MGI Lowers

[Zebra]

For what it's worth, here the latest from Tom:

Hi Frank,

Thanks for keeping in touch.

The lowers are under production, and proceeding nicely.
They are all going to be billet in this production run, so the quality is spectacular.
We're expecting them in sometime between mid to late August now.
This will be determined by the actual time that they are delivered to us from the production facility, but it is really happening this time.
New production house, billet lowers, real time schedules being met.

We are much happier now.

...and so are we!
Frank

[BoilermakerJim]

Are these just another AR-15 OLL or is there something special about them? Just checking. I WANT to be excited, just need to know what to be excited about. Maybe there's a thread somewhere that explains this. Thx.

[bwiese]

MGI lowers are special in that the front magwell can be separated and exchanged. Thus it can also form a lower for other rounds like 308 with appropriate front-end magwell slid on. This lower may (or may not, can't remember) have to work with the MGI QCB upper receiver.

[BoilermakerJim]

Sign me up for a group buy!

[C.G.]

MGI lowers are special in that the front magwell can be separated and exchanged. Thus it can also form a lower for other rounds like 308 with appropriate front-end magwell slid on. This lower may (or may not, can't remember) have to work with the MGI QCB upper receiver.

I still wonder whether they got the bugs worked out of the .308 version and as far as I know it is proprietary.

[CTT2]

If they make a Cali legal .308 I'm getting it. I emailed them a while back and asked if they were gonna do it. I said something along the line, what if you guys made a fixed mag version. Where the interchanble mag would be a fixed piece that didn't accept a detachable mag. They said they were considering the same thing. Hope fully they went through with it. This will give a better option in semi auto .308. Currently you only have the choice of a M1A or a Cali FAL from DSA.

[grammaton76]

I still wonder whether they got the bugs worked out of the .308 version and as far as I know it is proprietary.

Don't know anything about bugs, but it IS proprietary. Not too bad, though - you don't have to buy an upper in each caliber. You're just required to use their Quick Change Barrel uppers. Once you've done that, you can change calibers by swapping out barrels.

[TheMan]

Don't know anything about bugs, but it IS proprietary. Not too bad, though - you don't have to buy an upper in each caliber. You're just required to use their Quick Change Barrel uppers. Once you've done that, you can change calibers by swapping out barrels.

Are you sure it will just require a barrel swap on the .308? The AK/AR being the same I could see. And I could see being able to use the same AR upper for most pistol rounds. But the .308 requires a longer magazine well, and the front pivot point for the upper would have to be moved forward as well. Right?

[PanzerAce]

Don't know anything about bugs, but it IS proprietary. Not too bad, though - you don't have to buy an upper in each caliber. You're just required to use their Quick Change Barrel uppers. Once you've done that, you can change calibers by swapping out barrels.

I was under the impression that any caliber you chose to put a mag well in for, that you could use any upper for that round. IE, you can use any AR upper that fires 7.62x39, especially since most of these are standard length AR uppers.

[grammaton76]

Are you sure it will just require a barrel swap on the .308? The AK/AR being the same I could see. And I could see being able to use the same AR upper for most pistol rounds. But the .308 requires a longer magazine well, and the front pivot point for the upper would have to be moved forward as well. Right?

This is why the MGI detachable magwell system is involved. The 308 magwell has the longer magazine well, and has a moved-forward front pivot.

The only change to the UPPER, is that you install a 308 barrel. I am not sure if they take standard AR barrels, though.

[catsupsam]

http://www.mgimilitary.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=11

I just looked at their website, and it shows 98 units "in stock"?

Is this the right item, a default in stock number or did I miss something?

[grammaton76]

I bet there's 98 pre-order slots available, not units in stock. If they're really in stock, they have some explaining to do for this guy (me) who pre-ordered in Feb or Mar and hasn't been called yet.

[adamsreeftank]

I thought they were actually trying to fit a standard M14 magazine in a standard sized lower. The problem being that the magazine takes up so much room there is no tab on the bolt stop and the mag catch is in a different location. At least that is the imression I got looking at the pics that were posted a while back.

I think it is an interesting concept, but I don't want an AR in an AK caliber and I'd rather have a dedicated 308 AR. For what they are charging, I don't really get it, but that is just me.

It I wanted a multi-cailiber AR I'd be a lot more likely to get the COBB, since it can handle longer rounds like 30-06, and 338 Lapua.

http://www.cobb50.com/mcr.htm

It's also beacoup bucks.

[grammaton76]

It I wanted a multi-cailiber AR I'd be a lot more likely to get the COBB, since it can handle longer rounds like 30-06, and 338 Lapua.

Actually, according to MGI, they could do 30'06 with a different magwell and a different barrel.

To go longer than 30'06, which is possible, they'd have to do a new magwell AND you'd have to get a new upper. But, with the MGI design they could go all the way up to 50BMG if they felt there was a market for it.

[Nefarious]

Great, now another lower to think about buying.