Any of you guys running a polymer lower, such as a new frontier or plum crazy. The only reason I ask is one of the shops I go to is selling the new frontier lowers like crazy, even the fire control group is polymer, hammer and all. I just wondering if any has or had one or seen run hard. I tried the search but didn’t come up with anything.
A brief search reveals this:
https://www.m4carbine.net/search.php?searchid=3995821
Plum Crazy and other polymer lowers are not well regarded, nor long-lived.
And no, I have never owned one.
To quote an Industry Professional amd Moderator on this site “I don’t need to take a bite of a shit sandwich to know it tastes bad.”
https://www.m4carbine.net/archive/index.php/t-81081.html
There are also links to this topic in the thread above.
Are you looking to save weight?
If so, there are other ways to do that. Robb Jensen and rob_s have several excellent threads on building a highly durable and lightweight carbine. You might search their posts.
Sadly, it’s not a Glock. I’d save my polymer for my pistols, rather than my AR-family of carbines.
New Frontier has a thread at the THR site soliciting folks about their new lower which is supposed to sell for $99. They also said these lowers are for “casual” use. I sent them an email and told them I’d take a lower for $99 and would put it to honest use, that I would give them a chance to resolve any problems before posting about them on the internet and I would share my findings with them and post on M4carbine. While they said they’d be contacting certain members about getting lowers to test, I never got a response from them.
I figure I’d not worry about it and spend my time on other projects
I just ordered one. I’ll be using it on a lightweight hunting rifle I’m building. Lifetime warranty, and there youtube video’s seem pretty convincing if you ask me.
the Cavalry Arms lower with integrated stock is much better if you want to reduce weight
Lifetime warranty is great unless they go under. Let us know how it works out for you.
I can see using it for a dedicated .22 upper maybe. But I think you can get a complete .22 AR for less than the cost of that lower and another upper.
I am not interested in them. I hadn’t even heard of such a thing, I guess I am behind the curve on this one. The weight of an AR is a non-issue to me at this point. I was just in the shop the other day looking around and I bet he sold three of the things and I hadn’t even heard of a polymer lower. Apparently I also need to brush up on my use of the search button
No offense, but are you familiar with New Frontier Armory? They’re a pretty big gunshop in Vegas/online retailer as well as the manufacturer (they sub contract the injection molding, but do all assembly in-house) of these lowers so are pretty “stable”. Their business model is quite a bit different than most AR “Manufacturers” these days. They’re more along the lines of Palmetto State, rather than Plum Crazy.
I’d bet I know what shop it was at :D. We’ve been moving hundreds out a week. You’re more than welcome to come in and take a look at them sometime.
I am sorry but going to repeat what others have said on here. A lower built from polymer around a design/spec of a standard aluminum lower is just not good. When they design a lower meant to be made out of polymer then it might be worth looking at after extensive testing.
You just can’t switch one material out with another.
Yes, I do know who they are and it still doesn’t negate the fact that polymer lowers are good for building .22 trainers and not much else.
Again- lifetime warranty is great, if they are around to honor it.
According to the company they use a special proprietary polymer blend that is much stronger than aluminum.
If thats true i have no idea and honestly their videos of torture tests are very sketchy with all the cutting they did
There’s always a lot of doubt when something new comes out and people for whatever reason get uneasy.
To say that “Well it was designed with aluminum therefore it should never be anything else” is silly. Eugene Stoner didn’t have polymer to work with when designing the first gun, and if he did maybe he’d have used it and we’d all be saying “Well it was made of polymer first so to make it out of aluminum is just dumb.”
I think that there is definately the possibility of a polymer lower being equally as stable as an aluminum one someday, if that day isn’t already here.
We have tons of handguns that are polymer, why can’t an AR lower be the same? There isn’t much for the lower to do other than keep the trigger, magazine, and buffer in place and none of that takes a ton of strength.
So let’s all take the tinfoil hats off and open our minds to the possibility of making a better mousetrap.
BM says the same for their ‘carbon 15’. I’ve handled one but never shot it. I’ve yet to really hear anything (from reliable sources) good about them.
http://www.bushmaster.com/catalog_carbon15_az-c1516m4FT.asp
Lightweight Carbon 15 Composite Receivers – 40% stronger and 40% lighter than comparable aircraft aluminum receivers
I am, by no means, an expert, but I’d still take all these claims of ‘just as strong/durable as a forged aluminium receiver’ with a grain of salt… until someone takes the time to thoroughly test one.
Tapatalked
I bought one from a local dealer recently.
$154.xx out the door.
The quality is alright–nothing to rave about, but for the price, you can’t really bitch too much.
This is definitely NOT meant to end up as a fighting gun.
Here are a few thoughts:
- plastic FCG isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Haven’t measured the trigger pull, but it feels pretty crisp.
- plastic take-down pins feel really flimsy. Fit was ok.
- lower does not like aluminum mags (at least the ones I have). A ton of friction. Swapping to a metal magazine catch would fix it. Works OK with PMAGs (surprisingly)
- OK: comes with 6-position buffer tube & standard M4 stock. NOT OK: Buffer tube is ‘commercial’ spec. Castle nut was not staked from factory.
Paired with a dedicated .22 upper or something like an entry-level carbine upper from Palmetto, and it’s a great lightweight trainer/loaner gun.
If anybody wants pictures, speak up and I’ll snap some tonight when I get home from work.
I wonder how well the lower would take a lateral stress to the buffer tube like somebody using the rifle for a step-up?
That is the critical area IMO. The reciever ring where the buffer tube mounts. They are limited here because they cannot simply add material due to charging handle clearance.
Cav Arms got around this by integrating the buttstock.
Stronger is a weasel word. It doesn’t have any relevant meaning.
No one is saying it can’t be made of polymer. They are saying you can’t take a part designed around one material and switch it with another. You would have to design said part with polymer or any other material at that from the beginning. Meaning it would be different specs, reinforced in different areas etc. Point is the lower being made with just another material and not designing and testing where it might fail with that material is the wrong answer. You can’t say ohh this weapon uses this material and it works just fine, that is because they DESIGNED IT to be made with that material so it would work.