as standard lowers have gotten I wouldn't recommend one currently. |
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Quoted:
Would you have the same reservations about the Bushmaster Carbon 15? Or a Glock polymer frame? Just wondering what makes the PCF worse, unless it's the all-composite internals. Hard to see how the actual receiver itself can be an issue. This has been covered quite a few times... but ill give you the gist since you asked. Yes you'll have the same problems with a carbon15 lower that you will with a PC... particularly common issue is breakage near the receiver extension. And the reason for this is that the AR platform was not designed to have a polymer lower and when people just make lowers out of plastic and expect it to work fine all the time it never does... there are quite a few well documented cases of these things breaking or malfunctioning which can be directly attributed to the wearing patterns of polymer that you dont find with hard coated alum. or stress from malfunctions or real world situations that were not addressed when they designed the polymer lower. Cav Arms has been the only company to successfully produce a ploymer lower that most feel is "good enough" and they specifically designed the lower to address the issues that polymer lowers have run into. You CANNOT make a carbon copy (pun not intended) of a standard lower out of polymer and call it "just as good" You HAVE to compensate for the design of the original platform. with that said, G36's, Glocks, ACRs etc... do not fall under this rule and do not have any relevance in this conversation because they were initially designed to use those polymer components. |
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Quoted:
I built a light weight rig for my wife and used a PCF lower. Haven't had any issues out of it so far, and it's got a sweet trigger pull on it. Honestly, I wouldn't use these lowers on one of my patrol carbines, simply because they are made of polymer and I'm rough on them. They do, however, make great plinkers or range toys, and I recomend them for that!! Pretty much sums up what I was going to say. The area around the takedown pin is the weakest link, and that's where most cracks and failures occur. That's why the Cav Arms lowers have an integral stock and pistol grip. If you're rough with weapons or prone to dropping things, spend a little more for a conventional receiver. |
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