Just curious. Are there any advantage to using non standard looking lowers like. Magpul, Mega, Sundevil etc.
these lowers look like a Battle Tank! but aside from aesthetics. are there any real advantage?
some have flared mag wells which I consider to be a pretty useful upgrade. Others have tensioning screws to tighten the upper/lower fit, which I consider to bullshit marketing gimmicks. All I care about lately is if the FCG holes are in the right spot, if they are made of the correct material, and if magazines drop free. I’m not a fan of fancy billet lowers that may have problems because of their non standard features. I own one, a Sun Devil pistol lower. I will eventually sell it.
Look at the specs of the different ones. Some have textured fronts on the magwell. The majority have larger trigger guards built in to accomodate gloves. I own 3 Mega Billet Lowers, and they have beveled magazine wells also. To answer your question though, they are mainly for aesthetics, but have some features you may like.
basically… only the flared magwells seem to make sense. … hmm…
I’ve been thinking of going with a Mega Billet Lower on my first AR build mainly because I like the looks and functionality of an integrated trigger guard and beveled mag well (no gaps, easier mag insertion). The texturing is nice, too, but not essential.
I’ve been scouring this site reading everything I can find regarding Lowers (billet vs forged, possibility of out-of-spec features, etc.) and I’ve occasionally come across references to what spamsammich mentioned above about how sometimes the holes don’t line up or the mags don’t drop free without you having to file them down and such.
Have any of y’all who own Mega Billet Lowers experienced any of these kinds of problems?? I’m also planning to match whichever Lower I select with either a BCM Forged Upper or a LaRue Billet Upper - would there be any incompatibility issues that I might encounter with either of these combinations??
This may not be an absolute statement but billet lowers are also generally heavier.
I personally see no value in a billet lower unless you’re specifically interested in a certain look or you want an overly flared magwell.