#LowerReceiver

Spike’s Tactical who is known for making edgy yet hilarious lower receivers has produced another gem for the firearms industry. They recently introduced their Pineapple Grenade stripped lower receiver that is modeled after the T-Shirt they already produce. The key features on this standard AR-15 lower that will make you the envy of all of your buddies at the range are the iconic Pineapple Grenade logo and the Selector Markings on the opposite side. The Selector Markings read: Safe, Fire and Aloha Snackbar.

On this segment of Picture-of-the-Day (POTD), we take a look at an AR-15 receiver set. That statement alone sounds riveting, we know, but stick with us here. We have all seen skeletonized components before. Ones that have a little material trimmed to reduce weight while still maintaining rigidity and functionality. Well, this one might as well be crowned the winner of that metaphorical competition. This is a Weaponsmart “Holy Roller” stripped receiver set that takes skeletonizing to the max!

Polymer80, creators of the 80% Glock-style frame and 80% polymer AR-15 lower receivers, began shipping their newest addition to their 80% semi auto pistol family – the subcompact. Made to fit either a Glock 26 or 27, the polymer frame comes complete with all of the accoutrements that make the P80 receivers so easy to work with, including all necessary drill bits, jig, and more.

Sharps Bros has introduced a new AR-15 lower receiver called Livewire. Unlike their previous lower receivers (Warthog, Hellbreaker,  Overthrow and  The Jack), Livewire has a more traditional look. The new receiver has several nice features like the flared magazine well and the enlarged trigger guard.

Whether adding an ambi end plate, changing out the buffer tube, or installing an after-market trigger, the need for a SOLID foundation on which to perform even the most minute of tasks on your AR-15 lower is imperative. The developers at Real Avid have come up with a solution to ease all of your multi-caliber woes – the Real Avid Smart-Fit Vise Block.

Spike’s Tactical is known for their one-of-a-kind lower receivers and generally great products primarily relating to the AR-15 platform. By pairing up with Sharps Bros. they have created billet machined skulls, wild pigs and a multitude of other lowers that are flat out cool as heck!

Thumbing through my Instagram feed a few weeks ago, I came across an interesting post by our friends at The Armory Blog. Originating at the sub-reddit r/3gun, the above image is a MAG Tactical aluminum and Magnesium hybrid lower which was originally advertised as being ‘ultra-light weight’. I’ve used the past tense because the company is now apparently out of business – judging by the numerous internet reports of material failures, we may have an idea of why.

We’ve already seen all kinds of stylized magazine wells of AR-15 lower receivers – skulls, hog heads and whatnot. Looks like for 2017 the helmet styled magwells are in trend. Two companies offer them right now.

Have you ever looked at the older MP5 lowers and look at the selector markings? It has the letters S/E/F.

As is evidenced by this year’s SHOT Show, pistol caliber carbines are all the rage among the cool kids. Enough so that I may have to see what it is all about, especially now that KE Arms is manufacturing a Glock magazine compatible lower…

Being from the industry, it was surprising to see a video pop out on the physical and full machining of an AR-15 lower receiver. The “secrets” to machining the lower correctly and with the minimum amount of machine time are closely guarded secrets by most of the industry. Even a reduction of one minute can mean large swings in margin for a manufacturer. Efficiency is key.

Due to what appears to be more oversight than crime, the BATFE raided Stag Arms’ New Britain, CT plant in September, after the gun maker failed to serialize approximately 3,000 rifle receivers within the allotted time. The Associated Press reports:

Some things make me stop and appreciate a product, some things make me guffaw, and sometimes you run across a crazy product that combines both. The Dimensional Firearms LLC lower receiver is just that. Instead of reinventing a wheel, they have produced an original safety/selector marking scheme. Safe is a “peace” sign, semi “the bird” and full is rather… shocking.

Defense Distributed has come out with an inexpensive miniature CNC for milling 80% lowers. Similar in size to a Makerbot, the Ghost Gunner CNC can easily sit on a desktop. They have pre-orders up now. Only about 63 orders left at $1199 per machine. Like all Defense Distributed projects, the Ghost Gunner is open source. DD says the Ghost Gunner is rather easy to use.

Nick Atkinson of Team Crimson Trace was using a skeletonized AR lower at the FNH 3Gun Championships. It is a prototype and as you can see it is not fully finalized and coated.