Are the polymer AR lowers good?

Hickey

Burn-barrel enthusiast
Supporting Member
I figure now may be a great time to pick up a few lowers. There are several polymer lowers on impact guns website for cheap? What's the word on these?
 

tv_larsen

Well-Known Member
Location
Logan, Utah
Six months ago was a great time to buy lowers, but now is better than later. Polymer lowers work, but if you're only saving $30-$50 per lower I don't think it's worth the difference in durability and longevity. If you're building your third AR or a cheap 22LR AR for fun the polymer lower may be ok, but if you're building one you're going to use for home defense or plan to shoot it a lot, spend the extra and get a forged mil-spec lower.
 

NYCEGUY01

Well-Known Member
Location
Willard, UT
The Gen II Omni with the metal inserts are very nice. They look and feel like aluminum and feel substantially better than the older polymer lowers.
 

NYCEGUY01

Well-Known Member
Location
Willard, UT
Give it a few days.
Andersen lowers will be hitting the free market hard.
Lots of dealers really stocked up and have been holding stock waiting for a Hillary win.
We may actually see the bottom of the AR market soon.
There wont be any panic buying so the prices will have to continue dropping until they can move all this product they are stuck with.

Im on a private forum with alot of dealers across the country and a bunch are already talking about their "Celebration" sales starting ASAP.
1 large on line retailer has been holding back stock for a year in preparation for this election.
This may sting a little...

Black Friday may have some tremendous deals coming
 

Hickey

Burn-barrel enthusiast
Supporting Member
That's a great idea about Black Friday. I'll keep putting coin aside till then. I'd like to build his and hers AR's.
 

nnnnnate

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Location
WVC, UT
I've shot ARs a fair amount but have never personally owned one. What is the approximate cost for a build with mid level components? 5.56 barrel in 18" length, no optics.
 

Caleb

Well-Known Member
Location
Riverton
I've shot ARs a fair amount but have never personally owned one. What is the approximate cost for a build with mid level components? 5.56 barrel in 18" length, no optics.

That's still a pretty broad question. Depending on the deals you find (assuming you have no parts right now) you could build something ok from $600-$800. You could certainly do it cheaper and it can obviously go way above that.
 

NYCEGUY01

Well-Known Member
Location
Willard, UT
Sub $500 AR's are out there for sale every day. New.

Try here. https://www.classicfirearms.com/long-guns/?cat=52&dir=asc&order=price


These guys always have a bunch of the cheaper ones. For your 1st AR you wont really notice the difference in a $499 rifle compared to a $800 rifle.
After you shoot for a while you may want to change something or build something customized to your specific tastes or needs.

www.palmettostatearmory.com also has good deals on basic parts if you want to build from parts but youll be hard pressed to come in cheaper or better than a factory built rifle.


Buy or assemble something cheap and buy ammo. More fun that way...
 

Caleb

Well-Known Member
Location
Riverton
Completely agree. You can almost always buy something cheaper than building it. The fun in building is often worth the difference though. Also if it's your first rifle you built, you'll have some tools to buy as well.
 

ricsrx

Well-Known Member
Hunter just finished his first Ar15, he bought it as a kit, we machined the composite lower, he has only fired a few clips so far but is has a few issues to work on, the main problem is the trigger assembly jam or hanging up, and some of the walmart ammo didnt fire, not sure if its the ammo or the gun.

he is into it $350 and some change
 

glockman

I hate Jeep trucks
Location
Pleasant Grove
Back to the polymer lowers, Tegra arms makes some here locally and they are pretty nice. My dad has a few and has several thousand rounds through one with no issues. It does have a rock river trigger setup. Frontier arms makes a complete polymer lower, trigger group and all. I've shot one of those a fair bit with a RR upper. It works but Im sure it will fail sooner than a metal trigger group.
One benefit of a good polymer lower like a Tegra is that they are lighter. If you are building a short self defense AR lighter is more better.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
 

mesha

By endurance we conquer
Location
A.F.
Back to the polymer lowers, Tegra arms makes some here locally and they are pretty nice. My dad has a few and has several thousand rounds through one with no issues. It does have a rock river trigger setup. Frontier arms makes a complete polymer lower, trigger group and all. I've shot one of those a fair bit with a RR upper. It works but Im sure it will fail sooner than a metal trigger group.
One benefit of a good polymer lower like a Tegra is that they are lighter. If you are building a short self defense AR lighter is more better.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

I bought a tegra lower and the quality seems better than the polymer lowers I have handled.
 
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