Magnesium AR lower

[Cagemonkey]

Just happened to come across this on the Brownells website http://www.brownells.com/rifle-parts...13?ICID=300080. Does this have any practical applications or is this a gimmick? With all the accessories being put on modern AR's, dropping a little weight can't hurt. Remington is using Magnesium for the lowers on their ACR's. What do you guys think?

[saddlerocker]

Some guy on TOS had a case head separation and it blew a huge hole in his Mag Tac lower.

Maybe a forged lower would have done the same thing (I dont think it would have), but I dont feel the weight savings is worth it.

[Neo Mara]

Got a link?

[saddlerocker]

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_3_12/60...Exploded_.html

FYI, I dont agree with the OP who thinks the manufacturer should refund all his money for the 10 lowers he bought.
He knew they weren't the standard forged aluminum and he bought them anyway.
He claims that because the manufacturer stated they are "just as strong" that he should be able to send all 10 back.

Its like trying to get a refund on a polymer lower because it turns out its not as strong as forged aluminum.

[eodinert]

Interested, I went to their web page and looked around.

I found a really pathetic page with almost no information, and rapidly lost interest.

[rojocorsa]

Why even bother with shit like that.

Besides, isn't magnesium potentially a flammable hazard?

[bzdog]

I have no idea if the specific product is any good, but I don't get all the negativity around something different because it is different. Aluminum is nice, but it isn't the only material with merit. The talk about magnesium being a fire hazard is just silly. Magnesium can be both light and strong as can titanium. Would they make a good lower? Dunno, but I certainly wouldn't dismiss it out of hand. Certainly not because aluminum is "good enough" and we should stop making things better because we already have good enough.

Don't forget mfg process and heat treatment can make a huge difference even with the same material as well.

-john

[Mr blasty]

Someone should go tell the auto industry about the downsides of magnesium. After all, there starting to manufacture key structural components out of it to decrease weight for fuel economy. Magnesium is stronger than aluminum and thus you can make a part thinner thus lighter. Yes it's flammable but only in certain conditions. It's extremely ****ing hard to light in a solid form. It's not more brittle if you select the correct alloys. The reason it's not used for many things is because it's a more expensive material and aluminum usually does the job just fine for most things. If you simply machine a lower out of it it will weigh about the same. To make it lighter you would have to re engineer it to use less material and to take advantage of magnesiums higher strength. Some of you guys really need to learn about it before dogging on magnesium. If the right alloy was used I'd prefer a standard lower made from it, if it was well engineered I wouldn't mind the weight savings but markm is right. If you can't handle the aluminum lower in 90% of situations then your a ****ing puss!

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2

[Shao]

...and let's all not forget what thermite is: Aluminum and iron oxide - two components I'm certain that are present in most ARs.

[IndianaBoy]

...and let's all not forget what thermite is: Aluminum and iron oxide - two components I'm certain that are present in most ARs.

Just how rusty is your barrel?



Let your barrel rust completely away, grind that and your lower into very fine powder, and then light it with a strip of magnesium. That's what it takes to kick off a thermite reaction.

Nonstandard lowers are solutions in search of a problem.