When will the AR lowers start dropping in price?

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TanklessPro

TanklessPro

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Made a trip to the local gun show today and the prices on stripped lowers was still rather high. I saw a Stag for 200 which was the cheapest there. I saw a few others that were all 250 and up to 300. The traffic on gun rocker is almost dead compared to a month ago.
I have wanted to build my own carbine for awhile but I waited too long. I dont need to build one but I just wanted too. Until the demand is back to the supply level of manufacturers can provide, will these prices stay high because the dealers are "in too deep"?
The price will come down I know, I just have to wait it out. Or maybe pick up another rifle that someone is having buyers remorse over. :evil:
 
When the demand drops the supply will increase and thus, the price. That sounds right out of my economics text book. If I had to predict, I would say one year after the next republican president gets elected, so who knows when.
 
Your best bet is to buy a stripped lower from PSA. I think they are $119 + shipping. Just keep an eye on their site and catch it when they are in stock.

Otherwise, I think lower receivers should come back down in price sometime late in the summer-beginning of fall.
 
i had the impression it was complete rifles that really went up in price, parts kits, parts, lowers, receivers etc seemed to stay pretty low
 
no, everything went sky high. $119 for a PSA stripped lower is still more than 2x by my counting. i know it's more like a 50% increase over their regular price, but everyone i know got them at their $49 sale prices.

on another forum, i saw a report of a colt 6920 in stock at walmart for $1200 for several hours (could still be there for all i know). I'll sure be glad when I can get parts again...
 
Prices are already dropping on lowers and parts. A month ago I couldn't find any LPK for under 100$ and now a literal TON of sites have them around 70$. Uppers are even starting to show up in stock. Prices are probably going to continue to drop as it seems there isn't as much profit to be made by people buying and selling them part time. Local Bass PRO has had 7 MSRs in stock at normal prices for over a week which hasn't happened since DEC. They haven't been able to keep them in stock for more than a few hours until this last week. SO it is getting better, just not very quickly.
 
Yeah PSA has them in stock now for $120, which IS about 50% more than their old normal price, and over twice their famous $50 sale (which I am kicking myself for not buying a dozen or so!)

I think over the next few months the availability elsewhere will come back, and prices everywhere will creep down. But, if you need a lower soon, I don't think you'd be too bad off to go w/ the PSA.
 
PSA's every day price was something like $89. Sure, it's higher. But, you could argue that $89 was TOO LOW. The same time PSA was selling their stripped lowers for $89, Spike's was selling theirs for something like $130. PSA's stripped lower is every bit as good as Spike's.
 
Just last week I placed an order for 4 lowers from West Fork Armory, $99.00 each, production to begin next month with delivery in July. Spend over $200.00 and shipping was free.
 
It'll be a while before prices hit rock bottom again. And who knows where they are actually going to settle out. But, a vendor at the gun show this week had a stack of Aero Precision stripped lowers for $139. A couple of vendors had CMMG LPK's for $75. There was also a bunch of MagPul furniture to be had at "normal' retail prices.

These aren't pre-panic street prices, mind you. But even seeing parts available at retail pricing is a good sign.
 
Yup - PSA makes fine lowers, and they are available for $119.

They did have some blems for $99.
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I bought a PSA lower for $59 in November (wasn't technically a blem, but got it for the blem price in store), so $119 still sounds too high to me.

Honestly, I'm not sure why stripped lower prices are still so high, since they are easy to find, and it's still incredibly difficult to build a complete AR from scratch these days due to how hard it still is to find BCGs.
 
Eventually people will realize they don't need the twelve they have squirreled away in their safes and since the ban isn't likely to happen right now, they'll sell them. I think six months and they'll be down below $150 again for a quality lower...
 
I think a lot of the people in states like CA, NY, MD, NJ, CT, CO and so forth were all this crazy legislation is going down, or went down, people were in FULL NUCLEAR PANIC to buy whatever they could before it became illegal or unavailable, or both.

A lot of folks on this board forget that just because they are in a pro-gun state doesn't mean the rest of the country has the luxury of waiting to buy something they want or risk not having it at all, even if you have to pay a premium price. Combine that with the federal legislation before it was shot down, and you have a perfect storm.
 
I think six months and they'll be down below $150 again for a quality lower...
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Uhhhhh.....how 'bout right now?? Blythe's in Valparaiso, IN has R-Guns lowers for $99. Also has PSA parts kits for $99.

Midwest in Mishawaka, IN has 500 lowers from a new company (Bremen Castings) made about ten minutes from my house. They are fanatic about quality, so I'm thinking they should be good.
 
One of my local LGS had a half dozen DPMS lowers priced at $97. I imagine there are others out there like that, they are just difficult to find.
 
lowers are showing up regularly now. The demand has plummetted in the last month. I've been seeing them online for $120 and local for under $150. Still higher than 2 years ago, but those prices were not normal.


However, with the rush between 12/12 and 3/13 most buyers got one. As of yet, i doubt production has stopped. There will be a flooded market over the next 3-6 months. I bet we see $49 lowers at PSA soon.
 
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PSA's every day price was something like $89. Sure, it's higher. But, you could argue that $89 was TOO LOW. The same time PSA was selling their stripped lowers for $89, Spike's was selling theirs for something like $130. PSA's stripped lower is every bit as good as Spike's.
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no, they were too high. essential arms and tactical innovations and others all had their lowers priced in the $70s-80s range.
 
In '11 PSA had lowers for $55 during more than one sale. Still a ways to go!
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I recall a price of $49.99 during a PSA Father's Day 2011 sale.

To date, I have purchased 3 stripped lowers from PSA. The first was $80 in May 2011 (early Aero Precision-made PSA lower). The second was $72 in August 2011 (a blem LW Schnieder-made lower - the only blemish was a slighly crooked serial number). The third was $59 in November 2012 (marked as a non-blem, but got it for a blem price due to a 1mm-wide spec of anodization missing inside the magwell).
 
Guy wanted to trade me his lower for some of my bcgs. I had to explain to him that lowers are everywhere now. I personally had some unexpected backorders filled. He looked at me like I was crazy. Crazy is paying more than 85 to 125 for a stripped lower.
 
PSA's every day price was something like $89. Sure, it's higher. But, you could argue that $89 was TOO LOW. The same time PSA was selling their stripped lowers for $89, Spike's was selling theirs for something like $130. PSA's stripped lower is every bit as good as Spike's.
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I think $89 is just right for a retailer like PSA. $59 was too low back then, $49Blems were a total steal.

For what its worth, the name brand/roll marks do add value in a small way. I would buy a Spikes over a PSA anyday, but then again I'd buy a Colt/BCM over Spikes too...

Would you rather drive a BMW or a Honda? Both get you from A to B just the same but one is more expensive than the other.
 
Would you rather drive a BMW or a Honda? Both get you from A to B just the same but one is more expensive than the other.
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Not a good analogy. I can tell you from experience there is a BIG difference between a BMW and a Honda. Much more than the badge on the hood. Yes, they will both get you from point A to B, but HOW they do it can't be compared.

On the other hand, there is essentially no difference between a Spikes and PSA lower, other than the rollmark. Neither Spikes or PSA actually makes their branded lowers - they come from Aero Precision (both PSA and Spikes) or LW Schnieder (PSA and I think some Spikes). Personally, I prefer the PSA lowers, of only for their availability and the fact that their rollmarks look less silly than Spike's. HOW they fuction is identical.
 
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