Essential Arms Lower Receiver Review

[tenpercentfirearms]

well...in my case it was about $110 each (times 3) cheaper. So...for my 3 kids lowers thats about $330 and I still need to buy them all the rest of the parts. But I think they will get a part for each birthday, christmas, etc until they have a whole rifle. It makes it easier on old dad that way...lol.

Who is selling lowers for $200 each and what brand?

[PIRATE14]

I think the problem lies in not many people know what your cost is on a nice receiver. They see a Stag or CMMG for sale for $170.00 and the essential arms at $40.00 and think there is a $130.00 difference. If given the choice of an Essential Arms for $40 or a Stag for $70 I am sure they would purchase the Stag. They are comparing FFL price with retail thinking there is a huge difference. If you inform them that if they buy the Essential Arms receiver through an FFL they are more likely to pay $130.00 that might change things a bit.

I do however agree that it is personal decision on which to stock. I could care less what it looks like as long as it functions identically to the "better" ones.

Essential arms is giving you a dealer price on a lower that isn't that good looking, EA has had these things for years and couldn't get rid of them so most of the couple hundred they had will end up here.

If you build your rifle on a EA, plan on keeping it.

STAG will repair or replace your reciever if ever damaged, will EA? , no cause once they sell these, there probably won't be anymore.

[tenpercentfirearms]

If you've got (7) and they are so horrible, why don't you sell me one of them

They're not mine. They are transfers. I will not stock these for sale. Buy at your own risk.

I do have LAR MFG LAR-15s for sale and I rather like them, so much that I will probably add one to my collection.

[Fjold]

well...in my case it was about $110 each (times 3) cheaper. So...for my 3 kids lowers thats about $330 and I still need to buy them all the rest of the parts. But I think they will get a part for each birthday, christmas, etc until they have a whole rifle. It makes it easier on old dad that way...lol.

Stag lowers, $105 with free shipping from JTac

[JPglee1]

Their not mine. They are transfers. I will not stock these for sale. Buy at your own risk.

Just cuz they are ugly or what? I still haven't seen any evidence that they don't do what they are designed to (hold the upper and fire the weapon)

I was told by EA on the phone that they are raw forgings like you see for sale everywhere, completed in their CNC machines in-house. He said they get the forgings 100 units a time and get them super cheap, which is why they offer the lowers super cheap.

If I can save $10 over a STAG I'll do it. Who gives a sh1t what the markings look like, haha Tell me what doesn't work on them, or what makes them a POS so I have some hard evidence.


JP


P.S. Don't take things so personal dude, I was never attacking you. IF you wanna carry a diamond-crusted polished forged platinum lower, I don't care thats your business.

[Whitesmoke]

Essential arms is giving you a dealer price on a lower that isn't that good looking, EA has had these things for years and couldn't get rid of them so most of the couple hundred they had will end up here.

I could be wrong...but from what I read the original essential arms lowers were all cast. These lowers are forged...so they are probably newer production.

[tenpercentfirearms]

Wes...I'm not picking on you here, as I think your prices are very fair...But lets say I bought 3 of the nicer (cmmg or spike) lowers from you. Yours are $170 each plus tax....thats $182.75 each. I paid $76 each plus shipping for the eassential arms OLL's...that makes $80 each. PLUS...I couldn't afford to buy all 3 at once if I bought yours...so I'd have to pay the Dros fee 3 times. Where buying the three at once I just paid your transfer fee plus only one dros fee.


So around $620 for the nicer lowers (bought on 3 seperate occasions) or $290for the cheapy Essential arms lowers all at once. I know part of the extra cost is from me being too poor to buy all 3 at once...lol.

Not true. One lower is $170. Three lowers can get much lower (at least the $150 range). Second, don't forget you still have to pay sales tax on those lowers you bought out of state to me. The BOE says so. Don't forget your $25 transfer fee as well.

So you are saving about $70 each lower. Still not a bad deal. If you can find a good transfer deal (like mine at $25 for as many as you want), they might be worth it to you. To each their own.

Who gives a sh1t what the markings look like, haha Tell me what doesn't work on them, or what makes them a POS so I have some hard evidence.

I do. I don't want a junk lower. You don't mind. There is nothing wrong with that. Just don't come on here acting all high and mighty like those of us who wants decent looking lowers are women who like nice clothes. Your upity attitude is tiresome. Just state you don't mind what your lowers look like and leave it at that.

This thread is not about me protecting my profits and no one has really brought that up. I am transfering these things and for cheap. I want guys to get cheap deals if that is what they want. This is a review thread and my review from having looked at these in person is that they are definitely some ugly looking lowers. I have not built one so I don't know how they match up. If I get lucky maybe a customer will buy an LPK from me and want me to install it and we will find out if they are in spec as well.

