Ar Upper and Lower thoughts

[Michaelk]

Aero Precision is a good brand without being expensive. But lowers of all brands are a little more difficult to come by at the moment. But this is probably a short term issue so don’t over pay.

[zaman]

Thanks for the responses. Great food for thought.

[Kev_lar]

I've had great luck with Midway's ARStoner brand. They have had some decent sales on them. Best one was a complete optics ready upper that ended up being $180 shipped. I coupled that with an Aero lower and magpul parts and it is a really light carbine. The finish is good and the all come with 3 test fired cases. Something I have never encountered with a Palmetto.

[emuscott]

First build after owning a dpms bull barrel a2 from the Clinton ban era, was on a new frontier armory billet lower. Absolutely loved it. It was later copied by a few manufacturers with matched uppers. It's design was awesome in my opinion, and the machining was flawless. That being said a Midwest industries billet upper would not fit without filing the rear takedown lug to round off the edges where it fit into the shelf of the lower. Fit was ok but you could still see light through it. Lower was 7075, and upper was 6061. I have had two Anderson lowers, open trigger guards, and both fit separate uppers tight with no light showing or wobble. The finish is kinda rough feeling compared to others, but fit and function are better than billet receivers costing 5 to 6 times as much. Sorry so long just wanted to get that out there.

[cw_mi]

As much as I would love an LWRC or Noveske, for the amount times I actually shoot my AR's and my experience level with them it would be just a stupid waste of money. I'd be laughed off the range.

I also like assembling them, so I go for the roughly $100 stripped lower. Spikes, Stag, Mega...etc. I've had good luck with CMMG parts kits. I'll generally go with a decent BCG, I've got Spikes, Bravo Company, Rainier Arms and just ordered an NP3 coated one from Robar. I use Spikes buffers. I admit, I go low budget on my uppers. I've got a Spec Ops, R Guns and a JD Machine. Haven't had any issues with either of them.
If I was going to shoot 3 gun or do some heavy tactical training, I'm sure I'd have to up my platform for now though, for plinking these seem to work.

Now since snowmobiling season ended early for me, and I've been board I've decided to got thru both my current complete rifles and am going to build up another. I've added Bravo Company triggers, some blingy items from Strike Industries, and changed the stocks.