Is there any real appreciable quality difference between the different manufacturers of AR lower receiver parts kits?

 

DPMS has one, Rock River Arms has one, CCMG has one, and there's one or two stainless steel ones out there too.

 

Is there a "best" kit? Any recommendations?

This is another issue that everyone will have their personal opinion on.

 

For me, there is no difference. Any kit will do really.

Personal preference, i would stay away from DPMS. They have some quality Control Issues. I know of one group of 22 rifles they sent out with bad hammers (just enough oversized on the Disconnector hook of the hammer that it would lock up.

I used a DPMS as do many companies like Del-ton and the trigger is nice.

Once assembled I tested it using the AIG AR-15 builders course then did their trigger job, it's nice no creep at all.

CMMG has an excellent reputation as mentioned above, I do not think either or will be much of an issue just make sure

you check the positive and negative engagement when assembling.

To me the lower doesn't make a difference. I just like a tight fit between the upper and lower. I had a DPMS kit and had minimal issues with it. The roll pins did not want to go into their slots, but a little filing fixed that. I did throw in the Accuwedge to improve the fit between my Spikes Tactical upper and lower. The biggest thing about the lower is the trigger.

I have a Rock River Varmint rifle now and I will say that no Accuwedge is required. That thing is nice and tight.

I also believe that some are milled, others are cast and there are some SS kits running around out there.

 

Here is a Milspec CMMG

http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.aspx? ... groupid=53

I haven't tried these yet ,but here are the Stainless Steel Parts Kits.

 

I have the CMMG kit in a lower I put together. Only issue I had with it is the selector detent. For some reason it would stick constantly and I couldn't consistently engage the safety. Ended up swapping out that one piece with a DPMS piece I bought on it's own from Midway (http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?p ... ber=890211).

Dunno if this is an issue with all of their kits, just the one I bought, or something that I did wrong on my end. It was my first time putting together a lower, so who knows. Other than that, no issues, and the trigger is nice and crisp.

OP,

On my first build, I had an out of spec hammer with a DPMS lower kit. I used an M16 hammer with a ground off hook and all was well. Sent the hammer back to DPMS with a note delineating the problem and asking for a replacement. I never heard a word back from them.

On my second build the DPMS lower I used was slightly off spec but a little grinding took care of that.

FWIW

YMMV

PK, I was initially interested in a stainless kit but then read a review on ARFCOM where someone said the parts looked they had been machined by beavers and had a really gritty trigger pull. Still looking for more reviews on them.

 

NickyS, you're not the first to give a thumbs down on DPMS, they're now off the list. Thanks.

I've built 2 lowers with DPMS LPK's. I've only had a chance to shoot the one but they both went together pretty smoothly and seem to function fine I know some people swear by the ones from Rock River Arms though.