AR Upper Receivers all the same?

[Tulse Luper]

Sure, not all the same but...

Black Rain, Vltor MUR, Laure Stealth, Sun Devil and other $200+ receivers.

Are they worth the premium over others?

Why/why not?

 

[whbonney26]

Your upper is where you will get your accuracy from. Good parts may last longer and give you better accuracy due to tighter tolerences. That being said....I have had really good accuracy come from Model 1 Sales uppers also.

Most of the stuff being made these days are pretty good in quality though....over all.

I really like DPMS uppers and have had great guns using their parts. Lija makes some of the absolute best barrels if you want to fork out the money for them.

 

[Tulse Luper]

From what I gather at that abysmal eyesore Arfcom, a forged receiver wins by a hair in terms of strength and defiantly price. But Billet is fine strength-wise and has eye candy appeal.

Mega makes a forged out of 7076, while most others use 7075.

Can anyone comment on the difference in metals.

 

[Praesul Presul]

From what I gather at that abysmal eyesore Arfcom, a forged receiver wins by a hair in terms of strength and defiantly price. But Billet is fine strength-wise and has eye candy appeal.

Mega makes a forged out of 7076, while most others use 7075.

Can anyone comment on the difference in metals.

First thing is billet can be as strong as forged as it can be forged billet. A cast part is poured into a mold then machined, forged part is hammered into the rough shape of the part and then machined. Billet is just a part machined in its entirety from a mass of material. It is possible to have a cast billet or forged billet or extruded billet...etc.

7076 is a lesser alloy as 7075 and 6061 are the usual choices. 7076 is denser alloy thanks to zinc alloying. The differences between 7075 and 7076 are mainly hardness and strength in favor of 7075 - but ever so slightly. I am assuming they are using 7076 because they found a smelter alloying 7076 cheaper than the market's 7075. Basically they are the same when talking about AR lowers or uppers though. Now the manufacturers that use 6061 I avoid personally because I would rather have 7075's strength versus 6061's better machinability. 6061 has it's place in many applications but it's the reason 7075 is mil spec.

 

[Tulse Luper]

^Interesting. Thanks.