Ruger selling AR15 lower

View · by **grimbeaver** on Wed Nov 30, 2016 10:33 am

Looks like Ruger is now going to sell an AR lower. Not a lot of info on it. MSRP of $129 and they say it's "forged 7075-T6 aluminum, is Type III hard-coat anodized". At that price point seems like a tough sell unless the anodizing is super nice.

View · by **UnaStamus** on Wed Nov 30, 2016 7:31 pm

Not really. If you look at an AR15 lower for $129 and you say that's too expensive, adjust your radar. $129 is right in the middle price range of stripped forged receivers.

View · by **2in2out** on Wed Nov 30, 2016 8:59 pm

Interesting, but logical. Why not?

View · by **grimbeaver** on Wed Nov 30, 2016 9:01 pm

UnaStamus wrote:Not really. If you look at an AR15 lower for $129 and you say that's too expensive, adjust your radar. $129 is right in the middle price range of stripped forged receivers.

I don't know where you shop but stripped forged are more in the $60-$100 range typically with $130 being the top end.

View · by **silvor** on Wed Nov 30, 2016 9:16 pm

I wouldn't think street price would be $129.

Except at Gander.

View · by **Ghost** on Wed Nov 30, 2016 9:35 pm

Nobody pays MSRP. I can see it selling for $100-$110, after the newness wears off. I'd rather see billet.

View · by **FJ540** on Wed Nov 30, 2016 10:13 pm

A lot of people will pay for the name, just like with S&W lowers when they came out at the same price point. It's more sales, and probably keeps their spindles turning, so more money without a lot more cost incurred.

It's less expensive to make a lower than a complete rifle. Margins are going to be higher, and volume might even be good. That's called using your brand recognition to tap new revenue streams.

View · by **Uffdaphil** on Thu Dec 01, 2016 12:23 pm

Luck to them. More competition to keep prices down. I'll stick with my fave - forged Mega Gators. The only companies with name cache for me are Colt, BCM, LMT and Noveske. And if I didn't already have them would not pay the premium again. Better to put the extra $$$ toward a quality trigger.

View · by **UnaStamus** on Thu Dec 01, 2016 3:43 pm

grimbeaver wrote:
UnaStamus wrote:Not really. If you look at an AR15 lower for $129 and you say that's too expensive, adjust your radar. $129 is right in the middle price range of stripped forged receivers.

I don't know where you shop but stripped forged are more in the $60-$100 range typically with $130 being the top end.

I wouldn't touch a $60 lower receiver. I've seen plenty of budget lowers out of spec. Noveske lowers are $175 for Gen1 and $318 for Gen3. Those are forged, not billet. A Mega Arms receiver is $115. Granted that I would by a Mega over the Ruger, but that has nothing to do with the price.

View · by **Ghost** on Thu Dec 01, 2016 4:00 pm

UnaStamus wrote:
grimbeaver wrote:
UnaStamus wrote:Not really. If you look at an AR15 lower for $129 and you say that's too expensive, adjust your radar. $129 is right in the middle price range of stripped forged receivers.

I don't know where you shop but stripped forged are more in the $60-$100 range typically with $130 being the top end.

I wouldn't touch a $60 lower receiver. I've seen plenty of budget lowers out of spec. Noveske lowers are $175 for Gen1 and $318 for Gen3. Those are forged, not billet. A Mega Arms receiver is $115. Granted that I would by a Mega over the Ruger, but that has nothing to do with the price.

Is there reason for avoiding $60 lowers? I've never heard of anybody having any issues with them.

My personal preference is billet ambi lowers but that doesn't make cheap forged unusable by any means.

View · by **FJ540** on Thu Dec 01, 2016 10:31 pm

Just built a 458 socom on a $40 shipped lower. I'm missing 4 fingers from the kaboom it caused, but I saved like 60 bucks! :rotf:

J/k about the kaboom. There's nothing wrong with buying cheap forged lowers. There's only a handful of foundries producing them, so as long as the tooling wasn't dull and the fixtures didn't move, your risk of getting a bad one is pretty low.

I've got one whole Benjamin in the upper/lower and LPK (sans trigger) in that gun. And since I took my lower with me when I went shopping for the upper, it fits nice and tight.

View · by **LumberZach** on Fri Dec 02, 2016 9:00 am

During the last panic I wanted a lower and found an Anderson mfg. and paid $150 for it. Built a decent rifle to play with and it does everything I need. I even took it to a carbine class and it did just fine. 6 months ago I found them for $75 a bought one because I thought it was a good price. Then everyone was selling them for $40-$50 so I bought a few more yet. I'm not building tack drivers, but they work for what I'm doing with them right now. If I can find a ruger for under $100 I'll probably buy one. From everything I've read though a lower is a lower and unless you are doing something fancy a $300 stripped lower is not all that necessary. I agree they are better, but that doesn't mean $50 lowers aren't worth while.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

View · by **shooter115** on Fri Dec 02, 2016 9:28 am

UnaStamus wrote:
grimbeaver wrote:
UnaStamus wrote:Not really. If you look at an AR15 lower for $129 and you say that's too expensive, adjust your radar. $129 is right in the middle price range of stripped forged receivers.

I don't know where you shop but stripped forged are more in the $60-$100 range typically with $130 being the top end.

I wouldn't touch a $60 lower receiver. I've seen plenty of budget lowers out of spec. Noveske lowers are $175 for Gen1 and $318 for Gen3. Those are forged, not billet. A Mega Arms receiver is $115. Granted that I would by a Mega over the Ruger, but that has nothing to do with the price.

Noveske has never made a lower receiver, they have been farmed out to various vendors over the years. You are paying a lot of money for a brand name and nothing more.

View · by **Holland&Holland** on Fri Dec 02, 2016 9:45 am

LumberZach wrote:During the last panic I wanted a lower and found an Anderson mfg. and paid $150 for it. Built a decent rifle to play with and it does everything I need. I even took it to a carbine class and it did just fine. 6 months ago I found them for $75 a bought one because I thought it was a good price. Then everyone was selling them for $40-$50 so I bought a few more yet. I'm not building tack drivers, but they work for what I'm doing with them right now. If I can find a ruger for under $100 I'll probably buy one. From everything I've read though a lower is a lower and unless you are doing something fancy a $300 stripped lower is not all that necessary. I agree they are better, but that doesn't mean $50 lowers aren't worth while.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My last Anderson lower I got for 99 cents. Works just as good as if I spent more on it.

View · by **Scratch** on Fri Dec 02, 2016 10:42 am

My most accurate AR sits on an Anderson lower. I've tried it on other lowers and I didn't notice any difference in accuracy.

The only reason I can see to spend more money on a lower is if you want the status, like the roll mark, or want some of the added features that some have like ambi controls, flared mag wells, custom machined look or textures, lightening holes, drilled for set screws instead of pins, etc...

That being said, this is on my wish list just because it looks cool...