The Polymer AR lowers, anyone have both yet?

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Hammerhead6814

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As far as I know there are two AR-15 composite lowers on the market: Plumcrazy C-15 and New Frontier Armory LW-15.

Bushmaster is still around but no one cares about them anymore. :evil:

Has anyone made a side by side comparison between the two? Any differences in weight? Any perceivable problems?
 
I do know that discerning Gunkids everywhere favor the carbon fiber lower coupled with a dedicated silenced .22 upper.
 
I'm trying hard to understand that advantage what a polymer lower would have over forged aluminum.

The weight seems really insignificant considering the rest of the rifle.


The only ones I saw that remotely made sense were the cavarms lowers that incorporated the grip and stock+receiver extension.
 
Indiana, the problem is that nobody has added a steel subframe to make the lower stronger and lighter and AL. Think poly handguns. The poly lower is the next big thing but it will be the gun that replaces the AR, not the AR itself.
 
shouldn't be that hard to better Plumcrazy.
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:confused:

I have two rifles with the PlumCrazy lowers, and so far I don't see/have a problem. Perhaps you can explain what is wrong with them ?
 
@ IndianaBoy
One advantage of these polymer lowers, at least initially, it makes it reduces the costs for the lower.Where else can you find a complete lower for 100$?

BTW There are several rifles out today that sport a polymer lower. The Scar (both L and H) and the ACR are good examples of this.
 
A friend has a plum crazy lower. It really doesn't weigh that much less than a standard lower.

The plastic hammer broke. PC replaced it promptly, service was good, but it never would have happened with metal parts.
 
Doesn't Cav Arms still make theirs?

The plastic hammer broke. PC replaced it promptly, service was good, but it never would have happened with metal parts.
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The plastic hammer broke. PC replaced it promptly, service was good, but it never would have happened with metal parts.

BSW
 
This gets amusing sometimes, you can run over plastic handguns with trucks, drop them out of buildings, but somebody questions plastic use in an AR 15. Mine works just fine and of course no one has ever heard of a metal AR having problems..;)
 
I'm fine with plastic guns, as long as the firearm was designed around the plastic in the first place. But when you use the same dimensions and have the same stress points you find plastic does not react like metal.

BSW
 
Having handled both the Plum Crazy and the New Frontier lowers...They look like there made the same. Possibly by the same people.
 
i dont usually rag on a person's choice of what to own and shoot, but we have had not one, not two, but THREE of these poly lowers fail at our local range. two of them simply cracked a piece off and one was darn near catastrophic.

this is NOT me flaming on them. im sure there have been tons of them sold and they have been fine. i must add that these guys were all friends and they do reload. so i dont know if they decided to see how fast they could make an SS109 fly -- pure conjecture on my part.

anyway...to answer the original question, i really dont see much difference between the two majors on the market today.
 
The New Frontier Armory LW-15 looks interesting. $100 for a complete lower and a half pound weight savings. A half pound is a lot to shave off the AR. Another plus is it excepts any mil-spec LPK.
 
I have a PC lower that I bought to set up a T-14. I chose it on advice of some friends that know much more about ARs than I do (well, that would be just about anyone :D).

My thinking here was that since the whole idea is to experiment a little I wanted to keep everything as inexpensive as possible initially. If this setup turns out to be as useable as I think it will I might upgrade later.

My question is this: If the trigger or trigger group breaks is it possible to replace these items with higher quality components? Are these lowers as interchangeable as I've been led locally to believe?
 
I have 2 of the PCF lowers and have had only 1 problem with mine, the front take down pin pulled all the way out upon dissassembly but to be fair I've done this with a DPMS also. I've put 1 of them thru the wringer by putting a Slidefire stock on it and subjecting it to a 9mm upper and dumping mag after mag and then putting it on a .556 upper and dumping mag after mag with it also. Nary a problem no pin hole stretching, which I thought would be a problem. Now after about a year of abuse I can't see any difference between the abused one and the other. I did install a RockRiver 2 stage FCG to see if I could get the Slidefire to work with a 22 upper but no go. Anyway the PCF has impressed me as being able to handle more than I thought it could. YMMV
 
I recently purchased a Plum Crazy lower for a lightweight build I was doing for my girlfriend.
I paired it with the 16" DelTon lightweight upper and have been very impressed.

The one thing I had to do was upgrade the hammer spring. I was getting light primer strikes which I have to assume was because of the lightweight polymer hammer.

One Wolff extra power hammer spring later and its running wonderfully. The trigger is actual very nice as well which surprised me.
 
I am planning on running my New Frontier lower with my 6920 upper at a tactical rifle match at Pueblo West in 3 weeks.

I've had no major issues with it running rimfire rounds yet.
 
One of the problems I have with non metal firearms is the various materials are of unknown consistency. With steel and aluminum we know what they are and they are very stable stiff materials. Plasics such as carbon fiber can be made very strong and ridgid...at considerable expense. The FACT that plastic frames in firearms need metal inserts at wear points proves we have a way to go and that poly firearms are not as great as people insist despite the glocks. I do love my glock 20 though. I will sell it in a few years and maybe buy another one with fresh poly. My kimbers and colts are forever though.
 
I keep waiting for a polymer upper.
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Plastic, sheet steel, as long as the barrel extension is taking all the force it doesn't matter that much.

But yeah, you just can't swap plastic for steel using the same dimensions and designs and expect things to work.

BSW
 
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