Favorite is Mega Arms but, since bought out by ZEV, a little harder to find. Aero M4E1 (or sister lower from Ballistic Advantage) are great lowers for the money, and both include integrated trigger guard plus they use a threaded bolt catch pin (hex screw) instead of the standard roll pin (no punch required).
I've only done it once but I used as AERO gen 2. Got a great deal on it at my LGS. That said when I was doing my research it was going to be either AERO or Spikes
I am a value buyer, that does not mean at all that I buy cheap shit
it means that I like to get good value for the money I spend.
That said, I own the most of Aero lowers than anything else (AR15 and AR10)
They are well built, finish is nice, never had any issue with parts fitting, and you get them at a reasonable price.
I have one Spikes, I would not waste the extra money on another, Aero will get my money every time.
I also have a few Anderson lowers, there is nothing wrong with them, they work great for the low low price, not sure how they do it. If money is an issue, I would not hesitate to recommend an Anderson.
I love the Aero lowers. Really good bang for your buck on the M4E1s when I consider some of the frustration they take out of assembly and the tensioner if you wanna use it. I've tried it but I don't think it's necessary either.
IMHO people get way too far down in the weeds about lowers. As long as they’re built within spec was does it matter? They’re just there to defy gravity and hold the parts in place. I’ve used 3 out of the 5 listed.
As was mentioned Spikes and PSA get extra points for creativity.
This is one I put together a couple of years ago that has some personal meanings.
My mother and one of my cousins were breast cancer survivors. Another family member was a victim of a childhood cancer. I specifically chose pink for October / breast cancer awareness and gold for September / childhood cancer awareness when I filled the lettering on this Palmetto State lower
I had a Bushmaster carbine upper sitting around and finally elected to mate it to a PSA A2-style lower (along with a BCG and charging handle also from PSA and a surplus carry-handle from eBay) - all fit together perfectly as expected and it ran like a top at the range.
I considered it a bonus that the trapdoor storage area in the stock can hold, um, “essentials”…
I’m not the most experienced hand around regarding AR builds and generally prefer simple carbine-style setups like this one. If I was doing this or a similar simple put-together again, I’d be happy with a PSA product.
Rollmark doesn't matter to me for a general build. If I am going to form 1 a lower to make an SBR, I would pay for a "brand" name lower for the simple reason that lower won't be going anywhere.
I think for the money Aero is great and the quality is there, that’s my preferred choice when building, mostly because of the creature comforts if you will. I prefer to have my upper lower and hand guard from the same manufacturer. Does it matter? Probably not, just my preference. I like the enhanced aero sets because of the thread pin on the bolt catch and also the tensioner to take up slack. I’m not opposed to any of the manufacturers, just like the way aero puts them together.
I have Aero, Armalite Colt, LWRCi, Palmetto, Spikes, billet 7075, etc. I try and get someone that knows what they are doing. Getting a Custom one from a group buy. It’s from my deployment so I had to get it.
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