Dedicated lower for AR-9mm

[284guy]

Looking at buying a dedicated lower for 9mm. I see you can get them for Colt style mags of Glock style mags. I have no experience with these, but it just looked like a fun plinker. Any opinions either way as to Glock style or Colt style mags?

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[etrain16]

Personal preference myself - I'd go with Glock style mags, because I already have Glock mags - why add another magazine type that will only work in that gun? I'd like to do an AR9 sometime, and I'll probably go for a dedicated 9mm lower as opposed to using the 'sleeves' that convert a regular lower to 9mm. Again, just my preference.

 

[NWCustomFirearms]

I'm with etrain, I already have glock mags so I'd personally get one that would accept the mage I already have. Also, glock mags are readily available and easy to get.

 

[IronMonster]

I have both.

Unlike you guys I lean the other way. I have a 9MM Tavor and three AR9's that take the converted UZI mags referred to as Colt SMG style. I have a lot of those mags. The only reason why I prefer the SMG mag guns is because they have a standard. Across platforms you can mix and match parts and have a pretty reasonable chance of stuff working fine. All the bits are based on Colt SMG guns.

On the Glock mag guns you have to use a bolt carrier designed to work with Glock mags and not everyone's is the same. You are stuck with known combinations and in many cases the lower and the bolt need to be from the same manufacture. Parts at the moment are far more limited for Glock mag guns and the parts are usually more expensive than they are for the more standard SMG guns.

I bought a Glock mag one because I wanted to play with it. It looks cooler than the stick mag guns but in reality all it did was convince me that the SMG guns are just fine and I'll stick with them from here on out.

 

[etrain16]

I have both.

Unlike you guys I lean the other way. I have a 9MM Tavor and three AR9's that take the converted UZI mags referred to as Colt SMG style. I have a lot of those mags. The only reason why I prefer the SMG mag guns is because they have a standard. Across platforms you can mix and match parts and have a pretty reasonable chance of stuff working fine. All the bits are based on Colt SMG guns.

On the Glock mag guns you have to use a bolt carrier designed to work with Glock mags and not everyone's is the same. You are stuck with known combinations and in many cases the lower and the bolt need to be from the same manufacture. Parts at the moment are far more limited for Glock mag guns and the parts are usually more expensive than they are for the more standard SMG guns.

I bought a Glock mag one because I wanted to play with it. It looks cooler than the stick mag guns but in reality all it did was convince me that the SMG guns are just fine and I'll stick with them from here on out.

As I recall, didn't you have to fiddle a bit with the PSA AR9 you got a while ago? It's running fine now isn't it? Was the ramped bolt part of the issue?

 

[IronMonster]

As I recall, didn't you have to fiddle a bit with the PSA AR9 you got a while ago? It's running fine now isn't it? Was the ramped bolt part of the issue?

You know I don't like to talk about times that I am an idiot. I was getting light strikes and thus having cycling problems. I decided what I needed was a stiffer hammer spring so I ordered a Wolf XX spring. When I pulled it apart to install the new spring I learned I had installed the hammer spring backward.

So yeah, my problem was I am in idiot. Thanks for bringing it up

 

[etrain16]

You know I don't like to talk about times that I am an idiot. I was getting light strikes and thus having cycling problems. I decided what I needed was a stiffer trigger spring so I ordered a Wolf XX spring. When I pulled it apart to install the new spring I learned I had installed the trigger spring backward.

So yeah, my problem was I am in idiot. Thanks for bringing it up

Sorry man, you could have lied and said it was a bad PSA part

But it's good for the rest of us to learn. Having now built some lowers I can see how easy it would be to make that mistake. Your pain, our gain

 

[IronMonster]

I have probably assembled an AR trigger group over a hundred times. I know better. But sometimes you are chatting or in a hurry or just plain on auto pilot...

I was pretty embarrassed with myself when I pulled it apart.

 

[etrain16]

I have probably assembled an AR trigger group over a hundred times. I know better. But sometimes you are chatting or in a hurry or just plain on auto pilot...

I was pretty embarrassed with myself when I pulled it apart.

