I’m aware there are probably only a hand full of companies that actually make lpk but I’ve never liked DPMS and anything labeled as suck I stay away from. As well as Anderson lpk, see a lot of small parts break.
Most of my lowers have been bcm assembled lowers (bought on sale). What are some good brands?
Say from a budget stand point that is still dependable. Not looking to spend 100each on a lpk. Is it possible to get dependable mill spec trigger w/ lpk that’s dependable for $60/80?
You are probably better off getting a LPK without the trigger/grip and just buy those separate. You can find Kits like that for around $40 and then add the trigger and grip you prefer. Sionics and Sons of liberty offer these and are high quality kits. Geissele just started to offer kits on Brownells as well. Then add an enhanced Milspec trigger such as the ALG, BCM PNT, Sionics enhanced etc. Jobobs has had really good pricing on the Hiperfire EDT line recently and Right to Bear sells a Polished trigger for $40 that is solid and would save a few bucks.
The trigger was much nicer in the Sionics kit which is easily worth the $15 dollar difference compared to the CMMG. I change out my grips so was happy it didnt come with one. Other people might be able to answer the technical differences better, but all the Sionics parts were machined well and i trust them to use high quality parts from previous experience. A lot of the cheaper kits use MIM parts and dont have the proper heat treat or proper milspec materials. I dont know all the specifications, but I tend to go with companies that have a reputation for high quality stuff and that i trust. An Aero or CMMG kit would probably be fine, but i am willing to pay a little bit more for known quality.
Some things to look out for with lower cost kits are
Bolt catch and safety selector cast vs MIM- Cast is Mil spec
Aluminium vs steel Mag Buttons- Steel is milspec
Magazine catch and takedown pivot pins 8620 steel or something cheaper? Are they heat treated and coated properly
A lot of companies are not going to provide this type of info in the description, so i try to go with known quality. Some places will tell you what they use if you call. I am doubting the lower cost options check all the boxes, but if i was on a budget CMMG and Aero would be 2 of my first choices. I have had issues with out of spec parts from when i first got in the platform from Anderson and PSA. I would stay away from the cheapest options
I almost bought a giessele LPK off of Brownells, and I noticed it’s the DPMS LPK with the ALG trigger. So I went with sionics LPK. I’ve bought g&r LPK, SOLGW, sionics, DD, BCM, and Colts.
I couldn’t find a quality one in stock on Brownells last week so I ordered two from Sionics. Good quality parts at a fair price.
I’ve had countless parts on a AP rifle that were out of spec. So they sent more parts… that were out of spec. Finally the 3 or 4th time they sent parts that would fit. I think I’ve gone through about 7 or 8 bolt catches from them too. I call and they just send a new one. Basically their parts are just junk. When I asked about this they said the spice the parts out and don’t check for QC. I won’t ever buy anything again from them. Plus I had problems with their CS and got excuse after excuse with them. I had to raise hell before they finally took care of me.
ETA: I had a through review on this AP 308 rifle. It’s still on here but photobucket has my pictures hostage.
I am a huge fan of the Sionics LPK with their trigger. I also like the BCM LPK and trigger. I just picked up an ALG/Geissele LPK with a QMS and it is a great value and an excellent trigger. The Colt LPK’s from G&R, when they are in stock, is a great option as well. You can’t go wrong with any of these, as well as the ALG LPK with ACT trigger.
Aero is that bad in general? Was thinking of picking up a upper and lower receiver in ar10. I have a upper receiver I built my SBR off of…that’s the only part aero. Lower is BCM. But it runs greats. Have bout 2,500 rounds through it.
Stickman says AP is good to go. But I won’t buy anything else from them. Bad luck combined with their poor CS and QC turned we away from them.
I would say if you get an inspec upper or lower from them you would be gtg, but I am not chancing it. Basically the only thing original on my AP is the upper receiver, lower, buffer tube buffer and buffer spring. They changed out just about everything else and replaced all the parts to “fix” the problems to no avail.
Right before DD went FULL semi-auto, I picked up one of their LPK’s. I’ll probably just stick to BCM from now on, though. NEVER had a problem with one of their LPK’s in almost 9 years of building them, and shooting them.
To be completely honest. I have DD rifle and will pick up another bcm or two. However I have 4 80% lowers I’ve done. (Have a vmc, not that router or drill press shit) want to get those going. My main motive is because of political climate but also at market is flood and having a lot of sales. I’m mostly in to ww2 and precision bolt guns
FWIW, I just recently purchased a CMMG lower parts kit (Gun Builder’s Kit), the one with no FCG or grip. Everything was okay but the safety selector lever. Way to big to fit into the lower. It was out-of-spec enough that instead of ordering one from another vendor I decided to drill/ream out the lower until it functioned properly. I would never have done that but for the fact that it was a “beater” gun built mostly from spare parts.
I’m not knocking CMMG…just saying. I will not be using their LPK’s in the future.
Did you try the safety in another lower? Or another safety in that lower?
I haven’t had that experience. I bought a bunch of ambi-safeties from CMMG a couple years ago when they were on sale. They have worked flawlessly in everything I’ve put them in.
I generally put the rifle together with a CMMG safety then swap it back into the parts bin if/when I put in a short throw safety.
I think every rifle should have an ambi-safety, and they were cost effective at the price I paid, I’m sure they were sourced by CMMG from some supplier who makes generic ambi-safeties for OEM manufacturers.
Much the like the pins and springs in LPK’s overall.
I did not for two reasons. 1.) I wasn’t concerned about the fitment because I know the lower while in my ownership is ever going to be taken apart, and 2.) The lower was part of a batch of lowers I purchased together and I had no problems with safety selectors from other brand LPK’s working in the other lowers from that batch. Note that this was the first LPK from CMMG that I had ever tried. So…
FTR, I mostly use Spikes LPK’s. I like how easy their “in the white” roll pins install.