Really??? Poly AR lowers now????

Nothing new.

Cavalry arms
Bushmaster(?) Carbon15
ATI
etc.

The lower can (and has) been made of stranger things. For example, a chunk of wood.

2008-10-01_030521_03_success.jpg
 
Seems to me like it was always a cost cutting measure, and not a weight saving measure. Squeeze another $50 out of the rifle when you are selling 50,000 it might make sense. Never seemed to have caught on though.
 
Been around a few years, I inquired about one a couple years ago when I was going to do my first build and the salesman suggested I only use it for a 22LR AR. I passed on it and kept shopping. It's not like the lower really sees much for stress though for the average rifle. I don't think I'd want to go into combat with one but for a range gun it should be fine.
 
I have an Omni polymer lower that I got for free to evaluate.

I put a match trigger into it to see if it would fit - no problem. It came with a standard AR trigger that was not so bad. It was real tight with the upper at first, now it is just tight. I put a Magpul MIAD on it that I had laying around.

It initially had an issue with some mags not liking the bolt catch, most USGI mags fit nice. That worked in as well.

I put 1000 rounds of 5.56 through it with no stoppages and then brought it to a match, and won several rifle matches. I accepted it figuring it would break or not work well, but I was pleasantly surprised.

I've blown up dozens of AR's. The lower contains little or no pressure under normal conditions or in a breech explosion, so this one would be safe enough to shoot.

Not sure I would take it to Afghanistan or jump out of a plane with it, but folks laughed at Gaston Glock when he made a pistol out of the same material, and now I have a third AR instead of a spare upper.
 
Stephen1546 said:
If the Bushmaster ACR can have a poly lower (and experience no problems with it), why can't an AR?
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Well, that would be because the ACR was designed with polymer in mind from the start, using its properties correctly. Making a polymer AR lower is different because it was designed and sized for aluminum and polymers are not the same at all in terms of material strength and properties. I don't know if a polymer AR lower is a good idea or not, but things seldom work correctly when you simply substitute one material in place of another very different material.


Mark
 
Friend of mine bought one because he like the idea of light weight lower, the fine threads on the buffer tube stripped itself gradually from buffer over the course of 2-3k rounds of ammo. the fine threads on aluminum lower is perfectly acceptable, but on a polymer it is easily cross threaded.
 
I shot team competitive matches in Texas with a Cavalry Arms CAV-15 with a polymer lower back in 2009. The weight is amazing.

It's been around for more than a decade, Cavalry Arms has made them from 2000 to 2010 before they sold their tooling and other companies probably made polymer lowers before that.
 
Held an AR with polymer lower AND upper in Minneapolis on the weekend, weight savings is amazing, but the durability is questionable.
Not made by any "name brand" company by any means. Even the store employees were questioning the quality. $199 for a complete lower.
 
C77 said:
I've blown up dozens of AR's. The lower contains little or no pressure under normal conditions or in a breech explosion, so this one would be safe enough to shoot.
Click to expand...

Under what circumstances have you blown up dozens of ARs? During testing?
 
I have a polymer lower for my DMR, while I don't shoot it much it's been pretty good for some static line shooting. I'd imaging that eventually the trigger pin holes will start to warp.... But for the price 3 years ago, it's been pretty good
 
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