Slowly Acquiring Parts, Question on PSA Lower

[danw77 13]

Over the next couple of months I plan to start buying parts for my AR as my budget allows. I'm thinking it would be best to start with the lower and get that in my hands first since there's no way of knowing how long it will take or what will happen in this state. Anyway, I was looking at this one: http://palmettostatearmory.com/index.php/psa-safe-fire-lower-moe-black-lower-parts-kit.html

 

Can anyone tell me if this is a good deal or if they have any experience with it? For only $90 for the lower and parts kit, it almost seems like too good of a deal, if you know what I mean. Thanks in advance. I've been reading this forum and others for a week or so. I'm a little overwhelmed and could use some input from folks that know what they're doing.

[Krdshrk 3,877]

Keep in mind FFL transfer fees + NICS.  But yeah it's a pretty good deal.  PSA Lower parts kits are decent for the price.

[danw77 13]

Thanks. I know I'll have to add fees etc. I guess I should add that my plan is to build on a budget since this is my first AR and my funds are fairly limited. Ideally I'd like to build a higher end rifle, but it would take me a while to save up for that. I figure I can upgrade in the future once I learn more and get some more experience. Unfortunately I'm afraid we're one tragedy away from more restrictions so I want to get the parts ASAP.

[mikka1 2]

Buy 2-3-4 stripped lowers at once, transfer them in one go. PSA usually sells either "PSA blemished" or "Anderson" lowers for ~$50, they sometimes have free shipping promotion, but even without it it is only $7 to ship a lower to an FFL. If you want something more expensive, watch for promos for Spikes lowers - they are often sold for ~$90 (but beware of AIM Surplus store as they still seem not to ship any lowers to NJ).

Some (or maybe even most of) FFLs will give you a significant discount for 2nd, 3rd and subsequent items in one transfer, so, if the first transfer is $40, second is $25 and subsequent ones (in one go!) are $10-$15, you lower your effective transfer fee per item pretty significantly (and remember that you only pay NICS fee once per transfer regardless of how many items you transfer).

 

That said, you have a chance to get 2-3 lowers for roughly $70-$75 per item if you are lucky

Other stuff like kits, uppers etc. are better to be shipped home.

 

And the last note as long as you will probably go with PSA - prepare for the LONG wait. It is probably one of the slowest online retailers I've ever dealt with that has shipping times FROM 7-10 business days and more (I still have an ammo order from mid-April that is not yet shipped. I seriously don't get what's the issue with them, but if you are itchy now, might make sense to look for another place to buy.... Or, as I mentioned before, stock on lowers now, buy 3-4 of them, wait once and then use them one by one for your subsequent builds...

 

That's just my 2c.

[T Bill 649]

You said your budget is tight. I can understand that.  I would buy this unit now.  Get a copy of your FFL dealers license in to PSA and have the kit shipped to him direct.  Careful what his fees are. There is a listing on this site for dealer costs in your area.  Check carefully.  I have used PSA blem lowers and LPKs in builds I helped friends with many times, not a bad one in the batch.  They are very good for budget builds and work well.  Experience has shown you will be hard pressed to find the blems.  At this price point hard not to.  I thought about it myself, using up spare parts I have in the drawer, but I got to stop somewhere.  Seems everytime a have a spare lower and parts put together it somehow magically grows and upper to go with it. Who knew?

[danw77 13]

Well, it looks like I might have missed out. I hesitated to order and now the price is $120. Is that still a decent price? Any idea if these price fluctuations are normal for PSA? Would I be better off waiting to see if they come back down?

 

http://palmettostatearmory.com/index.php/psa-ar-15-blem-picto-lower-psa-moe-blk-lower-parts-kit.html

[T Bill 649]

Sign up for the daily email. Blem lowers are always going on sale.  You will not wait very long.  In fact got a 10% off coupon notice today for the entire website "10OFF" I believe?

[Scorpio64 5,147]

I bought a couple of stripped lowers from Bullseye to avoid the shipping and FFL fees, still have to do the NICS though.  Just about everything else I got from PSA, Brownell's and Joe Bob Outfitters.  It took seven months of watching and waiting for seasonal and holiday sales.  In the end I saved somewhere between $300 and $500.  PSA's regular prices are mostly reasonable, sale prices are good, sometimes they have a few items on sale with crazy good prices.

[danw77 13]

Thanks for the input. To make sure I understand, this isn't a great price and I should wait? Maybe I'll just order the stripper lower without the parts kit. That's going for $60 right now.

[Scorpio64 5,147]

Thanks for the input. To make sure I understand, this isn't a great price and I should wait? Maybe I'll just order the stripper lower without the parts kit. That's going for $60 right now.

If you are willing to pay $60 for one lower, plus shipping, plus the FFL fee then you might be better off buying local.  If you are going to buy three or four lowers and your FFL charges a single transfer fee for the lot, then that's a better deal.  If you really want to save some money on PSA lowers, wait until they have a sale on blems.  You can get them for $40 each.

[Boejoula 0]

Do you plan on building 3-4 ARs? If not then you will only need one lower. Monmouth Arms has the spikes for $130 out the door. I have one and am picking up my second from him today. As for the rest of the parts, you can slowly order online during sales and such. That is my plan for this next build.

[silverado427 10,680]

I just picked up a psa 16" mid chf upper.