[JPglee1]

I do. I don't want a junk lower. You don't mind. There is nothing wrong with that. Just don't come on here acting all high and mighty like those of us who wants decent looking lowers are women who like nice clothes.
I have not built one so I don't know how they match up

So, based on your "examination" you call them junk because they aren't good looking.... You admit you haven't even shot one yet but you call them JUNK and try to discourage people from buying them. Seems fair to me.

Now I'm definitely gonna buy one, just so I can have an ugly AR-15 to go with my ugly 9mm and my ugly cars

J

[tenpercentfirearms]

So, based on your "examination" you call them junk because they aren't good looking.... You admit you haven't even shot one yet but you call them JUNK and try to discourage people from buying them. Seems fair to me.

Yes, based on my observations of how ugly they are, I am making the subjective evaluation that they are junk. I do not like the finish, I do not like the hand stamped serial numbers, I do not like the huge selector markings. I do not like these lowers. I personally would not buy one of these lowers.

I am not discouraging people from buying them. If I were to discourage people from buying them I would simply say, "NO! I will not transfer them, sorry." The fact that 7 of them are sitting in my shop waiting be to transfered at $25 for as many as you want should be evidence enough that I don't care what you do with your money.

I will not say, "Yeah, they are ok" when I do not think they are. I will not put my reputation on the line by calling these things anything other than what they are. Buy at your own risk.

You might buy some and love them. I have no problems with that. To each their own.

Heck, are Vulcans this cheap? Why not buy up a bunch of those too.

[JPglee1]

I will not say, "Yeah, they are ok" when I do not think they are. I will not put my reputation on the line by calling these things anything other than what they are. Buy at your own risk.

Fair enough...debate/discussion over on my end.


J

[Fjold]

But you have to have a local FFL that will transfer them to you....Wes was doing me a favor tranfering these to me. He didn't want to be responsible if they turned out to be junk. I don't blame him a bit...and I appreciate him doing it at all.

And by doing so....he has earned a new customer. After visiting his shop...I'll gladly drive to taft for my future purchases.

Wes transferred it for me for $25 (+tax), that's his normal price.

[leelaw]

Wes - what did you think of the finish on Fulton receivers, in comparison to the EAs?

[trouble]

Are they junk, as in not in spec and won't make a firing rifle... or just ugly? Trust me, I'm not a fan of ugly... but there's a difference between bad looks and bad function. Junk is a pretty harsh term for something that apparently does work, doncha think? I'm sure there are junk lowers out there, but...

p.s. My Mega is pretty, and I like it... does that make me a girl?

p.p.s. Warranty is a good point. I know my Stag will be warrantied for ANY problem at all.

[tenpercentfirearms]

Maybe junk was too harsh. I will change my opinion to ugly and will reserve junk until we start to hear how they build.

I never saw any Fultons so I have no idea how they compare.

[Solidsnake87]

Mine work fine. I said that when I started this thread. They build great and fit all the uppers I specified. The fit and function is the same as any of the more expensive lowers. They do what they are intended to do. On a side note, My Stag has serials that are hand stamped so I don't think EA is the only one.

The current production EA lowers are forged, read their home page. They have a rather interesting company history.

When I ordered on the phone I had lots of questions about their product. To put it all briefly, EA used to produce cast lowers for other manufacturers then upgraded their machinery and started producing forged lowers in their own name. They offer them cheap because they can. From my experience with machine work, production costs are relatively low on a per unit basis. If you really think about it, the aluminum alone for an individual receiver will be about $3. Since they buy pre forged blanks, they probably cost about $5-10 a piece. The anodizing can't cost more than a few bucks too. I'd bet that at least half of the $77 is profit, which is not bad. I bet the more expensive lowers just have a higher profit intake. They are just undermining the competition thats all. They offer a great product for less, just like they claim.

I did not about ask about whether they reforge damaged lowers or not but I doubt that you did. Please don't make such assertions without hard evidence. If Stag does it, good for them. Forged aluminum lowers are not very prone to breakage compared to the carbon ones. I would not be surprised if the average forged lower had a UTS of at least 100,00 psi. Plastics act like a ceramic when stressed. They will break once they reach the end of their large elastic limit. When you couple this in conjuction with the random glass-like atomic packing arrangement, you get a far weaker object. I doubt any of the carbon lowers are higher in strength than 30,000 psi, though they advertise it as such but I cannot proove this. Furthermore, I doubt many people abuse their rifles enough to cause breakage anyway. Most of the people of these forums care too much about the look and finish of their rifle they would be afraid to do do anything to harm them in the first place. There is no comparison between Vulcan and EA. I have both. They only share a price similarity. My Vulcan was the only one that broke an ear during trigger guard assembly, nothing some epoxy and a miad with the tigger guard mold can't fix.