Mixing Parts??

[crazymonkey47]

Have any of you had any problems mixing and matching parts on your AR's?? I see that lower and upper receivers from different companies seem to match up just fine, what about internals? Should internals be from the same manufacturer or does it not really matter?? (ie...lower parts kits) Thanks!

[CSACANNONEER]

If it's all milspec then it will work.

[C.G.]

Stay with major manufacturers/vendors, i. e. Armalite, Stag, RRA, Bushmaster, etc. and you will be all right. Stay away from cheap vendors. Some have had problems with DPMS LPKs, I bought one and it was OK, but the trigger group was rough (I did not need it, since I was installing a different trigger group).

[Fjold]

It was illegal south of the Mason-Dixon line until the 1960's but it works well now.

[Full Clip]

No problem with mixing mil-spec parts so far...

[flyinghi]

Interesting.....

I mated a ER Shaw A3 upper to my stag lower and noted some very interesting "characteristics": when I tried to drop the mag, it was stuck and had to be forcefully withdrawn and when i went to close the halves, the back of the upper would get caught on the buffer by a hair.

After taking a look at the mate, the front upper wall (just below the feed ramps) hung over the lower wall by about a 16th and the piece easily fit together if i sat the upper on the lower without either pin installed. As it turned out, the QC on the shaw was off that day and the pin holes for the upper were offset by a 16th. The lower was tried on a bunch of different uppers and no problems there so that was not the issue.

As a bandaid, I filed the front lip of the upper down and rounded the back edge that hit the buffer and everything works just fine but I would agree with staying with the reputations and the big name brands!

[Gmountain]

Have any of you had any problems mixing and matching parts on your AR's?? I see that lower and upper receivers from different companies seem to match up just fine, what about internals? Should internals be from the same manufacturer or does it not really matter?? (ie...lower parts kits) Thanks!

It doesn't matter. They are designed to be modular.

[ar15barrels]

I mated a ER Shaw A3 upper...

ER Shaw does not make uppers.
They make barrels.
Your upper was most likely from one of the no-name type gun show parts sellers.
You got what you paid for.

[hybridatsun350]

Milspec AR's are just like any other spec item. Parts can be mixed and matched from any other spec AR. I find it amazing that so many parts coming from so many different places fit together exactly as they should (most of the time)!

[AJAX22]

I've got a neat project I've been working on for a while. Its a 9mm OLY based gun with no two major components (and very few minor components) from the same manufacturer.

Gunsmoke lower, OLY A2 upper, DPMS tubber shroud, RRA entry stock, gen2 MMG, Daewoo DR200 FCG, etc. etc etc.

no problems so far, but its not a serious project, its just something that I throw my spare parts at when they turn up.

[philthy209]

i have a interesting match the best with the worst

vulcan lower and a lmt upper

i get my upper tonight i'll keep you posted how it turns out.

[Lon Moer]

Have any of you had any problems mixing and matching parts on your AR's?? I see that lower and upper receivers from different companies seem to match up just fine, what about internals? Should internals be from the same manufacturer or does it not really matter?? (ie...lower parts kits) Thanks!

There are 5~7 forging companies that are making all the various receiver pieces. All of the manufacturer's buy from these same companies and, depending on the contract, then do the final finish work on their pieces. Then most of them send them out to other contractor's for final anodizing/finish.
So, as long as you're staying within the the major vendors, any of the Anchor Harvey/Cerro/Continental/Cardinal/Lewis, etc upper and lowers should easily mix-and-match.

[taloft]

AR parts are to the gun world what lego parts are to the toy world. Just snap them together and have fun.

[Army]

I may have two parts made by the same manufacturer....but I'm not too sure. So many parts, so many vendors

[Red_5]

Both of my builds are mongrels. All mix-n-match milspec parts.