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What say y'all? What are the pluses/minuses to polymer lowers?

I am just talking the lower housing...trigger guard would be metal as will all the hardware.

I've seen quite a number of them that have busted apart at the rear take down pin area due to either poor quality or not being able to handle the recoil. Aluminum is light enough for me.

This is the one I have. I'm happy with it. http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2012/1 ... -receiver/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

baldeagle wrote:This is the one I have. I'm happy with it. http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2012/1 ... -receiver/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have one of those too on my 300 BO AR and so far no problems. I even changed out the trigger to a NIBX. It sure makes for a lightweight AR.

Gun show in Tyler today and they had a stripped lower in polymer that had a cool shark kinda thing wrapping the sides and front of the mag well that kinda looked AVGish (I love anything Pacific Theater WWII) and thought it would look cool on an AR.

Now, ARs aren't a big deal to me otherwise I would already have one. But I was toying with the idea of doing a ground up build. If I start this thing, I will be following the other threads on here...lol.

This is the upper I use. https://sotaarms.com/component/jshoppin ... 3?Itemid=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; I got the stainless 5.56.

I "built" mine from the polymer lower and this complete upper and added a scope and mount. I'm looking forward to shooting it more now that I'm retired.

We have a new frontier and a bushmaster polymer, only put a couple hundred rounds down range but so far so good.

This is like the one I am looking at but I think the one at the gun show is sans trigger guard...I think Spikes makes it.

i have seen and shot several from all different calibers (22 to 458) and have never had an issue with one yet -- well take that back one issue with one that was used on 22lr had to change out the polymer hammer to a metal hammer cause the polymer was little to fat to fit in the bolt -- other than that i havent seen anyone really have issues with them -- i have seen pics of the takedown pin area messed up and broke but honestly i think they were done on purpose trying to see what it would take to make them break away -- i mean with enough force you can make anything break -- with that said i like aluminum lowers better but i have no fears with the polymer -- just to note i'm talking about new frontier armory since those are the only ones i have tried and seen

I used to think "meh"..... nothing wrong with them, but given a choice, I just always preferred to buy metallic receivers. But yesterday I came home with a new .308 battle rifle that comes from the factory with a polymer lower - an FN SCAR 17s. If FNH thinks it is OK to field $3,000.00 battle rifles with polymer lowers, maybe they know something I don't know? In that light, a polymer lower for a civilian AR15 is probably just fine for most applications.

I have a polymer upper and lower on my AR. I haven't ran it super hard yet but it eats everything i put in it. It likes steel and brass. The only thing with the upper is that it feels rough through the charging handle and it starts to bog down a little on about the 200th round. I believe that is because of a trigger issue im not sure though. In my opinion on strength, you probably wouldn't want to go around butt stroking things and if you have to butt stroke someone its a bad day anyway so if it cracks its not a huge deal to me at that point . It is also super light so carrying it is that much easier.

With the prices now so low on quality metal lowers I am not sure why people would use the polymer versions as they do not save that much weight. I would also wonder on any resale value with a polymer lower. Could they have just been a fad for a while and are now fading away?

Salty1 wrote:With the prices now so low on quality metal lowers I am not sure why people would use the polymer versions as they do not save that much weight. I would also wonder on any resale value with a polymer lower. Could they have just been a fad for a while and are now fading away?

I think the interest might have been sparked by the advent of 3D printing technologies, then it took hold.