Essential Arms lowers any good ?

[motodad]

Can any one give an opinion on there lowers I may have a track on a stripped lower.

[esean]

I've built with four of them - everything fit fine. Nice finish too.

[taliv]

i've built well over a dozen of them and never had a problem, which is more than i can say for several other brands. mostly helping my adopted local college kids build their first ARs over the past decade.

note that they made investment cast lowers back in the 80s. my machine gun was a bushmaster conversion of an essential lower (cast). it also ran fabulously. but make sure the one you've got a line on is forged before you buy.

[Iraqgunz]

They are cast lowers and I have seen a few pics of some that cracked and otherwise got screwed up. The only way they have any value is if you lived a ban state. Also use the Orange search button at the top. They have been addressed before.

[avengd7x]

Their website says they're forged, hopefully they're not cast anymore.

[advntrjnky]

IIRC the cast ones have been liquidated/gone since 2005 and only forged since then.....never heard of any concerns with the current forged, but don't have one myself.

advntrjnky

[taliv]

i assure you any of the recent Essential lowers are very high quality forgings. as i said previously though, the old ones are investment cast. I have owned both.

so the one in question could be either a new or old one

[Kissel]

I have a couple. They are very nice and appear to be of high quality material and workmanship.

[Iraqgunz]

I should have asked that question as well.


i assure you any of the recent Essential lowers are very high quality forgings. as i said previously though, the old ones are investment cast. I have owned both.

so the one in question could be either a new or old one

[oddballmkg]

They made two types of receivers the early ones in the late 80's where made from castings. I believe they went out of business around 1990. They start up back up around 2000 and started making receivers this time from forgings. I have a friend that I shot with who has one of the early cast receivers. It has been used a lot. It was first used with a A2 upper and then convert over to a carbine. It seems to work fine. None of the trigger/hammer pin holes show any signs of being out of round. He just using the standard AR trigger.

[advntrjnky]

They never went out of business. The timing of things would make it look like they had a 10 year "no compete clause" as part of their business deal with DPMS. EA is how DPMS got into the lower receiver game in 1993. shortly there after EA stopped selling lowers and started up selling cast lowers again in the '03-'04 time frame and only had forged by '05 sometime. EA has never fully stated what their deal was with DPMS....IIRC they have only stated that they helped a MN company start selling lowers, no other details.

advntrjnky

[motodad]

So I guess it's asfe to say if it was made recently it will be forged thanks for all the great info. How come this AR stuff is like a drug habit.

[KTR03]

Had one back in the 90s in CA. worked fine. It was cast but it stood up to a couple hundred rounds a week for 2 years, none the worse for wear. Sold it right before the 2000 ban in CA for stupid money.

[bdub712]

I've had one for 4 years and have not had a single problem with the lower. Several LEO family members have an EA for their duty rifle.

[samnev]

I had one of the early receivers on my CAR 15 since the 80"s. Thousands of rounds thru the CAR not a single problem.