Ok, I saw a thread on this a while back, but cannot find it now.  A poster was going to build an 80% from a shadetree armory forged lower, how do those work out?  Also savvysurvivor.com has an 80% for sale, but are they the same as the tannery lower?  I know the tannery lowers were cast, but the savvysurvivor.com are made by a co that also builds 100% so are those forged.  I know the owner of savvysurvivor.com sometimes visits here, perhaps he can enlighten us.  Thanks for the info.

I have one of each; Tannery casting & Shade Tree forging. The Shade Tree forging is machined to specs & will need a lot less fitting, is more attractive, and will be finished a lot sooner than the Tannery.

The Tannery costs about half as much, is all undersize for precision fitting (if you're patient), and won't upset you as much when you make a mistake.

Unless you're bent on a retro-Nam piece, need a super tight-fitting lower, or just want the uniqueness of a custom serial number, I'd take a finished lower from DPMS or Eagle, both for less than a Shade Tree but forged & finished.

the lowers that savy survivor is selling are the same as the tannery shop lowers. They are made by National Ordnance Company also known as NOC they are in Houston and will sell their casting for 10 dollars less than savy survivor, but I think savy survivor includes shipping in their price. i have never tried to do a shade tree armory lower, but I plan to try one next. I was gonna order one this week but I hit a monster pot hole and wound up with a $780 repair bill so that project is now about a month away. The NOC lowers work well I have done 3 of them, but you have to file the top plane, the mag well, the fire control pit and the rear take down lug. I think the shadetree armory forging will have these dimensions already to size.

I have been considering building using something other than aluminum. The options in castings are al, aluminum/bronze, cmm, titanium, and stainless.

I was considering either the al/bronze or stainless, but am wondering if the quality of a casting is worth the investment in a more expensive material ... ???

Which would be the better choice ?

Thanks,

Southgun- A lower built of titanium and a lower built out of alum function the same.  The only thing you will get out of material change is more weight and a warm/ fuzzy feeling.  Since the upper is made from alum the strength increase of the lower will not matter.  In other words, you still can't use an AR15 as a prybar.  Also, you need to remember that any material tougher than 356 T6 is also tougher to machine.  I would say the only thing you gain by increasing the strength is the fact that you will be able to take the pins and springs out more often before wearing the holes out.

On the topic of NOC vs. Shade Tree
 The NOC lower is easyier to complete.  I know thre is more hand work involved but much less percision (sp?)work is needed.  I just got done doing 2 NOC and 1 Shade Tree (taken to 97%)for display on my web site and I had 2 NOC done before I had 1 Shade Tree done.   The are both nice and when I get to VA they will all be quality fire arms.

 You could go buy lowers already complete for a decent price and if you don't have time to complete and 80% or don't have the learned skills needed then you should buy a complete one.  Completing a lower casting or forging is a skilled hobby that isn't for everyone.  

I hope that helps.