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Posted: 5/15/2016 12:05:40 AM EDT
Today I had a catastrophic malfunction on my FMK polymer lower receiver. I only had around 250 rounds through this gun and never even treated it badly. This was my first AR so I babied it and look what happened! Never building another AR using a polymer receiver. 
<a href="http://s1042.photobucket.com/user/OL3Yx21x/media/IMG_7216%202_zps0qydkkia.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1042.photobucket.com/albums/b430/OL3Yx21x/IMG_7216%202_zps0qydkkia.jpg" border="0" alt="FMK Polymer Lower Receiver Failure.1 photo IMG_7216 2_zps0qydkkia.jpg"/></a> |
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The polymer lowers that try to match the shape of the aluminum lowers are pretty clearly not going to work. Last I checked Aluminum > Polymer.
That said, I do have some of the ATI Omni hybrids, that have aluminum inserts in the high stress points, and polymer in other parts. Those seem to work fine, but with regular aluminum forgings so cheap right now, why do anything other than .22LR with polymer. |
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Fuck, for the price of his charging handle... Quoted:
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for the money you spent on your rail you could have got a decent lower. Fuck, for the price of his charging handle... we all make mistakes. OP made one and knows it now. No need to grind his nose in it. |
| Not sure why you chose to ignore all the good advice about these things, but at least you weren't hurt. It looks like you have a lot of nice parts on the upper. Just slap it on the forged lower of your choice and carry on. If you must have a poly lower then pick up one of the Cavarms types. |
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I'm as much of a polymer handgun koolaid drinker as anyone. But, I can't see for the life of me, why anyone would go with a polymer AR lower. Yes, for about a year at the height of the panic, polymer lowers were significantly cheaper and more readily available.
But nowadays, forged lowers are a dime a dozen. Last gun show I went to, a dealer there had Anderson lowers for $50, and it was only $40 if you had a concealed pistol license. I bought, um, more than one. |
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This is one of those circumstances that could be remedied when a manufacturer decides to produce only aluminum lowers.
Or a distributor refuses to buy plastic/carbon/polymer at any cost. Or a retailer no longer decides to sell them. I'll never figure out why gun shops even decide to carry them. |
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Send your broken one in and we'll replace it at no cost to you with the new Hybrid that has the metal insert. They don't do that. Quoted:
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Hey I've got a ATI OMNI that looks just like that Send your broken one in and we'll replace it at no cost to you with the new Hybrid that has the metal insert. They don't do that. will do Monday |
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Because they can make a bit of money on them and there is always someone to buy them, unfortunately. Quoted:
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I'll never figure out why gun shops even decide to carry them. Because they can make a bit of money on them and there is always someone to buy them, unfortunately. There will always be someone who will buy it, because there is always someone looking to save a few bucks. |
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OK, so now you know... But what gets me is you have allot of top dollar parts on it, but you chose to use the shittiest cheapest lower made. Go buy another real lower and be done. I did a lot of research on all the parts I put into this first build. I was so excited to finally have a functional AR that I didn't care what lower I got. I just wanted it as soon as possible. It was really really cheap at a gun show so that's what I went with. Planning on just picking up a Spike's or Anderson forged now. |
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Never thought about that. Quoted:
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for the money you spent on your rail you could have got a decent lower. Fuck, for the price of his charging handle... Never thought about that. Yeah, bought all the nice stuff I had researched but went with the cheapest, fastest option which was picking that poly lower up at a gun show, slapping it all together, and finally being able to have some fun with it. I'll just pick up a Spike's or Anderson forged lower and rebuild. |
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I'm trying to beat the crap out of my old Cav-Aid lower(remember those?). No luck yet. Quoted:
Quoted: An Anderson forged could be had for the same price.
The GWACS Cav-15 has long been considered the only truly durable polymer lower. I'm trying to beat the crap out of my old Cav-Aid lower(remember those?). No luck yet. I swapped a Sabre Defense for an ARFCOM Cav-Aid Mk 1. I want to cut it in half and cast it a la Fruity Ghost. 
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