lower receiver

Who makes the best receivers for building a good shooter? Are there any manufacturers that I should stay away from? Thanks,

Below is a listing of the manufacturers who I think make (or made) lower receivers, and indented with * is a list of the AR companies that they provide receivers for. My list risks being out of date, and I am far from any authority on ARs. Seems like more and more folks in the AR business, now Remington, Sig Arms, Smith & Wesson, Ruger?, and growing. (Want to see some high dollar rigs, check out Noveske!)

DPMS, Rock River and Bushmaster all been very very good to me, cant go wrong in my humble opinion.

Cavalry Arms
* Cavalry Arms
Continental Machine Tool
* Stag
* Rock River Arms
* High Standard
* Noveske
* Century (New)
* Global Tactical
* CLE
* S&W
* MGI
* Wilson Tactical
* Grenadier Precision
* Colt
Essential Arms
* Essential Arms
JVP
* Double Star
* LRB
LAR Manufacturing
* Anvil Arms
* LAR
* Bushmaster
* Ameetec
* DPMS
* CMMG
* Double Star
* Fulton Armory
* Gunsmoke Enterprises
* Spike's Tactical
Lewis Machine & Tool
* LMT
* Lauer
* DS Arms
* PWA
* Eagle
* Armalite
* Knights Armament
* Barrett
Mega Machine Shop
* Mega
* GSE
* Dalphon
* Gunsmoke Enterprises
* POF
* Alexander Arms
Olympic
* Olympic
* SGW
* Tromix
* Palmetto
* Dalphon
* Frankford
* Century (Old)
Sabre Defense
* Sabre Defense
Sun Devil
* Sun Devil forged billet receivers
Superior
* Superior Arms

The only Lowers with which I've personally seen multiple dramas have been '80's vintage Olympic/SGW's and Frankfords. (Oh, and some early Professional Ordnance "carbon fiber/polymer" lowers had their FCG pin holes poorly located. The newer Bushmaster owned product appears to be better.) I've a couple of old cast EA(Essential Arms) that are still providing excellent rough and tumble service for 25years- still tight, too! Most all good receivers now are machined from forgings, but its the finishing not the raw material that determines how "good" a lower will be- even the polymer ones seem to be OK if made to spec.

Is Sharps making there own or somebody making for them?

I only have 8 AR15's with various lowers ie. Colt, Olympic, LRB, Gunsmoke, etc. The worst one is the Superior Mfg lower. I have about 30 magazines that function in all of my lowers except Superior. Only about 4 of those mags will fit in the mag well as it is too tight. I emailed Superior twice and they never responded. The guy I bought it from contacted them and they told him that they never had that problem and wouldn't exchange it. They said my magazines must be out of spec. I searched the net and found others that had the same problem with their Superior lowers. So in my opinion STAY AWAY FROM SUPERIOR!

One more to add to that, S&W makes their carbine but if you go to their forum you will find some bad news about their guns. Although it's the extractor they talk about, I wonder what else could be wrong? It's enough to make me glad I didn't grab one out of curiosity. Remember how their LE shotgun worked out. I also have had issues with mag fit in SGW lowers but I sorted that out.

I just built my fourth AR and this time I used an LRB lower that I bought from a local vendor. Wideners has these for $79 right now and the fit and finish is excellent.

http://wideners.com/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=8913&dir=700|863

Mega's are very well respected by many experienced builders. I have only assembled 3 lowers , but the Mega was clearly better than the others.

some companies get bought for their products - i have a lot vof DPMS lowers , they are excelent - both the 'built' ones and my 'kit' ones

Do any of you guys know anything about "Del-Ton Inc" or who makes them??? TIA

I don't know about their lowers. I did buy one of the rifle kits and it works great. Good fit and finish.

[QUOTE=browningautorifle;106522] . . . if you go to their (S&W ) forum you will find some bad news about their guns. Although it's the extractor they talk about, I wonder what else could be wrong? /QUOTE]

Please post a link. I went to the S&W corporate website but did not see a link to a forum.

Thanks!

That was so long ago now I can't find it myself. And after all, It was the rimfire model that was a problem not the full size lower. They barely resemble each other mechanically. Go to the S&W Forum and look up about the last page of M&P15/22 for the info.