polymer vs. forged vs billet

J

jflangley03

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Minuteman
Feb 13, 2012
17
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39
Alma, NE
#1
I am a relatively new "builder". I have learned tons just from reading from all of you experienced shooters/ builders on the hide. I am looking into building a 300 black out. I am in the process of getting my suppressor just waiting for the ATF to give me the GTG. Anyways, my question is as far as polymer, forged or billet does it matter which one? I am not looking for expensive as i am planning on duracoating or cerakoting it. Will the polymer lower hold up? I guess i am interested in everyone's opinions in this topic as i don't have much knowledge at all in this field. What would you all do? How about barrel? Length? Twist?

Thanks
 
#2
No reason not to go metal.....tried and tested. Mixed results with the polymer, which I don't recommend. A quality forged lower will serve you just fine, such as a mega arms, noveske, or Seekins. If you want the highest quality, get a billet matched lower/upper set.

Should be plenty of good reading on this topic if you use the search function too.
 
#3
I have a polymer lower on a 10 inch upper with about 4k rounds on it. They are solid and weigh much less than the others. There is a training facility near my house that I go to frequently that rents polymer lower ARs and they make it through about 200,000 rounds before needing to be replaced. That would indicate the barrel wears out before the lower. New Frontier makes the lowers I think. The hammer and trigger pin holes loosen until the pins will not stay in. As far as cerakoting goes, I am not sure how it would hold up. There may be more flexing with polymer than aluminum. Polymer pistol frames flex a lot when you look at super slow motion vids.
 
#4
I'd stick with the forged or billet lower. Forged will actually be a little stronger than billet, but billet has that newer high-tech look a lot of shooters are looking for. The strength difference is nominal between forged and billet. If you go with a billet lower, you might want to ensure your upper matches that billet 'look'. Mixing forged and billet makes for an ugly gun with bad lines.
I have no experience with the polymer lowers, nor do I intend to. For a few extra $'s you can have 7075 aluminum that has been tested for the past 50 years. You know it works.
 
#5
Stick with metal. Even HK has issues with the G36 and SL8 systems. If weight is what you are after, there are other ways to trim the fat on an AR.
 
#7
Polymer is a novelty. Billet and forged are tools. I have all three, polymer is from New Frontier. Dropped the polymer and it cracked so I chucked it. Dropped the billet and forge and it got scratched. If you plan on using a .22lr upper and just shooting paper and soda bottles get the polymer. If you plan on building a precision gun or something to use in harsh training get metal. You're going to end up getting a forged or billet anyway.
 
#8
Poly lowers are crap, it's proven. I know several people who bought plum crazy and NFA lowers and every single one of them cracked at the top of the receiver where the buffer tube attaches. All but one was less than 1000 rounds and all were just casual range use guns. I have to call major bullshit on one going 200,000 rounds, that's just made up.

For forged vs bullet you can't go wrong with either so long as you buy quality. There are tons of companies making lowers now and there's only a handful I will buy again. I will refrain from posting those so people don't get butthurt. Just do your research and after you find all the positive reviews from the clueless folk (and you will on every brand) do a search looking for problems.
 
#9
Ultraman550 said:
Polymer is a novelty. Billet and forged are tools. I have all three, polymer is from New Frontier. Dropped the polymer and it cracked so I chucked it. Dropped the billet and forge and it got scratched. If you plan on using a .22lr upper and just shooting paper and soda bottles get the polymer. If you plan on building a precision gun or something to use in harsh training get metal. You're going to end up getting a forged or billet anyway.
Click to expand...

I know David, the owner of NFA. He would replace that lower for no charge.

Shame you threw it out.
 
#10
redneckbmxer24 said:
Poly lowers are crap, it's proven. I know several people who bought plum crazy and NFA lowers and every single one of them cracked at the top of the receiver where the buffer tube attaches. All but one was less than 1000 rounds and all were just casual range use guns. I have to call major bullshit on one going 200,000 rounds, that's just made up.
Click to expand...

200,000 rounds may very well be made up. I am going off of what the range master told me when I was considering a polymer lower. To say poly lowers are crap and it is proven is a stretch as well as a faulty assumption. To say it is proven, there has to be a much larger sample size than several of your friends. N = 100 is a good staring point. Then an ANOVA, regression, or T-test has to be ran with an alpha level p < .05 to even consider something very likely. Ignoring the alternative possibilities that something else caused your friends' poly lowers to fail is a common mistake. There could be a third variable such as extreme heat, cold, chemicals, abuse, etc. Being a rather new concept, there may be a better alternative to a poly lower but to say something is proven is misleading to the OP.
 
#11
Ryguy said:
200,000 rounds may very well be made up. I am going off of what the range master told me when I was considering a polymer lower. To say poly lowers are crap and it is proven is a stretch as well as a faulty assumption. To say it is proven, there has to be a much larger sample size than several of your friends. N = 100 is a good staring point. Then an ANOVA, regression, or T-test has to be ran with an alpha level p < .05 to even consider something very likely. Ignoring the alternative possibilities that something else caused your friends' poly lowers to fail is a common mistake. There could be a third variable such as extreme heat, cold, chemicals, abuse, etc. Being a rather new concept, there may be a better alternative to a poly lower but to say something is proven is misleading to the OP.
Click to expand...

When I see 10+ fail exactly the same way that are two different brands under extremely casual range sessions that tells me all I need to know... They're crap.

NEVER have I seen a aluminum fail aside from a catastrophic failure that blew the whole gun up. I've seen some that we're out of spec but NEVER a failure. Failures with polymer lowers are quite common. You can believe they're not if you chose but it only makes you look foolish.
 
#14
I've got a couple of Omni poly lowers, but they'll most likely be used on a 22lr, and a manually cycled upper to reduce the stress on the buffer tube threads. Forged lowers are available for not much more money.
 
Last edited:
#15
The New Frontier poly lowers are infinitely better than Plum Crazy lowers. I have several NF poly lowers and haven't had an issue with any cracking, though I have seen pictures and heard of it. I think it is much more rare than the "all poly's are shit" crowd would make it sound. They are great for .22 conversions, ultra-light builds and wife guns/ range trainers / budget builds. I wouldn't consider one for a rifle you are going to bet your life on or go to war with though; it is worth getting a quality forged lower from any reputable maker. All my New Frontier poly's have good quality metal lower parts kits in them, I don't really dig the poly internals, though they seem to last a while, its definitely worth putting a quality lpk in.

BTW, the New Frontier Forged lowers are excellent in every way. They are made by Aero Precision.
 
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