V Seven Enlightened Lithium AR15 Aluminum lowers

[SINNER]

But 7075 AL-Li isn't aerospace alloy, really, and it has its own flaws that Ti doesn't have. Sure, a firearm won't exploit those weaknesses, but Neither will plain old 7075 AL. So, it better be a hell of a lot lighter, because they took away the whole exclusivity thing by including that horrid trigger guard. It doesn't fit the design any better than a snorkel hoodscoop fits on an Enzo.

There is no such thing as 7075 Al-Li alloy, it's 2055 Al-Li alloy and it was without question developed by Alcoa for the aerospace industry. The first application was in the fuel cells of the space shuttle.

[Joelski]

Wow. Okay. I read something wrong in the RA description. More proof this week needs to be over, as if I needed more. I still think a high porosity casting in Ti would be lighter and far surpass the metallurgical qualities of Al-Li alloy.

[mustangfreek]

$300 plus for what again , a few ounces lighter then std..

Da fuq..

[fledge]

Comes with matching aluminum end plate ($27 retail). With Intro pricing, this is cheaper than some aluminum billet receivers and it's stronger. I'm digging it.

The machining is beautiful.

"V for ____________." Begging for some red paint.

[Aragorn]

V for Vendetta? That what you're alluring to?

[fledge]

Yes. I can't be the only one thinking that.

[Skypainter]

Hmm I may have to shorten my 4th show so I can add that to my rainier cart. It sure looks nice.

[din]

It looks fantastic, and I love all of my V7 components, but I just can't justify the extra expense right now since I'm trying to lay in some rainy-day forged lowers for after the election.

[Joelski]

Comes with matching aluminum end plate ($27 retail). With Intro pricing, this is cheaper than some aluminum billet receivers and it's stronger. I'm digging it.

The machining is beautiful.

"V for ____________." Begging for some red paint.

OT: Stronger? Billet is allegedly more prone to some stresses than forged because of some difference in molecular density. Seems like a long reach into a deep, dark place.

In real life, has anyone here bent, or broken either? I'd be interested in how many receivers have been tweaked by the average user. I can't even think of a scenario other than maybe a HALO jump, where an AR receiver failed!

[Joelski]

BOT: "Just to be different" is a good enough reason for me, but sinner' right; that boxy, afterthought trigger guard cuts that number down.

[SINNER]

I also disagree with the assumption it's stronger. If you took the same exact forging and machined it exactly the same you may see a strength improvement. But considering most improvements are in the 4-5% range over 7075, I would bet the more substantial billet lowers are much stronger. The stronger claims are likely over a standard forged lower but even those may very well be equal strength or better after all the material is removed for the lightening cuts. Given the 2055 alloy is a more rigid parent metal those lowers may even be more brittle than 7075.

[bzdog]

I think the idea here is just to build a light weight component.

The typical way you do that is to remove as much material as you can. After you have removed as much material as you can, you need a lighter and/or stronger (for the same weight) material.

This is exactly what BCM did with the KMR rail. You can only make an aluminum rail so light. So they used a lighter alloy.

So V7 is doing the same thing here. Using the alloy makes it lighter over aluminum. I don't know if they used less material than an aluminum part would have required, but the key thing is it's lighter.

The alloy is stronger than aluminum so they say that in the marketing blurb. Why wouldn't you? I think they are mostly trying to communicate that even though this part is light weight, it isn't delicate - not that this is the strongest lower on earth.

In pursuit of light weight, you have to go to more and more extremes if you don't want to give up performance and those extremes cost more.

-john

[JGifford]

I also disagree with the assumption it's stronger. If you took the same exact forging and machined it exactly the same you may see a strength improvement. But considering most improvements are in the 4-5% range over 7075, I would bet the more substantial billet lowers are much stronger. The stronger claims are likely over a standard forged lower but even those may very well be equal strength or better after all the material is removed for the lightening cuts. Given the 2055 alloy is a more rigid parent metal those lowers may even be more brittle than 7075.

Crack propagation resistance and fatigue stress is superior in the AlLi family. There really isn't a matrice that 2055 isn't superior to 7075 in to one extent or another that I am aware of.

[din]

Hodge Defense is using AlLi for their Au-2, not to save weight, but to add extra material for the same weight as a standard lower.

[fledge]

Looks better with the trigger.