Plum Crazy Lower

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Plum Crazy Lower

Postby Ghost Dog » Mon Oct 24, 2011 5:25 pm

I might regrett this one but here it goes:

So, 2 months ago I bought a Plum Crazy Lower (PCL). I finally made it to the range today.
For $120.00 I had to find out for myself, piece of junk or a usefull AR lower.
First of all everything is made of plastic (I realize it's some sort of composite but to keep it simple) except for the springs and
extension tube, ALL plastic. Yes, the take down pins, FCG, etc. are plastic.

1st sign of a problem? I couldn't get the lower to go onto my Bushmaster Predator upper. The front ears on the lower seamed way to tight
What the heck did I get myself into? After using a few choice words that have worked in other situations, still no luck. So off to PCL's web site to see what's going on. Well, they say the tight fit is normall, you just have to work it in the first few times till the plastic holds the proper dimensions. Took some more choice words, but it did go on. I must say it did work flawlessly for the last two months as it sat in the safe, but
that don't count !!!!

As I said earlier I finally made it to the range today. Needed to sight in both guns, Thumper and the Predator. A farmer friend has something
eating her chickens, but not for long I hope. Well, after 160 rounds of 5.56 Nato the lower worked perfectly. No problems at all. I use PMags
and had no issue loading or unloading them. I did hear the sproing from the spring a little more than my other lowers. As for the trigger,I'm
not a good judge, but it seemed good to me.

The last test is the test of time. I wonder how it will handle below freezing temperatures? I totally forgot to use it on Thumper. Will try next time. Will it hold up like an aluminum lower? I'll try and keep you posted.
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Re: Plum Crazy Lower

Postby thatguy » Mon Oct 24, 2011 7:36 pm

A dealer had complete Plum Crazy lowers at the Roanoke VA gun show this weekend - his price was $140 - I thought about it for my .22 upper - but decided I would hold off without some reviews..

thanks for sharing
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Re: Plum Crazy Lower

Postby Colohunter » Mon Oct 24, 2011 8:55 pm

I'm glad it worked out for you, let us know how it works on the Thumper. My last couple lowers were Spikes Tactical. Their normal price is $99, but sometimes you can get them on sale for less. I think I got two at $70/piece a couple years ago. They magwells were a little tight with my 6.8 mags, but overall I like them.
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Re: Plum Crazy Lower

Postby Hoot » Mon Oct 24, 2011 9:52 pm

I mounted my bushy on top of a complete RRA NM A2 Lower. You can find them for $299.00, ready to go from several resellers. Yeah, you don't get to spend an evening putting it together, but you're spared the aggravation of getting all the arts from here and there including a lot of shipping charges and an added plus is the ease of converting the A2 stock to a DIY version of Gunnut's recoil reducing stock. What's not to love about the RRA 2-stage NM trigger. IMHO, best bang for the buck in an FCG. Mine has over 1k 450b rounds through it and half that again of .300 WSSM, an equal amount of 6.5 Grendel and an equal amount of .223 and it's still as good, if not better (broke in) than when I first got it. They allow you to specify a better grip for a few bucks more, if you don't like the stock AR15 grip, which is yet another item you don't have to hunt down and pay to have shipped.

That having been said, If I ever buy another lower, I'd like to get a T15BDX milled from a billet. It has some nice features like a glove friendly trigger guard integral to the billet for added strength and a tensioning screw to take up the slop all uppers to lowers develop over time. IE, no accu-wedge needed. Mega makes a similar one as well. If you want, they can mill you an upper receiver as well that is fitted to the lower like a Swiss watch. The argument against it is whether it's a better investment to buy several lower cost lowers and just swap them out over time as a corrective action to wear and stretch, as opposed to buying a high quality lower. I can see both sides of that argument.

We don't have the benefit of local stores like folks down south have, that stock lots of affordably priced AR parts under one roof. As in none. One local store stocks a few lowers, but everything is marked incredibly high up since they know they are the only game in town. Not that they have the selection like an Academy store has. Sounds like Walmart is finally getting back to the firearms mecca it once was. As high as the demand has gotten for AR (big kid stores) components, I'm surprised no one up this way hasn't gotten some backer to bankroll an AR super store. They would beat a path to their door if they did. Though Minnesota is more of a hunting rifle mentality state, there is a groundswell of AR enthusiasts up here as well. Fatted calves looking to plop down their hard earned money or credit cards.

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Re: Plum Crazy Lower

Postby Jim in Houston » Tue Oct 25, 2011 6:22 am

Hoot - give us a hint on the resellers having the RRA lowers at $299. The best I could find on the web was nearly $400, and if you wanted a magpul stock the total cost was north of $600.

BTW I am planning a lower build using the T15BDX lower. Will report back when (if?) I get it done. I am looking forward to an evening with the parts and a couple of instructional videos.
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Re: Plum Crazy Lower

Postby thatguy » Tue Oct 25, 2011 2:32 pm

Colohunter wrote:I'm glad it worked out for you, let us know how it works on the Thumper. My last couple lowers were Spikes Tactical. Their normal price is $99, but sometimes you can get them on sale for less. I think I got two at $70/piece a couple years ago. They magwells were a little tight with my 6.8 mags, but overall I like them.


The $140 price I posted (and I am assuming the OP's price) is for a COMPLETE lower (stock, parts kits, grip)

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Re: Plum Crazy Lower

Postby Ghost Dog » Tue Oct 25, 2011 4:16 pm

The $120.00 is for a complete ready to use lower.

Image

There's a lot of controversy about the lower on other sites. So I wanted to see for myself and so far it's O.K.
Maybe it's a Yugo, or maybe it's a lot better, test of time.
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Re: Plum Crazy Lower

Postby Hoot » Tue Oct 25, 2011 9:38 pm

Jim in Houston wrote:Hoot - give us a hint on the resellers having the RRA lowers at $299. The best I could find on the web was nearly $400, and if you wanted a magpul stock the total cost was north of $600.

BTW I am planning a lower build using the T15BDX lower. Will report back when (if?) I get it done. I am looking forward to an evening with the parts and a couple of instructional videos.


I can't remember, but IIRC, class3weapns.com or something like that had them when I was looking, but I actually got mine from a fellow who sells on one of the auction sites. Either Gunbroker, Auction Arms or Gunsamerica. I can't remember which one offhand. I do recall that I contacted him around the auction to inquire about getting a different grip as opposed to the plain Jane AR grip and he was more than willing to accommodate me at less cost than if I had purchased it separately. It's been almost two years now and time has taken it's toll on my memory. Given where prices have gone in two years, that figure could be slightly higher now, like $319.00

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Re: Plum Crazy Lower

Postby Texas Sheepdawg » Wed Oct 26, 2011 12:41 am

Stag Arms sells assembled lowers as well as stripped lowers.
http://www.stagarms.com/index.php?cPath=18_32
I have two Stag Lowers and they are great. One is on my 450 Bushmaster
And the other is going under my 6.5 Grendel Build.
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Re: Plum Crazy Lower

Postby Aries » Thu Jan 19, 2012 6:42 am

I have been thinking about getting one of the Plumcrazy lowers also.
I have read good and bad reviews on them.
Mostly good over the bad.
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