That's okay, I got sloppy on my last one and sent my bolt catch pivot pin and spring flying across my garage. Took over an hour to find them and made the point to me that having spares on hand is a good idea.

 

[IronMonster]

That's okay, I got sloppy on my last one and sent my bolt catch pivot pin and spring flying across my garage. Took over an hour to find them and made the point to me that having spares on hand is a good idea.

Yep... I have a extensive parts inventory. Most of the time I find it necessary to use its because of that very thing.

 

[clearconscience]

Having those spare parts in a MUST!

There is nothing worse than losing such a small part and having to wait to finish a build because of a part that costs pocket change.

I was also looking at the PSA glock lowers,
Until I saw their .308 lowers. F I need more money.

 

[coupeowner]

I put together a New Frontier lower (dedicated Glock), New Frontier upper, and used a Spinta Precision bolt. The trigger would not reset with anything but a mil-spec hammer, but it has been smooth running since. I use cheapo Korean Glock mags (33 rounds) and the bolt hold open works.

I don't even own a glock, but I figured the ease of finding magazines might be a bonus someday.

 

[fstdraw]

Great read! Like the OP, I'm in the process of ordering for my newest AR...9mm. I'm wanting light weight and reliability. Dedicated lower is a must for me so I'm going the Glock avenue. I'm going to cheat though. Think I'll order the complete lower off GB and the complete upper off the same site. Total cost should be $750.00ish after shipping. Seems like a good price for a plunker. I just hope the quality s good. Thanks for all the great opinions.

 

[NWCustomFirearms]

That's okay, I got sloppy on my last one and sent my bolt catch pivot pin and spring flying across my garage. Took over an hour to find them and made the point to me that having spares on hand is a good idea.

Spare parts are life savers! You can usually get the springs and detents in 5-10 packs for a couple bucks. I think I have around 15-20 of each in my AR parts bin.

 

[etrain16]

Spare parts are life savers! You can usually get the springs and detents in 5-10 packs for a couple bucks. I think I have around 15-20 of each in my AR parts bin.

Yeah, I learned that lesson the hard way. I've since started picking up roll pins etc. here and there to build up the spares.

 

[IronMonster]

So PSA had dedicated Colt lowers today so I ordered one of those, I'll swap out one of my guns that has a magwell block. I also ordered one of these

<broken link removed>

One of those things that I am not sure about but for $200 willing to try. The way I looked at it was a good upper is $110-ish and a Raptor charging handle is $80 so for $199 is not a huge stretch and its something different. If I hate it I bet I can get most of my money back

If I could figure out how to do it cheap I would built a .40 glock lower AR. I got lots of .40 Glock mags and lots of ammo

On a side note anyone want a PSA 9MM Mag Block cheap

 

[etrain16]

So PSA had dedicated Colt lowers today so I ordered one of those, I'll swap out one of my guns that has a magwell block. I also ordered one of these

<broken link removed>

One of those things that I am not sure about but for $200 willing to try. The way I looked at it was a good upper is $110-ish and a Raptor charging handle is $80 so for $199 is not a huge stretch and its something different. If I hate it I bet I can get most of my money back

If I could figure out how to do it cheap I would built a .40 glock lower AR. I got lots of .40 Glock mags and lots of ammo

On a side note anyone want a PSA 9MM Mag Block cheap

That side charging upper is a cool idea - I was looking at another one (not 9mm) the other day. I'll be curious to see how it goes.

 

[NWCustomFirearms]

So PSA had dedicated Colt lowers today so I ordered one of those, I'll swap out one of my guns that has a magwell block. I also ordered one of these

<broken link removed>

One of those things that I am not sure about but for $200 willing to try. The way I looked at it was a good upper is $110-ish and a Raptor charging handle is $80 so for $199 is not a huge stretch and its something different. If I hate it I bet I can get most of my money back

If I could figure out how to do it cheap I would built a .40 glock lower AR. I got lots of .40 Glock mags and lots of ammo

On a side note anyone want a PSA 9MM Mag Block cheap

Let me know how the side charger works out. I've always liked that concept. I really want to do one in a 10mm buy I priced that out once and it's like 2-3X the cost of building a 9mm.

 

[IronMonster]

I'll post a full report