First impressions: Plum Crazy Firearms lower + Riflegear 14.5" gas upper

[its mcgavin son]

Plum Crazy Firearms complete lower:
Initially did not fit ANY mil-spec 5.56mm complete upper (tried it on a brand new Noveske, LMT, Stag Arms 2H, and my Riflegear)

My FFL told me that about 12 previous orders of Plum Crazy lowers required gunsmithing work, and unfortunately, so did mine. My FFL had to dremel/sand two internal plastic 'plates' on each side of the rear takedown pin. If I would've known that, I wouldn't have purchased it -- period.

As it sits now, the fitment is average. The upper receiver can be pushed side to side a little with an assertive poke of the finger (the fitment is loose). A USGI (10/30) alum. magazine is slightly loose when inserted (haven't tried a PMag yet)

Plum Crazy complete lower = $150 w/ Prince50 bullet button, shipped
FFL DROS/transfer fees = $68.xx
Gunsmith work = $25

That's $243.xx.. I should've just purchased a complete lower here in California and paid a little more..

Riflegear 14.5" gas carbine complete upper w/ pinned YHM flashhider:
Paint finish is REALLY sensitive.. Pretty much anything that isn't cotton will scratch it.

Charging handle is also kind of stiff.

Current specs:
Plum Crazy Firearms complete lower w/ Prince50 bullet button
Riflegear 14.5" 5.56 NATO and 1/7 twistrate complete upper w/ pinned YHM flashhider
Knight's Armament M4/AR15 RAS w/ KAC VGF and KAC 11-rib rails
Matech BUIS

I just built it for my pops, An army and vietnam vet, so he hasn't shot it yet (planning to give it to him for Father's Day). I will update this thread with shooting results once we get some range time in.

[thrillhouse700]

Since you are giving it for F day I can see why you didn't send it back to plum crazy. I hear they got pretty good service. Post up some pics!

[dieselpower]

I hear your frustration, but the idea was to stick to a budget. You need to understand guys with low cash funds need to work inside of a budget.

If you had the other $150 to spend on a lower, you should have done it. ($75 LPK and $75 stock kit.) You could have also gotten a crappy LPK and cheap-Airsoft kit ($45 LPK and $40 stock kit). Then you would be here upset you had broken parts, bad springs and wrong sized pins.....your AR15 was a jam-o-matic....and the AK crowd would be linking to your post as an example of why to buy an AK.

I think the Gunsmith did something wrong, but I am not there and I don't know what he encountered..it just doesn't sound right from what you are saying and what I know of the way AR15s fit together.

In any event, I am sorry you had a poor experience building your AR15.

This needs to be a lesson to all who are on a budget, you need to remember with a budget comes trade-offs.

I do feel for you man. Maybe you can save some cash up, sell the lower you have for $100 and build another one.

[r3dn3ck]

you might have gotten away with just rapping the back end of the upper and it'd sqeeze right in. 3 of mine are like that. It's the tightest fitting lower I've ever seen but it's just tight, not wrong.

It seems to me that you didn't probably research things, expected the world for cheap and were surprised with what you got.

I have 3 PC lowers, they're all tight as a nun's parts. What isn't that good on them, the triggers are so-so.

[CGK60]

That's too bad your lower wasn't right, I've had my plumcrazy for a while now and no problems so far.

[760knox]

That's too bad your lower wasn't right, I've had my plumcrazy for a while now and no problems so far.

Same here mines been great so far...

[comblock]

me too. did you know they have a warranty. you should of sent it back. those things are cheap to make for them. im missing why your ffl didnt just advise you to send it back??

edit: thats just odd that your ffl got a batch of 12 faulty lowers. if he got 12 of them like that, i think the 3rd one would of triggered me to send the whole batch back to PCF.

[JAGGUY]

Your "gunsmith" FUBAR big time...

[21SF]

Seem s to be a trend on calguns, if you dont spend the farm on a product it shouldnt last or work.

[dieselpower]

Seem s to be a trend on calguns, if you don't spend the farm on a product it shouldn't last or work.

I know. I am not sure where this comes from. People have this unrealistic idea that there will be no issues by spending more money, when in fact, you just have more expensive issues to deal with.

Its the whole "buy once cry once, you get what you pay for" logic failure. Its true many higher priced items do not fail as much, but when they do it costs a ton of money to fix them also. I don't care if the item cost 100 or 1000, when it breaks, its BROKE.

You get a warranty either way, so use it. The armorer in my head wants to second guess the "gunsmith" here, but I don't know what he was presented with.

[mif_slim]

Haha, I wonder if it was just the brake-in period? I know all 6 PC lower I had wouldnt fit any upper but once you press it in hard enough it'll go right in for that tight fit. After a few times of mounting the upper to it it'll loosen up to fit any upper.

Too bad you coulnt just send it in to fix thou. Would of just cost shipping.

[prerunners4life]

I have a plum crazy lower I used for a build for the ol' lady and the jd upper reciever fits pretty tight... I actually kinda like the poly lower..

[r3dn3ck]

they're supposed to be tight. Why have extra rattles?

[dieselpower]

I am agreeing with the rest of the guys here, but once again we do not know what the situation was or what the Gunsmith actualy did. What he did may not even have anything to do with the slop in the upper.

[jonyg]

I can vouch for the very tight fit. It's been extremely reliable for me.

And like Diesel says, we don't know the full situation. What the state was like before, or what the gunsmith did after.