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What is the best AR-15 lower parts kit??

hunter1959

Gunny Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Jan 16, 2020
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I have the Geiselle trigger I want, have the Maxim stock with JP buffer.... but want the best parts kit that is ambidextrous that I can buy... what are your suggestions?
 
How many of those parts in the ”high end” kits do you think the “maker” actually made. Let’s ge real. They’re all buying the vast majority of the parts from some number of OEMs and the difference in price is mostly in how it makes you feel. Your Geissele triggers comes with the Geissele trigger and hammer pins. so what are we talking about here? Some springs, some detents, mag catch, bolt catch, pivot and takedown pin, trigger guard. Am I missing anything? These kit “makers” are more like “assemblers” in that they are taking in bins of parts from their suppliers, putting the kits together from those parts, and then putting their name on them.

Today? At the height of the panic? Buy what is in stock. I bet you never see a difference between Anderson and LMT...
 
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How many of those parts in the ”high end” kits do you think the “maker” actually made. Let’s ge real. They’re all buying the vast majority of the parts from some number of OEMs and the difference in price is mostly in how it makes you feel. Your Geissele triggers comes with the Geissele trigger and hammer pins. so what are we talking about here? Some springs, some detents, mag catch, bolt catch, pivot and takedown pin, trigger guard. Am I missing anything? These kit “makers” are more like “assemblers” in that they are taking in bins of parts from their suppliers, putting the kits together from those parts, and then putting their name on them.

Today? At the height of the panic? Buy what is in stock. I bet you never see a difference between Anderson and LMT...

LOL @ brand snobs
 
The one that is in stock.
I don’t believe you are going to see a huge variance in quality...we are talking mostly springs and detents. Really the only parts where quality could be an issue are your bolt catch, mag catch, safety selector, and takedown pins, of which there are plenty of aftermarket versions on the market.
You already have a geissele trigger/hammer so the lpk milspec trigger/ hammer is irelevant.
 
Colt is the best you can buy. Sharkarms has/had takeoff colt MG kits for $150.

Followed by BCM & LMT.

They are the only 3 I will use. Maybe DD if I was in a pinch and couldn't find anything else, but never been that hard up.

Way too many issues with broken parts from other lessor manufactures and the LPK is the weak link in the AR platform.

A cheap $.10 chinesium spring or pin will deadline a rifle faster than anything.
 
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How many of those parts in the ”high end” kits do you think the “maker” actually made. Let’s ge real. They’re all buying the vast majority of the parts from some number of OEMs and the difference in price is mostly in how it makes you feel. Your Geissele triggers comes with the Geissele trigger and hammer pins. so what are we talking about here? Some springs, some detents, mag catch, bolt catch, pivot and takedown pin, trigger guard. Am I missing anything? These kit “makers” are more like “assemblers” in that they are taking in bins of parts from their suppliers, putting the kits together from those parts, and then putting their name on them.

Today? At the height of the panic? Buy what is in stock. I bet you never see a difference between Anderson and LMT...

Where it comes from has less to do than who is testing it to ensure conformance to spec.

Different materials, heat treatments, ect; effect the life span and failure rate of small parts. ISO facilities and those under mil contract are testing and QCing all batches for conformance to spec. Those vendors who cannot supply in spec are replaced. Most of those rejected batches end up at places like del ton, doublestar, PSA or any other outfit that will smash any part together they can sell.

Companies like LMT and KAC have slowly moved alot of outsourced parts to in house production to be able to control the quality of output. Some things like springs are just not economically viable, but they are still being tested to ensure they meet spec.

That is the difference between quality parts and the rest of the junk on the market.

Most rifles and carbines are not shot enough to see many of these issues. They are unknown ticking timebombs of uncertainty, and one would be a fool to trust their life to a piece of equipment built as such.

Which is why those with an IQ above 100, Stick to quality, proven manufactures you can have a high degree of confidence in.

Anything mechanical can fail. However the failure rate disparity is apparent on guns with high round counts.

Why put substandard shit in a gun to begin with? Do it right the first time.
 
Just put a LMT MARS lower together and used an LMT parts kit to give me that warm fuzzy feeling.

used cmmg no trigger kits with my aero lowers. And I have a couple PSA ARs with their kits in it.

haven’t noticed a quality difference in any of them.
 
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I have the Geiselle trigger I want, have the Maxim stock with JP buffer.... but want the best parts kit that is ambidextrous that I can buy... what are your suggestions?
Forward Controls Design has what you seek but may not be in stock at the moment.
 
To those saying there’s no difference, please stop.

Years ago, I stood shoulder to shoulder with the masses in the Colt vs Bushmaster debates. We all said “you’re paying for the name!”

Then “The Chart” came out. Everyone could see the quality control that Colt put into their guns and see that only Noveske and LMT were even close. Like the chart or not, we all benefit from the increased quality in the AR industry as a whole that followed.

I was wrong. Almost all of us were. We didn’t know what we didn’t know.

Today, you are wrong. You don’t know what you don’t know.

Go flip the selector on an LMT and then do the same on an Andersen. They don’t feel the same. By definition, this means they aren’t the same. Then either come back here and admit the most basic test showed you were wrong or at least stop posting incorrect information.

Im not intending to sound harsh. like I said, I’ve been wrong in a similar way and adamantly defended my incorrect beliefs.

get an LMT or Colt kit under a magnifying glass and do the same with a budget kit. They are NOT the same. You’re dead wrong.
 
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I have not found a kit I like. I just order the parts I want. Trigger from one company, safety from another... once you order the trigger, antiwalk pins, take down/pivot pins, mag release and bolt catch you want, there is really nothing left to order but a few springs and detents.
 
I started putting together my own LPK by purchasing individual parts from RRA. This allowed me to leave out stuff I didn't need/want like FCG, grips, trigger guards, etc. and also grab what I needed in upper small parts as well. At the time, they didn't really have a lot of the options you can find today for kits without certain parts or different FCG options to choose from, etc. It was also free shipping over a certain total I believe, and I'd often be buying in multiples. Been awhile since I've put together a lower, so not sure how much relevance this option might hold in today's market. I've never had concerns with the quality of RRA's small parts.
 
I like the strike industries enhanced LPK without the fire control group, from an ergos perspective its an improvement over a standard LPK across the board. I started out doing a standard LPK and then upgrading everything I didn't like, but ended up replacing everything but springs and detents. Then I found the SI kit that gets me 90% to where I want. The only thing I sometimes upgrade is the safety. While the included ambi 60/90 degree safety works fine, the Radian Talon is just so nice to use.