AR Sponsor
Posted: 10/16/2002 9:44:07 AM EDT
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Does any one have any experience or information with this recevier, as to durabilty and quality? I am looking at a pre-ban AR-15A2 style rifle for sale, which is built with this receiver. |
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E.A. sold out to (I think DPMS) prior to the ban. They are a cast receiver, and they made piles of them. They were considered a cheap, bottom of the barrel econo receiver back then, being cast compared to all the other mfg using forged blanks. Also there were issues with the final finish color, it rarely matched anything. Now days they are readily accepted, E.A. was doing castings long enough to get the bugs out and reach consistent production. Cast receivers are now rather common and available from DPMS, Olympic and others. If the Price is right, by it. Since all receivers marked E.A. were mfg well before the ban you should not have any questions about config. |
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i have the opportunity to buy one of these rifles to. what i think i need to know is did they make just the receivers or did they actually sell complete rifles? cause if im right isnt it Illegal to add preban features to this receiver if it was a standalone receiver? The complete rifle im looking at looks just as cheap as the receiver. so it looks as if i could have been a completed rifle. And this topic here was about the best i could do as to find any info on this receiver. so any replies would be greatly appreiciated! thanx |
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Essential Arms made ONLY lower receivers, NOT complete rifles. As such, there is no such thing as a factory Essential Arms rifle. A few manufacturers built rifles on their lowers in the mid-80s, as not many companies made lowers back then. But you aren't likely to find any records of configurations. And, while production of the lowers ended in '93, many of them were never sold to end-users until after the ban. At that time, pre-ban rifles were available, and so were plenty of forged lowers, so many of the cast EA lowers sat at distributers or in gun shops unsold. Basically, the rifle either needs an affidavit from the person who owned the rifle on 9/13/94, attesting that it was configured as a "semi-automatic assault weapon" on that date, or you need some other kind of proof of its status. Without either of the above, YOU have no PROOF of the lower's status. What does that mean? Nothing, UNLESS you somehow end up in court. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen (ask member OneShot1Kill about his experience). If you manage to get yourself unwanted attention from the police, your rifle (legal or not) will be confiscated and considered an illegal AW until you prove otherwise. If you have proof, no problem. If not, well... There IS a reason, beyond the forged vs. cast issue, that people pay more for provable pre-bans. And the reason is this: If you don't have proof of your rifle's pre-ban status, and you get caught with it, it won't be treated any differently than if you bought a brand-new 2002-made lower and configured it as an AW. And if that's true (and it is), why pay the extra money for an old lower that comes with NO PROOF of its status? It's not the odds, it's the stakes. How to fix this? Get everyone out to vote in pro-gun Senators and Congressmen in two weeks, so that the AW bill will be allowed to die. -Troy |
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I have two Essential Arms rifles and the lower receivers are first class products. They were both cast by Ruger on a contract basis. There are subtle differences in the castings vs. forged parts, but they're functionally identical. Standard internal and external parts fit without tweaking. The magazine release "fence" is a unique shape on EA rifles and one of the easy identifiers. Both receivers are an exact match for "M16 Grey." One of these rifles is currently living as a semi-only M4 Carbine and stored in a cavalry troop arms room at Fort Knox unless it's checked out. The other is used as either a semi-only XM16E1 or M16A2 depending on what upper or stock is on at the time. Conversion takes less time than typing this message. I'd buy a third -- as if I need another rifle -- if the price was right. -- Chuck |
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A lower, by itself, isn't a pre-ban anything. Only a complete weapon in "SAW" configuration (or a weapon specifically named) qualified for grandfathering. A lower by itself is not a SAW, even if you can prove it was made in 1965. You are dealing with concepts in the LEGAL realm, where the placement of a single word or punctuation mark in the text of the law can make all the difference in the world. It is a complex issue, and pretending it isn't only puts you (and those who follow your "legal advice") at risk. -Troy |
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Oh, and to answer the "durability" and "quality" questions: Essential Arms lowers are cast aluminum, as opposed to being forged. As Chuck stated, they are a very high quality casting. Under normal shooting, you'll never know the difference. However, a cast lower will not be able to withstand ABUSE as well as a forged lower. Over the last couple of years, there have been a few reports of people breaking lowers for various reasons. In all cases, the lowers were cast (EAs, Olys, and a DPMS). In one case, the rifle was being worn slung on the back of someone on an ATV when he crashed, and the lower shattered. In another, the socket for the bolt catch roll-pin broke during reassembly. And another broke due to a case-head seperation that a forged lower would have handled with no damage. The point is: there IS a difference, but you'll only have a problem under pretty extreme circumstances. The military requires forged parts because their rifles see what we would consider to be "extreme circumstances" on a regular basis. -Troy |
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Thanks for all the comments on the quality of the EA lower. Ruger's stainless steel pistol castings are of the highest quality. Aluminum of course is a different material. I had heard some similar concern about durabilty of the cast aluminum receiver under "extreme" use. This wasn't a preban/postban post, so please, refrain from hijacking it. But along those lines, the burden of proof in any criminal prosecution is on the government. THEY must PROVE that your rifle was made into pre-ban configuration after the cutoff date. You have to prove NOTHING. And as a reality check, if your ONLY act is possessing a "questionable" preban rifle (that is, a rifle with a preban lower in which the manufacturer can't testify was definitely made AFTER the cutoff date), that is not a candidate for a federal case by itself. For the government to pursue such a weak case, you would have to be of "interest" to them for some other reason: you are a terrorist or accomplice, suspected to be DEALING in illegal weapons, a drug dealer, gang member, or some other criminal. Then yes, they will use whatever laws they have to go after you, as well they should. |
I guess all those BRAND NEW Essential Arms registered M16 lowers that I have stashed can't be made in a SAW. Too bad :-( I will have to either sell them or assemble as "post ban". There is no requirement that the parts had to assembled onto the receiver for it to be "preban". Just have enough parts on hand to complete "x" number of receivers is enough. Bushmaster had a pile of receivers and a separate pile of parts and ATF counted both as a pile of prebans. The only real negative aspect of the EA lower is the tighter than normal mag well. But they're not the only aftermarket lower with tight wells. Usually, Orlite mags will be tight and need some time to adjust. Steel mags are hit or miss cause you can't force steel to fit the magwell; especially true with the 30rd USA AK hybrid mags. I've handled 12-14 EA prebans and MGs assembled by various sources with various parts. All of them function as expected and some of the lowers were refinished to match the uppers and looked quite nice. Get one if you can get it at a good price. |
If you have papered/tax stamp M16 lowers, then you should know that the AW law does not apply to machine guns, and that you can legally configure them however you like.
You're right in that the parts didn't need to be assembled. However, Bushmaster had many more lower recievers than they had other parts, and only those lowers that could be matched to a complete parts set were grandfathered. But a stripped lower that sat in some FFL's safe until 3 years after the ban is NOT a pre-ban. -Troy |
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