Is it time to buy a couple of AR lower Receivers for a rainy day?

BumbleBug

New member
Well, as the wonder of globalization making terrorism our near term problem & with recent events having the gun control advocates coming out of the woodwork, do you think it is a good idea to buy a couple of stripped lowers as a good investment, if not a good precaution in case someone needs another AR?

Just thinking out loud & looking for some opinions.

TIA....
 

WV_gunner

New member
I don't have disposable income so I wouldn't buy a handful of ARs just in case. I do think one in 10mm with a wood stock would be nice.
 

BumbleBug

New member
WV_Gunner said:
I don't have disposable income so I wouldn't buy a handful of ARs just in case....
My income is tight too, but with the deals still going on, stripped AR lower receivers are $40 plus ship & FFL right now.
 

Quentin2

New member
No doubt stripped lowers are about as cheap now as they'll ever be. $50 is dirt cheap for a milspec 7075 alloy receiver. I do have a spare stripped lower and I bet many others do, too. The price is right and they're small enough to slip a few in your book shelf!
 

bumnote

New member
No.
The Senate voted down a measure today. Legislature on a national level is DOA, even the anti-gun lobby knows that, they won't admit it...but they know. CA in another matter.
The Executive Branch can threaten EA for the next 13 months, but based on everything thing else he's ever threatened to do...he's got as much of a follow-thru as a golfer in a coma. In addition, he yet again put his entire foot in his mouth with his first statement before any information was know. You'd think he'd have that instinct contained, not cross that red line...but he's playing JV ball. Watch his numbers sink in the coming weeks. Besides, anything he does that circumvents Congress only guarantees nothing but retaliation...on things he can't win.
As far I've seen, there's no panic buying.

Rainy day purchase IMO is waste of money. But if you want one or two...buy them. Nothing wrong with that.
 

adamBomb

New member
Nothing is going to happen in washington.

The gun control advocates will be on the next issue on monday. If you havent noticed its a new one each week.
 

44 AMP

Staff
As a practical matter, if you think you should put away a couple of lower receivers in case you can't get them later, then you also ought to be stocking up on the REST of the parts needed, as well.

That way, once you get them all, you can wait until need to build the rifle.

If our laws change to the point where you cannot, just who do you think will be interested in buying the stripped lowers? None of the rest of us, to be sure.

They would ONLY have value to someone who had/could still get all the rest of the parts.

So, if you think they will be worth their weight in gold when assault weapons are banned, think again. They will be worth jail time at worst, and next to nothing at best.

Of course, keeping them as spares for when your lower wears out, well, that'f fine, isn't it??
:D
 

rickyrick

New member
It will happen on a state level maybe.
I think that panic buying is possible.
It's on everyone's mind, income tax refunds are near.
There certainly is plenty of people buying guns.
I think some convienientlu placed shooting ranges would make someone rich now.
I have less opportunity to shoot now.
I'm not going down the road sign route in order to find some practice.
 

WV_gunner

New member
$50 is still more than I could afford. ARs aren't my kind of gun anyways, plus like 44 AMP said what's a stripped receiver going to do for you? Absolutely nothing unless you also plan to stockpile everything else.
I think panick buying has ran it's course for now. Steady incline of gun sales? Maybe but nothing more I think. I honestly think too many people have watched Red Dawn too many times.
If I had money to just throw out and wanted higher capacity rifles, I don't think I'd go for ARs. Although one in .300 mag ought to do well for penetration with FMJ. There's lot of higher capacity rifles out there and I'm honestly drooling over hunting pistols lately. A BFR in anything, XP-100 7mm BR, and an Encore in .50 AE would be great to have. Those guns won't be getting a hike in price anytime soon either.
 

TXAZ

New member
If someone is really worried about stocking receivers, then they need something a lot heftier than a .223, like a .50 BMG, and a serious number of AP rounds, able to stop a vehicle or heavily armored intruders with ballistic plates, lexan shields, etc.

For most it may be a bit of paranoia. However, considering one of the larger drug cartels operating in Texas has a quick reaction force larger than the FBI's HRT or any SWAT team, it's not necessarily an unrealistic or paranoid consideration.
 

SamNavy

New member
Lowers are the easy and cheap part... buying the rest of the parts on the cheap is equally easy... just takes time. AND... what do we all have if not time.

I know a 1/2 dozen places online that sell barrels in any flavor/shape/caliber for well under $100 shipped... $40 blem uppers... $70 MPI BCG's... quality free-float rails for $50. NO, I'm not building an LWRC battle-rifle, but I'm not trying to get into the foreign legion with my own equipment either.

Decent parts from respectable places go on sale/closeout/blemish all the time... it's been TREMENDOUS recently the deals you can find on individual parts. Even if in-the-end you spend a pinch more cash to complete a whole gun, you'll never notice an extra $10 here or there over the course of a year.

As of this moment, I just checked 4 places that have Anderson lowers in stock for $40+ shipping +FFL... and I saw a dozen guys at the gunshow (Hampton Convention Center) last weekend selling for $50+tax. NO REASON NOT TO BUY NOW.
 

rickyrick

New member
I built three ARs in the last 12 months.
I missed out on the AR band wagon a couple of times.
I actually actually figured gun control shenanigans were coming 12 months ago, so I went for it.
Been gradually stockpiling ammo so I won't have to go almost two years without shooting again...
So I won't be buying any more lowers.
I may build some spare uppers, spare uppers are like a second gun really.
 
