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Polymer AR Lower Receivers

bk0331
Anyone have any experience with polymer AR lowers? No opinions please, just facts.
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Comments

9 comments

Date Votes
  • mark christian
    Just the facts? Okay, Sargent Friday. The polymer offers only a minimal weight reduction, and the price between alloy and polymer lowers has now narrowed, or virtually disappeared. The rear receiver where the buffer tube screws in is a weak spot in polymer lowers; you can easily strip the threads. Early polymer lowers used to flex quite a bit, but that issue seems to have been solved. The market for polymer lowers these days centers around the 80% finished blanks which can be made into functional lowers without the need of the more involved tooling required for completing alloy lowers. The media likes to call these Ghost Guns.

    I don't see polymer giving any clear advantage, but that is just an opinion...and you aren't interested in such trivia.
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  • bk0331
    Mark,
    Thank you for your concise answer. Your reputation on these forums is well respected. I wasn't trying to be cute, but only wanted replies based on experience with the polymer lowers. Sometimes people give opinions without any basis of experience, just biases.
    By the way, the correct spelling is "sergeant". I was one, both law enforcement and military.
    Cheers.
    Bruce
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  • bpost
    I built three AR's with polymer receivers. All three are still shooting. I also upgraded all of them to the no-walk trigger pins just because I thought it was a good idea.
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  • Grasshopper
    In my early AR- days, I bought a couple complete units. Can't remember their name but anyway, they worked fine. Granted maybe only put two hundred rounds through them but no problems, over many thousands I can't answer, But look at all the pistols built that is not all steel,,just saying.
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  • nononsense
    bk0331,

    I built on several of these when they first hit the market just for the experience of using them. There were a couple of weak spots but those have been rectified for the most part. A couple of the manufacturers had recalls before most of these were withdrawn from the market for redesign.

    The weak areas were strengthened and some used small steel inserts (Glockish) to strengthen contact areas. As a result the prices went up which removed part of the reason for the original existence. The anti-walk pins are nice addition.

    Now I see them as being another potential selection for the buyers and kitchen table mechanics. The more we have to choose from the better, in my opinion.

    Best.
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  • bk0331
    Thank you all for the info, it is just what I need.
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  • beantownshootah
    Facts:

    -Polymer receivers are a few ounces lighter than aluminum.

    -Aluminum has a melting temperature of about 1220F. Nylon has a melting temperature of about 525F (depending on type). Most guns receivers never get anywhere near that hot. [;)]

    -Polymer receivers come in different colors and since the color is impregnated into the plastic, it can't scratch off.

    -Colored AR-15 receivers are now available, and there are different ways to recolor existing ones.

    -Some of the older polymer receivers were prone to failure (see below), though most of the newer ones have metal inserts in stress areas, and/or are built on more beefed up designs from glass-fiber impregnated nylon or other suitably tough material so they're better.

    Some people have put tens of thousands of rounds through individual polymer receiver guns. Certainly individual guns "can" stand up to a lot of use.

    Opinions:

    Aluminum AR receivers have become so affordable, I just don't think the price advantage of polymer is compelling anymore. You can get decent aluminum AR receivers for as little as $50 now. Is $30 for a polymer one (the cheapest I've yet seen) really such a great savings, especially when you're going to be spending several hundred more $ on the entire build?

    Personally, I'd rather pay an extra $20 (or maybe no extra cost at all since most polymer receivers still cost $50+) and get metal.

    I think there are really two (and only two) good reasons to get a polymer receiver: If you want the absolute lightest gun possible, you can shave off about half a pound with polymer, a significant weight savings.

    As mentioned above, its a lot easier to complete a polymer 80% unfinished receiver than a metal one, so if you're interested in that kind of build, this could be a good way to go.


    Edit (Addendum):
    Lastly, and sort of parenthetically, I can't help but remember this thread from a few years back. I was a bit skeptical about a new particular make of AR polymer receiver saying time would tell if the build quality of the receivers was OK or not, and whether or not the company itself, which threw off an unprofessional "vibe" to me, would hold up. One of the other board members called me to task for daring to be so disparaging about a new company.

    http://forums.GunBroker.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=443968

    Well, turns out that the product did have an appreciable failure rate (see here for one example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiYLuRJlKOk ) and the company actually did fold within two years of that post, in part (allegedly) because of poor business practice. So maybe my concerns weren't entirely "crazy". [;)]

    Some other interesting discussion on the history of the company here: http://tinyurl.com/nnzdgm9

    Anyway, the current Gen 2 receivers being sold under that brand name are effectively a totally different product, with major design improvement, from a newer company under at least partially different management. I think these are probably fine, though I still prefer metal. Supposedly the new company is still honoring the warranty of the old one, so if you did have a problem with one of the original receivers, I'd imagine they'd just send you one of the newer better ones as a replacement.
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  • bk0331
    My reason for asking was that I had picked up a poly receiver from Tennessee Arms on the cheap. It has brass inserts for screwing in the buffer tube and pistol grip. My concern is the hammer pin holes wallowing out after a while. I guess only time on the range will truely tell. For what I paid I can't complain. Thanks again.
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  • Horse Plains Drifter
    quote:Originally posted by bk0331
    . My concern is the hammer pin holes wallowing out after a while.
    Install the anti-walk pin kit that bpost mentioned, and cure that issue. I install those on "regular" receivers, as the pins will hog out the aluminum eventually too.
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