AR15 blem lowers. What are your blems?

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - AR15 blem lowers. What are your blems?

Posted: 2/1/2015 9:06:45 PM EDT

I've seen some fantastic deals on factory blemished lowers but have no clue as to what is typical. Finish blems, rough tooling marks?

What were your experiences?

Posted: 2/1/2015 10:01:23 PM EDT

[#1]

Mostly you will see uneven coatings. I have had some from PSA and aero precision and haven't noticed anything that makes me think they are a blem.

Posted: 2/1/2015 10:04:45 PM EDT

[#2]

Both my PSA blems have pinhole type spots in the finish, you can see bare alum. No big deal tome, I just poked them with a marker and called it good

Posted: 2/1/2015 10:06:39 PM EDT

[#3]

From what I've heard from others, most blemished lowers have little or any blemish. I did buy a Spike's blem from AIM and was sad to see it had a couple of gouges in it. Couldn't complain about condition since it was listed as blemished. The lowers I've gotten from Palmetto have been perfect.

Posted: 2/1/2015 10:09:09 PM EDT

[#4]

My PSAA blem lowers had nice zebra striped anodizing. This is the only blem I can find on them.

Posted: 2/1/2015 10:14:36 PM EDT

[#5]

Got a new frontier armory billet lower.. Only spot I could see was inside magwell where it was a hair lighter. Rock solid lower for 79 bucks and love the design. Same style as Spartan lowers with the front milled straps and flat recessed sides...

Posted: 2/1/2015 10:48:27 PM EDT

[#6]

Barely discernable milling marks and finish foibles on PSA lowers and noveske chainsaws that looked like they actually were hit on the magwell corners with a fucking chainsaw (I buffed these out and cerakoted them so it was it is and they were about the the last of available gen 2s to be had so I'm not bitching).

Posted: 2/1/2015 11:07:26 PM EDT

[#7]

I have a few raw 80% blem lowers that were around $30. I couldn't find a blemish.

Posted: 2/1/2015 11:30:24 PM EDT

[#8]

PSA lower and upper. I can find no discernible flaws. PSA employees say the blems are cosmetic in nature and if one blem is found in a production run they simply mark the entire box as such.

Fortunate in that nearest PSA store is about 40 minutes away.

Posted: 2/2/2015 12:06:50 AM EDT

[#9]

The two Aero Blem Uppers I've had I can't find the blem. I've examined these things head to toe under good light and can't find a darn thing.

Posted: 2/2/2015 2:04:55 PM EDT

[#10]

I grabbed a PSA blem in the beginning of the panic in 2012 and the only thing I could find is the depth of the fire/safe engraving is different.
The safe looks to be shallow and the fire looks a tad deep. That is it.
No other finish or fit blems at all.

Posted: 2/2/2015 2:16:47 PM EDT

[#11]

Some of the blems I've seen in the past include a milling pass made too deep(on the outside of the lower), inconsistent roll marks (shallow on one side and full depth on the other), and a pitted forging that was anodized over. All were/are functional. Sometimes you get a blem and can't find the blemish.

Posted: 2/2/2015 2:33:06 PM EDT

[#12]

I bought a blem lower from san tan tactical and the only blem I could find was a tiny mark on the inside edge where the receiver and lower would come together. I had to look hard to find it and even then it's covered up when the gun is put together.

Posted: 2/2/2015 2:42:05 PM EDT

[#13]

I got a bad one the other day. on the front of the receiver where the pivot pin goes, it was sanded down way too much. I think it will still work fine.

most of the "blems" I have received have been close to perfect. I think some companies just sell them as blems to clear out their inventory.

Posted: 2/2/2015 2:44:26 PM EDT

[#14]

I bought a complete BCM blem lower for $290.
It has a scratch on the magwell flare the goes 2/3's across.

Posted: 2/2/2015 2:50:45 PM EDT

[#15]

One of mine had a couple light scratches INSIDE the mag well.........

Posted: 2/2/2015 4:26:20 PM EDT

[#16]

Many of the Blems I have ordered or my buddy has ordered had no noticeable blems.

The two that I do recall having blems were a range tool I ordered that had the Zebra finish and a Spikes my buddy got that was a little nicked up but if you use your guns they would get the same marks anyway.

I went into spikes showroom a while back and they had several wood boxes with dividers on the counter that were blems for sale for $100 each if I recall. The gentlemen working said that he knew it was not the best price for a standard one but some were colorfilled and engraved.

Posted: 2/2/2015 6:12:34 PM EDT

[#17]

On the "premium" blem side of things I went with the SanTan Tactical "grenade" blem. I THINK I may have found it, INSIDE the mag well! That knocked like $70 off the price, enough to add back the BAD-ASS and BAD pins and be back to the original price. No reason to pay the full price to me anyway unless you never plan to chamber a round.

Posted: 2/3/2015 12:12:57 PM EDT

[#18]

I bought a couple of DSA blems that had a small nick on top of the receiver and both of them didn't have the little hole drilled in the channel where the pivot pin spring fits. Out of the three PSA blems I've bought the only thing I've been able to find wrong was one of them had a small dimple under the anodizing right above the lower magwell lip. I keep waiting for the day that one of "blems" I buy actually looks like a blem, but it hasn't arrived yet.

Posted: 2/3/2015 1:34:59 PM EDT

[#19]

Every single one of my PSA blems have rough machining on the area above the trigger guard. Flip it upside down and look, you may have that too. I don't even buy regular lowers anymore.

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Posted: 2/3/2015 2:20:58 PM EDT

[#20]

I have aero and PSA blems
No blems to find

Posted: 2/3/2015 2:26:52 PM EDT

[#21]

uneven coatings, gouges from forging or machining, things spelled wrong.

Posted: 2/3/2015 2:44:08 PM EDT

[#22]

Quote History

Quoted:
things spelled wrong.

View Quote

...although FRIE wouldn't be totally inappropriate on a phased plasma rifle in the 40-watt range...

Posted: 2/3/2015 4:16:44 PM EDT

[#23]

I had 2 out of 10 that the anodizing was not perfect. I Ceracoted them.

Posted: 2/3/2015 5:17:31 PM EDT

[#24]

I've never had an UN-blemished lower.

I bought an Armalite blem a few years back...had to ask the shop owner what the blemish was.

Where the serial number was stamped, one side of the number was stamped an un-noticeable-unless-you-looked-real-hard,

little deeper than the other.

Posted: 2/7/2015 12:22:19 AM EDT

[#25]

Most of the blems I have bought you cant tell anything with them, I did buy a CMMG 9MM lower once where you could see the pinholes in the finish pretty obvious.

Posted: 2/7/2015 7:44:17 PM EDT

[#26]

I have some blems that I figure aren't as black as they should be, and maybe some markings are slightly off.

When I hear blemish, to me that means cosmetic. My worry is that manufacturers use the term for any 2nd quality lower and it may have dimensional or otherwise functional problems, but I'm just guessing.

Posted: 2/7/2015 8:15:53 PM EDT

[#27]

Can't find it on my psa

Posted: 2/7/2015 8:38:27 PM EDT

[#28]

slight little scratch on my Aero....nothing big

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - AR15 blem lowers. What are your blems?

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