PrepperGuns 101: Stripped Lowers Advice, An Option

Stripped Lowers

Stripped lowers. Salty is the firearms expert here, but I occasionally have some relevant comments due to living behind the Iron Curtain in the People’s Republic of New Jersey. The advice here applies to anti-gun states. If you live in a free state, you can ignore, . . . at least for the moment! 😊 However, your state may turn blue at any time!

Open Trigger

The official Peoples Republic of New Jersey rifle is, or at least should be, a stripped lower. It has no “evil features”, like a bayonet lug. Given the trend of gun laws in Blue States, like New Jersey, I believe it is advantageous to assemble your own rifle, so you don’t have to pay for parts that you cannot legally use, and you can easily change particular parts in response to the ever-changing gun laws. In fact there is a package of new gun laws working their way through the New Jersey legislature, because the crazy laws we have now just aren’t onerous enough. ☹ Of course there is no way to know what these laws will require until they pass.

For instance, the California laws have recently changed what is defined as an “assault weapon” and what configurations are legal, or not, in the state. My bet is that with our recent election of an anti-gun governor here in the People’s Republic of New Jersey, we will soon see our definition of what is an “assault weapon” change to look more like the definition used in California or New York.

It is nice to think that if my currently legal rifle is banned in the future, I can swap out a couple parts for legal variants, rather than selling my rifle, out of state, and buying a new one, taking a financial hit along the way. For this reason, I am a fan of assembling your own “modern sporting rifle”, starting with a stripped lower, if you live in a Blue State.

Fortunately, the firearms manufacturing industry has managed to invent the necessary parts with each new absurd twist to the definition of an “assault weapon”. I am betting this will continue as manufacturers tend to be smarter than legislators. 😊

Closed Trigger

What to Look for in a Stripped Lower

As long as manufacturers can dream up new parts that attach to the stripped lower, this game can continue. Fortunately, stripped lowers are commodities in terms of features and construction. You do need to choose the caliber you want, but if you are interested in a typical .223/5.56 rifle, then I suggest looking for “Multi-cal” rather than a specific 5.56 lower.

This will allow .300 AAC Blackout if you ever are inclined to give that a whirl, and the “Multi” caliber are ridiculously common anyhow. AR receivers are available for many different calibers, but the typical .223/5.56 rifle is by far the most common. I have also assembled a .308 rifle, which uses a different lower. The assembly process is much the same, but the parts are not as interchangeable as the .223/5.56 versions.

The one visible feature you need to choose is whether you want an “Open trigger” vs. a “Closed trigger”. The open trigger is traditional for ARs. Supposedly you can open up the flap of a trigger guard that comes in most parts kits, in order to be able to use gloves.

Unfortunately, this requires installing the flap with a roll pin, etc. and the whole thing will strike you as a bit of a kludge (technical term) if you have ever fired a rifle that isn’t an AR. I’ve never seen anyone actually open up the flap. Maybe people do that in Red states? Personally, I prefer a “Closed trigger”, which eliminates all the kludginess, several parts, and one step in the installation process. 😊 Avoid mittens.

Some folks will make a big deal about the particular aluminum grade used, but IMHO it doesn’t make a lot of difference for an average prepper rifle, (cheap) unless you start to consider polymer lowers. While a machinist or metallurgist may care, the aluminum lowers all work. If you care about such things, (competition shooter perhaps?) by all means indulge your own preferences, but I have never seen a failure of an aluminum AR lower receiver.

I am sure a few have happened, but they are so rare as to not be a factor in my decision making. At this point I prefer inexpensive mil-spec lowers. I haven’t tried a polymer lower, so I can’t endorse them, but if you have experience with a polymer lower please comment below.

You might also be curious about 80% lowers. Blue states have varying laws regarding serial numbers, etc. which will further confuse the whole process of dealing with 80% lowers. You’ll need to be knowledgeable about your state’s laws, but even if you are in full compliance, the law may change. Since the whole point here is to keep your rifle legal when TPTB change the law, the last thing you need is for your legal lower receiver to become an illegal lower receiver. Welcome to Blue State gun politics. ☹

Pricing Stripped Lowers

There are some premium brands of stripped lowers, but I would not spend the extra money unless you are a snob for logos. The first time I bought stripped lowers I bought some brand X, and some Premium brand. They all worked fine. Stripped lowers really have become a commodity.

In the past, you could save some money by going with “blemished” stripped lowers, but the pricing has gotten so low that I don’t think you’ll save any money on a blemished Multi-cal lower at the present time. If pricing goes up, then blemished stripped lowers may again be a consideration. Generally, the “blemish” is nothing more than a minor scratch in the finish.

As I write this, you can purchase “Multi-cal” stripped lowers for less than $40 apiece, not including NICS checks, etc. Right after Sandy Hook a similar lower would have cost you $125, or more, . . . if you could find one. Prices will fluctuate over time, but now is a good time to buy.

If you are in a “free” state, you can acquire a modern sporting rifle for such a low price that there isn’t a cost advantage to assembling your own. The advantage appears when you need to customize. Unfortunately, if you are in a Blue State, you can acquire a legal weapon today, and find it is illegal after some new piece of legislation goes through. If you acquired a stripped lower to start, then it is entirely up to you what components you use over time.

For instance, let’s say you bought a modern sporting rifle in CA a few years ago. Because of the new law you now want to convert it to a Doofus (another technical term) “featureless” rifle with a special stock. (This is a Thordsen FRS-15 Stock. I provide the proper name in case anyone actually wants to buy one. Depending on what happens here in the People’s Republic, I may want to buy one!)

Thordsen FRS-15 Stock on Doofus featureless rifle

If you built your rifle on a stripped lower, it is your rifle. You put it together. Buy your new stock and change it. Problem solved. People in CA had this issue as we went into the new year. If you started with a traditional AR with CA “bullet button” acquired in a local gun store, TPTB may wonder why you haven’t registered your “assault weapon”.

So even though your modified weapon has had the stock changed, and is legal without registration, you still have some bureaucracy to deal with. If you had started with a stripped lower, they don’t have any reason to wonder. They don’t have a record of you assembling the rifle at all, with a regular stock, or a doofus stock, so you shouldn’t find yourself explaining that your previously legal, then illegal, firearm has been modified to comply with a new law and has become legal again.

In my home state, the People’s Republic of New Jersey, we haven’t got that issue yet, but I am sure we will in the near future. When that time comes, home rifle builders can buy a stock, and make the change to the stock on the rifle in a few minutes, because the rifle was constructed from a stripped lower. No explanations necessary. Stock? What stock? 😊

Is your modern sporting rifle an Assault Rifle?

Conclusion

I do not recommend violating the law, but when the law is in flux, then it is reasonable to try to comply in the least painful fashion. For a Blue State modern sporting rifle, that means a stripped lower and assemble the rifle yourself. When the law changes, just change the offending parts. Since the Assault Weapon bans (AWB) all seem to focus on cosmetic features, you will probably be able to modify your rifle without any loss of function. If all else fails, Cerakote your rifle pink! 😊