stripped lower vs complete lower

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dab102999

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I have been reading about MSR's for some time now. Finally got one a few months back and have been noticing real good prices on stripped lowers which leads me to a question. What would be a good price on a complete lower or better yet what would be an average price to build a stripped lower up? I have been seeing some stripped ones for the $49 range and got me to thinkin pick a few up.

Is there any brand to stay away from?

Thank you for reading and any reply you provide.
 
I have good luck with PSA and Anderson Mfg stripped lowers. I have not had good luck with polymer lowers.

If you have reasonable skills with hand tools, lowers are not difficult to assemble. A set of roll pin punches are handy to have.

Lower parts kits have been in the $50-$70 range depending on what is on sale. Butt stock and buffer assembly can be highly variable depending on what you want.

I like to use a Giessele trigger so the trigger on my builds probably cost as much as the rest of the lower.

Hope this helps.
 
$50-$60 for a standard quality parts kit
$25 for a standard M4 stock
$50-$60 for a quality receiver extension, spring, buffer, lock nut and endplate
 
The AR that I'm in the process of putting together will cost right below $500. The parts were bought from FatBoyTactical. The Upper was a complete JSE unit with BCG/Charging handle, LPK (Anderson), buttstock, etc. The Lower is an Anderson stripped lower, and is what I'm waiting on to get it together.

From the looks of the upper, it looks to be well put together with no noticeable flaws, guess the first range session will tell the story.

I think FBT had stripped lowers and LPK going for $70 something. PSA also runs good deals on pieces parts. May not be top of the line, but should provide a functional AR-15. I wasn't looking for anything special, just a range/hiking/truck gun.
 
I bought a "blemished" complete lower from PSA for $149 a few months ago. Great price and I could never find the blemish.
 
Ditto. PSA must consider too much dust a blemish.

I also bought a BCM blemished upper and it was exactly as advertised. They said handling marks from being a demo unit and it was scratched up a little. PSA, though, I looked and could not find any problems.
 
Widener's has been running a special for a few months now. They've got Anderson Mfg stripped lowers for $43. 5 or more shipping is free. I'm real happy with mine; they even have consecutive serial numbers.
 
Price will be about the same, to more expensive when you factor in purchasing roll pin punches (worth purchasing). The value is in the fact that you get hands on experience with how your rifle works / is put together.
 
Just picked up my Anderson lower from the FFL. For $49 shipped, it looks good. Not sure if FBT considers them blems or not.
 
My opinion only here.
If you are 18 to 20 years old, buy a complete lower including the buttstock.
Stripped lowers must now be sold under the same rules as handguns, no under 21 purchases, receiver can be made into a pistol, longer waiting period in states that do those, etc.

I'm old and can buy whatever I want so I always go for stripped lowers as I can add the parts I deem best for the particular build.
 
I had no issues with a stripped Del-Ton lower, mated very tight with the upper I have.
 
Stripped lower from my LGS's is about $70. ($50 for the lower, $20 for their markup/time). $100-200 for boutique name brands.

And then the online PSA lower kits go from $88 (KISS) to $160 with all the bells and whistles except ambi safeties :)banghead:). So $160 for a KISS lower setup. $230-300 for a name brand with a SOPMOD stock. I'd rather build the lower myself. I can make sure each step is done perfectly. And if I plan on changing buffer tubes or sling attachments, I won't lock the castle nut down.
 
PSA makes good lowers, but I don't like their rollmark. Find a lower with a rollmark you like and you know to be quality, for me usually spikes. It's hard to give you a price because it can vary from 150 to 1k depending. I got a psa complete blem lower with a ctr on it for 170 about a year ago, and I just finished a build with a seekins billet lower, bad ambi selector, geiselle sde trigger, and a vltor imod which ran around 750. It really just depends on what you want. A quality lower that isnt too spendy for me would be a spikes lower, lpk w/out trigger group, alg defense nib-x trigger group, and whatever stock, buffer/spring kit, and pistol grip fits you and is appropriate for what you want from the gun. If you're going for price PSA will be a great choice. They take a while to ship but the value is great.
 
Don't go with PSA's lowest priced PTAC kits. You know what PTAC rhymes with?

Get the slightly pricier PSA components. When they offer 2 exactly the same models, one for dirt cheap, and one for $150, $30 more, get the one that's $30 more.

http://palmettostatearmory.com/inde...anced-overmolded-lower-no-magazine-black.html

I'm building this on my stripped lower as soon as they ship my order:
http://palmettostatearmory.com/inde...mod-bravo-lower-no-magazine-coyote-brown.html

Another example is their BCG's. The PTAC BCG is $69, the "Premium PSA" BCG is $109. Get the premium version. The last one I handled was impossible to tell apart from Daniel Defense, Colt, or BCM bolt carrier groups.
 
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