how important is the lower receiver?

[richiecotite]

hi all,

I'm new to the forum, and pretty new to AR's (bought my first one a yr ago).

Had a DPMS, got rid of that, and finished a build a few months ago. I initially was going to try to build 2 cheap AR's, as PSA was running their 49.95 lower special back around christmas time. I bought 2, then decided i would build 1 'top shelf' and one cheapo.

Anyway, dropped a good bit of coin into it (DD upper, troy rail, BCM bcg, DD lpk, vltor stock, bcm receiver extension, spring, and H2 buffer)

My question is this: how important is the receiver? It seems like as long as it's built with the same materials and is in spec, it should be good to go right? Or is there something I'm missing?

[NoveskeFan]

As long as it's in spec, you should be good.

[CaptainDooley]

[in answer to your subject line only] Ummm... without it you can't fire your upper?

Seriously though - while KimberFan is correct - I would be careful lesser brands who's lowers and LPKs are not always in spec - DPMS, Oly and the like.

The only complaints I've seen on PSA have been customer-service based...

[richiecotite]

[QUOTE=CaptainDooley;1251103][in answer to your subject line only] Ummm... without it you can't fire your upper?




not concerned about shooting it, as long as it looks cool :)

[fixit69]

If in spec, I don't see a problem. You will find out very quickly if pins are binding or don't fit, mag release and bolt catch is unreliable, won't fire when wanted and or NEEDED.

[ericridebike]

Yeah, do your homework and research the brand before you spend the money. I bought a Roggio Arsenal stripped lower a while back fairly cheap. I hadn't really heard of them before & didn't research them before buying(they have a pretty bad reputation of being out of spec, etc... I later learned). Sure enough when I installed a LPK, the mag catch slot was out of spec. I was able to find a fix in the long run, but lesson learned. Can't really tell if a stripped lower is out of spec just looking at it. So now I know to buy from a reputable company and do your research before you spend your money. I was lucky I was able to find a fix for it, had it been another thing out of spec, it could have been an expensive paper weight.

[SteadyUp]

This thread is easily found under "Knowledge Base Threads", stickied at the top of this subforum: http://m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=3074

[TehLlama]

The LPK is usually the faulty part - any lower that's in spec is more than adequate, no real reason to overpay for a lower unless it has other features (ambidextrous design, etc.), so put a good LPK in it, and if it runs, move on.