Stripped Lower... Want to buy local...

[chad1043]

No this is not another which is better thread...

I was wondering if anyone knew a good source in west Michigan to buy a stripped lower receiver. Most places I have called on are selling them for around $160. I have found many online for $99... I have a FFL that will transfer one for $20...

Is this a common price? Am I off on my thinking?

I would like to stay local if possible...

Thanks...

 

[mljdeckard]

It's a bit more than they were before Obamapanic. But yeah, if you buy it online you are eating shipping and a transfer fee. I would go to a gun show and see if you can find one there for $110. (That might be a bit optimistic, but I would try it once anyway.)

 

[longdayjake]

Gunshow? All the stripped lowers at gunshows I see are listed at $250. Good luck!

 

[ants]

Cost varies regionally. Here in our area, they doubled price back in January. But now they are back down to pre-Obama prices. You can get lowers from $89 to $120 in several gunshops here in town.

HOWEVER, the cheapest ones have poor quality. I went to look at some at a shop 2 weeks ago. Straight from the factory, they were painted (a baked on coating) rather than anodized. The problem with buying online is that you cannot inspect it before you buy it.


Another quality issue:
The first lower I built back in 1998 had lousy pin hole alignment. By 2000 they all got pretty good. Only a small number of manufacturers actually make all the stripped lowers commercially available, and I never had a problem with any of them for 9 years, until this year. I've had two this year (one LAR and one DPMS) with takedown/pivot pin holes poorly aligned. They're easy for me to fix, but may present a problem for the beginner.


It's always best to get quality parts for your first build.

 

[Quentin]

You might ask on AR15.com, might find someone local who knows where to go for the best deal. Really $100 plus $20 FFL and shipping isn't terrible for a lower but like ants said I'd like to buy locally so I could inspect it. That's what I did and got to look at Doublestar and S&W, etc. I liked the S&W logo so paid $10 bucks more and never regretted it. Nothing at all wrong with the others though.

Most lowers are good, you can pretty much expect them all to work well except a few that have bad reps like Vulcan, etc.

 

[chad1043]

The one that the local place has is a S&W and they want $160, which is about what they go for online, the lowest I saw was $129.

I asked the local shop if they can get in Stag or RRA, they're gonna email me tomorrow.I was hoping to pay around 100-129... Online, I can get a CMMG for 100 and 0 shipping... So that would be $120.

I really want to stay local, I guess I should try not to be so cheap...

 

[Acera]

Gunshow? All the stripped lowers at gunshows I see are listed at $250. Good luck!

longdayjake you might consider moving. LOL.

Even at the height of the panic, lowers were never that expensive down here.



I have seen online specials lately where the price was around $80. Keep checking, the volume of these available will probably soon surpass the pre-bho scare, and the prices might drop lower because of overstock and lessened demand.

All the producers went into overdrive to keep up with demand, then the demand fell off tremendously. Well production continued until this happened, and there is a bunch of these out there not selling at near the rate they were. Supply is way more than demand, and that will continue to drive down prices.

There appears to be nothing to keep the prices from falling even farther, and probably fall under their lowest in years.

 

[chad1043]

Thanks for all the help guys... I will see what they say tomorrow!

 

[rjrivero]

There is a guy in EAST Michigan who sells lowers. He can custom engrave them for whatever caliber you want, and if you ask him, he'll even put an "infinity" symbol on it for caliber.

He's a Class III manufacturer and also makes suppressors and such. I'll see if I can find his card. I have it somewhere around here.