Rainier Arms Forged Lower

[UWone77]

These days it seems like there are a lot of lowers out there in the market. Since many are similar in price and features, how does one choose? Many would argue "a lower is a lower." For some of you that may be the case, however if you've put together more than a few lowers, you know not all lowers were created equally. More than once I've experienced out of spec lowers, poor anodizing, and shoddy machining. Enter the Rainier Arms Forged Lower.

A few months ago, I decided I needed to build another lower so I could test out uppers. Once I saw that Rainier Arms was releasing their own lowers, naturally I wanted one. John Hwang, the owner of Rainier Arms was kind enough to sell me one of the first forged RA lowers he had in stock. He even let me pick the serial number I wanted. I noticed right away that the lower had a very nice finish. Mega Machine Shop is making the RA lowers for him. If you know how finely machined Mega stuff is, you'll know how nice these lowers are. The roll marks are on the magazine release side, a little different, but more visible to the right handed shooters when the gun is slung.


Some of the features:

T7075 aluminum

Flared Magwell

20 and 30 round USGI mags were tested and dropped freely. 20 and 30 round PMAGs also had no issues dropping free.

Tension screw


The "gator" texture on the front magazine well has been replaced with the Rainier logo.


I completed the RA lower with the following parts:

Stag LPK
Mil Spec Tube
LMT H Buffer
Magpul CTR Stock
Magpul MIAD Grip


The Stag kit went in without a hitch, in no smart part to the holes and machining being up to spec. I've always loved the MIAD grip, as it fits my hand the best. Most of the time I go with the Magpul CTR stock on my builds and this was no exception. Overall I'm very pleased with the lower. It matches up very well to the RA Billet upper I had matted to it. There is very little play between the upper and lower (no tension screw was used) and the colors matched well. I would have no hestitation purchasing another one. I'm looking forward to matting this lower with a Gen 2 RA forged upper down the road. In the mean time, a full range report is in the works with the RA Billet Upper/RA 11" Rails.

[TripleBravo]

That looks great, and I really like the roll mark.

One question...is it a high or low shelf? I couldn't really tell from the photo of the tension screw.

[Stickman]

Nice review, thank you for sharing it.

[zero7one]

Agreed, good review. GJR

[UWone77]

I like the screen name Eric. Took me a few seconds to figure out who "GJRed" me.