Thats the rub is it not? They are cheap right now because there is an excess and no one thinks you need to buy them.

If every one though you should be stocking up on them. Then the cost would be up taking away the incentive.

Before the last run. I had purchased 3 stripped lowers for $39 each.
After the run, I sold two for $100 each.

Happen again?? Who knows there are many more manufactures now to meet demand. So maybe not.
But if we are at the low on the price. Whats it hurt can always sell them for what you have in them. So why not have a couple spares??
Plus as the prices stay low you will start to see manufactures get out of the AR business. Priming the pump for the next round.
The gun market has nothing to do with common sense. Its more like a silk hanker chief held in front of a hot air talker. Every time he opens his mouth it moves.
 
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Rob62

New member
Let me be to the point with my answer - YES. Get as many as you can afford and easily store.

The prices of basic AR15 lower receivers have been at all time lows.

But with the rhetoric of the past few days I would not be shocked if they were already skyrocketing again.

Regards,

Rob
 

lamarw

New member
Article in the CNN Business section today stated ARs are continuing to go down in price. The article also stated the purchase of other long guns to include shotguns sales are selling better than ARs. I am not sure whether this could of been influenced by the start of hunting/gunning season in recent months or not. I think handgun sells are way up.

I suspect current events may cause another drought of ammunition and reloading components. This is what happens when gun sales rise dramatically as indicated by the recent record levels of back ground checks. When most people buy a new firearm, they also buy a basic load of ammunition for said firearm.

Link to CNN Article: http://money.cnn.com/2015/12/04/news/companies/san-bernardino-killings-ar15/index.html
 
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dakota.potts

New member
If you had to buy something, I would rather be buying more magazines and whatever ammo resembles armor-piercing if it's useful to you. I believe magazine bans will happen first.

If it gets to the point where you have to build rifles from only the lowers you have on hand, chances are the other parts of the firearm will be regulated also. The only reason I would say to get more is if for some reason you're worried about registration and hoping to catch a grandfathered clause on an un-serialized lower made from an 80%.

Look into parts kits also. Lots of interesting things going on the demilled parts kit world.
 

rickyrick

New member
I just got an email from Anderson saying that they are suspending online sales of stripped receivers until they catch up on production.....
So there must be people buying like crazy.

A few months ago they were offering to sell them by the crate.
 
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WV_gunner

New member
This thread honestly got me thinking. Since AR parts are so cheap an AR pistol in 9mm or 10mm would be nice. Then I discovered the issue of short buffer tubes. There goes the idea of a cheap higher capacity large pistol.
 

Skans

Active member
How many lowers do you really need? I'd buy extra barrels and maybe a couple of spare bolts and some other small parts. There's more stress on barrels than any other part of the rifle.
 

tirod

Moderator
There is a lot of rhetoric right now about it, but consider the sources.

Extreme liberal Presidential Candidates who are trying to resonate with their specific voting supporters - and opening their mouth too soon on the national level. Both support bans and one is now on record saying the Australian Confiscation with compensation should be considered. Nice out, by the way, as spending $100 per gun still exceeds $33 Billion in direct costs, plus administration, hiring people to oversee it, etc. HUGE boondoggle and no better than the gun "buy backs" which bring in every piece of junk out there.

It also totally ignores that people won't cooperate, which goes to forced turn ins- they don't know who has guns, and ATF records at the FFL level aren't easily obtained and are largely hand printed, too. Seizing them makes for a big signal something is up.

Then it would take house to house searching, which would imply it's compliant - we'll pass over the issue of armed resistance for now - and would take experienced teams looking into every nook and cranny of the construction and foundation with scanners, plus ground radar, to check off the house as being cleansed of firearms. It would take days to clear a block of houses. There aren't even people to even start doing that job. Let's not forget how much we searched in Vietnam or Iraq trying to find arms caches - it's a thankless task with very low returns. That's why when one is found it makes news.

An outright ban? Under who's authority? It does NOTHING to get the guns out of the hands of the public. They would still be out there, and that's the whole point, to take them out of the hands of the public.

Not to mention those of us old enough to not care about being incarcerated - free meals, free health care, good associates all living together where? Most jails are already overcrowded, can your state take in another 10,000 detainees who are all in need of some kind of eldercare, medications, etc? Who oversees that?

As for the compensation to pay us under the Australian model of confiscation, is $100 a gun enough? Not hardly, lawsuits and demonstrations will skyrocket. And where do we get $100 a gun for the 330 million out there - $33 Billion dollars? Why YOU, of course. They forced a mandatory tax hike on the PUBLIC to underwrite the expense.

Ask your anti gun friends if they really want to pay for that. Most tax issues are not handled well in open elections, much less the .Gov telling you it has to be paid and you have no choice.

There's not going to be any bans, AWB, or confiscation that will be effective. NY already estimated 75% of the guns that fall under the SAFE Act aren't being registered. The majority of the Sheriffs there are in print as stating they will not enforce it whatsoever. That is already open defiance. Trying to force more compliance isn't going to make stick.

After all, what are they going to do? We have the guns, which is EXACTLY what the Founding Fathers intended, and it's working.

If you want to buy some lowers now, the price is justification. Just keep in mind that when things do get tight it was the bolts and barrels that were hard to find, and you had better already stocked up on ammo as the shelves went bare in military calibers.
 
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