Anybody checked out the aluminum Cav Arms lowers?
If so what did you think?
I handled some stripped ones today and will prolly pick up a couple to keep for emergency builds.
Dave
I have not seen them in person. While they do look nice, price seems a bit high to me.
C4
I believe it is WOSTEES (way overpriced stuff that everyone else sells). Last I heard cavarms did not machine and anodize the lowers they just have their (borrowed) logo on the receiver. For $175 maybe they can throw in some fugly handguards and a stock that doesn’t fit perfectly with your receiver, or the local grocery store will have generic Kool-aid cheaper. 
There are plenty of forged lowers I would take before I bought the Cavarms one (aluminum or plastic) beginning with DPMS, Double Star or (what may be the best of the lot) the Sabre Defense lower.
Check out the Sabre lower
I looked on the website for them, but didn’t find anything. What I want to know is whether or not they will be able to take grease gun mags like their plastic lowers did.
No the plastic lowers took the mags because the lower was not mil-spec (dimensionally, not just the use of plastic). A new grease gun lower is coming out, one of the part owners of cavarms, Warren, also owns Ameetec who will be marketing the grease gun mag lowers (aluminum) made by another company.
All of this depends on Warren actually selling lowers since his backlog on www.AR15.com may indicate that he isn’t actually selling any lowers at this time.
So the new aluminum lowers ARE mil-spec dimensionally? I was wondering if they kept the magwell size from the plastic lowers, aparently they do not. So are these are just regular run of the mill forged aluminum lowers?
As far as I know it is just WOSTEES. Think LAR makes them too?
They do look nice and it appears they that may be teflon coated. I like the roll mark, it beats a deer head anyday. The price is a little higher than many of the others on the market. We’ll see what happens.
Dave
I’m with PB on this whole thing.
There has been a fair amount of discussion on arf.com about how the cav stuff is the sh!t, but very few of them are out there.
To make things even more interesting, some individuals have gotten some lowers from early “runs” (if there are enough out to call a production run) with low serial numbers and are attempting to sell them at exhorbitant prices claiming collector value. This has been done outside the normal channel on sites like backpage.com.
I think the jury should remain out on these for a while. They are introducing a product in an attempt to gain some name and market share, but still vehemently attempting to defend the plastic stuff (while talking down the established competitors- as seen on arf.com).
BTW- Since this is my first post…
Hello, I’m Noshoot. I’m a firearms junkie that enjoys putting holes in targets as much as chasing rocks, shotgun hulls, etc.
Just now getting the time to read the board from time to time and hoping to learn some more about the wonderful M4 (Gawd knows I carried an M16 enough just never got to know or understand the thing). Currently working on a build that started with a stripped DPMS lower (with some assistance of a friend of mine who is on this board).
The Cavarms forged lower is way overpriced. It is identical to a DPMS, Ameetec, Doublestar, etc, lower.
They charge $50+ more per lower because they have a local following that loves to kiss their asses. But many locals have seen the truth and think of them as a joke. After years of selling plastic lowers and claiming them to be superior to aluminum, they have now capitulated and joined the forged lower “making” club.
I would buy what is priced right and what is available.
You have to figure that cav is getting their stuff from the same manufacturer as Ameetec.
Ameetec being the ones that are selling complete collapsible lowers for $200.
So, you really have to wonder about cav.
Kinda reminds me of when I worked in a gunstore part time a while back. We got something in used at a great price so we put it back out well under what it would normally go for. We had several lookers who saw the value but always asked “it’s so cheap, what’s wrong with it?” I told several people that there wasn’t anything wrong with it, we just got it for a song from the original owner. Needless to say no one would touch it.
Soooo, we raised the price back up to “going rate” on it and it lasted less than 24 hours.
I think cav is trying to convince everyone that it’s worth the asking price because it is such superior quality that it warrants what they are asking. That and an attempt to raise their margins since I bet the sales of the tactical tupperware is starting to wane.
Marketing and fan boys can only take a product so far and keep it going so long.
Eventually people simply want the best product available.
I didn’t know that they were forged. I really haven’t read any information about the lowers. My buddy received a pretty good sized shipment of them and I got my hands on a few. I have built a couple guns with the plastic Cav lowers and they work great. I would be hesitant to use one in combat but I haven’t had any problems in about 15k.
I’ll prolly pick one or two up and throw em in the safe for a rainy day.
Dave
Yeah good marketing is really over-rated…just look at Coca Cola.
Dave
You would be hesitant to use on in combat? That is as honest as honest reviews can be. Maybe that is why they went to having someone else make their lowers (aluminum)?
Well I am a huge fan of MagPul and have put more than a few rounds down range from a couple PMags but I would still hesitate to use one in combat. Just becasue I hesitate on such matters does not mean that both the PMag and the Cav Arms lowers are not worthy enough for combat.
I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but I am smart enough to know that my opinion is just that…my opinion.
In my opinion Coca Cola’s marketing is a matter of brand presence in the market. A market that they have been is since 1889.
To quote the cav site-
http://www.cavalryarms.com/MKI.html
[i]CAV-15 “MKI” Receiver
The CAV-15 injection molded AR15 receiver was first unveiled by Cavalry Arms at the 2000 Soldier of Fortune Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first CAV-15 receivers shipped to consumers in December of 2000.[/i]
So, cav introduced the first product produced by the company in 2000 at an SOF convention and not the Shot Show. That’s some interesting marketing.
Since that time their marketing has been taken to the level of having their guys (employees/fanboys- known as shills on other hobby sites) register on firearms related forums and attack anyone that says anything contrary to what they post on a daily basis. That’s some really interesting marketing…
As far as using them in combat, when you go to the website and click on LE/Mil sales you get a page touting accessories but not their weapons. If you go to the about us page and click on the “Cav Troopers” button you see photo’s of many troops in the field, and not a single is carrying a cav weapon.
This is just my opinion, based on personal observation, reading, and research.
That is correct, and this has been the only true “discussion” of cavarms products I have read in a long time. Usually their crew and “fans” jump in and try to decimate the conversation.
This is a good website.
Opinions do count for something. If I think I’m dying I want the opinion of a doctor, if I can’t fix my car then I want the opinion of a good mechanic.