Just wanted to give a shout out to KAC and their great service as well as stress the importance of buying from a reputable and established manufacturer (KAC, BCM, DD, Colt, LMT, etc.).
A month or so ago, I purchased two SR-30 lowers from Ayan at boltcarrier.com for the express purpose of Form 1’ing into SBRs. I had done a lot of thinking on this topic, and chose KAC lowers for a few reasons:
[ol]
[li]After owning and abandoning LWRCs, I didn’t want to invest in something as irreplaceable as an SBR if it couldn’t take mil-spec parts. The last thing I need is my SBRs getting scrapped if a ban would ever occur and parts couldn’t be found for it. While KAC lowers have lots of proprietary (and, after using them, super functional) doodads, any quality LPK can still be used. That’s a big plus in my book.
[/li][li]I plan on getting SR-30 uppers for both, so the lowers will match.
[/li][li]They come with everything I normally put on my lowers (Geissele SSA, BAD ambidextrous selector, extended trigger guard) in KAC form, so no parts swaps would be needed on purchase outside of throwing on a Magpul MIAD.
[/li][li]KAC’s reputation for quality and CS is supposedly second to none, so if I’m going to go with something as rare as an SBR, I may as well get the best I can buy.
[/li][/ol]
On receipt of the lowers, I found two small problems. One lower receiver had an end plate on it that lacked anti-rotation QD sockets, and the trigger guard in the other lower receiver flapped around loosely and fairly loudly. A quick email to KAC’s returns and repairs division (and some questions to Tom Presley, SxPxDx on these forums) told me that these were both warrantyable things, so $30, 2 UPS trucks, and a week and a half later, both were fixed and back in my hands.
The trigger guard was out of spec, causing the rattling, and the end plate was one of KAC’s old-style thingamabobs. On return, both trigger guards were tight as can be with no rattle, and the new-style end plate with anti-rotation QD sockets was attached. Mission accomplished.
Overall, the experience was super positive. KAC responded to my emails promptly, immediately asked to inspect my lower receivers and gave me no hassles or extended questioning, paid return shipping, performed the replacements in a timely manner, and were an overall pleasure to deal with. While these issues had absolutely no impact on the functionality of the lower receivers, KAC still helped to replace them and for that I’m thankful.
Take this into account when purchasing your next rifle or other AR-related product. I got burned by LWRC multiple times on actual function-impeding issues (canted rails, out-of-spec bolt catches) that they refused to fix on my rifles, and I’m sure other less-than-reputable companies would have had no problem telling me to screw off as well. KAC, however, fixed my issues without hesitation and at very little cost to me, all on issues that weren’t function-impeding in the least. While both of these companies are described as top-tier throughout the internet, it’s pretty obvious which is really worthy of that title. Word to the wise, everyone.
Now just to snag one of KAC’s engineering positions down in Titusville. :jester:
P.S.: I know a lot of you expect shipping to be paid both ways with warranty claims, and on functional issues, I do as well. However, since these were rattles and old-but-still-functional parts, I was more than happy to pay the $30 shipping to have them checked out. It was cheaper than buying the new parts myself anyway. Perfectly fine by me. My old Glocks that spat brass at my face, though…