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If I didn't already have finished 80% AR lowers.....

MSG Laigaie

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Great idea that I have heard kicking around on the Weapons Guild site. I am glad someone is making the attempt to reduce the cost an increase the availability to "common folk". Maybe not yet, but soon. Gotta start somewhere.
 

davidmcbeth

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lots of people will learn that molding is not so easy ... and a 2 part system....expect disappointment

Casting aluminum is likely easier.

An you're paying $350 bucks for a 10 dollar mold and 10 bucks worth of resin and 1 buck worth of hardware.
 

Freedom1Man

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Jan 14, 2012
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Greater Eastside Washington
I Did,, ordered 1 kit, and black dye, an hour ago,,

total with shipping 361.69$ =72.34$ ea lower with No FFL, no registration!

resin to make 5 more, brings the cost down to 26$ ea!

Please keep us updated as to how well it works for you.

lots of people will learn that molding is not so easy ... and a 2 part system....expect disappointment

Casting aluminum is likely easier.

An you're paying $350 bucks for a 10 dollar mold and 10 bucks worth of resin and 1 buck worth of hardware.

I was not impressed with the mold design either. IMO It should not have been plastic but rather a harder aluminum maybe a 7000 series alloy.
Even mild steel or better yet, stainless steel.
 

1245A Defender

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4,365
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north mason county, Washington, USA
Really????

lots of people will learn that molding is not so easy ... and a 2 part system....expect disappointment

Casting aluminum is likely easier.

An you're paying $350 bucks for a 10 dollar mold and 10 bucks worth of resin and 1 buck worth of hardware.

cost looks like this to me.
362 total - 22 shipping - 9.50 dye - 119 resin = 211.50 for the "Reusable" mold.

mixing the material in a plastic cup,, in my kitchen,, casting a lower on my counter,, priceless!!

compared to single use sand molds,, a kiln out in the shop,, pouring molten aluminum,, a little more involved!

maybe molding is not so easy as I saw in the vids,, maybe I will have a disappointment, I am willing
to take that risk,, looks to me like a fun evening project,, and a chance to thumb
my nose at the gun control grabbers!
 

davidmcbeth

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earth's crust
<snip>

maybe molding is not so easy as I saw in the vids,, maybe I will have a disappointment, I am willing
to take that risk,, looks to me like a fun evening project,, and a chance to thumb
my nose at the gun control grabbers!

Hey if you are not happy you can always argue the point with your credit card company.

Also, I would call the company and ask them that instead of putting it into an oven after its removed from the mold to leave at room temp ... how long would it be (I would say 1-2 weeks to be the same). I would not put them into an oven that you would use to prepare food. I have a Blue M oven for such use but I doubt such a device is held by the avg person.

And use putty knives instead of a screwdriver to separate ... I can see mold damage the way that they show it. I would also pre-heat the mold to 100-120F (no higher) to aid in eliminating air pockets.

If the mold was teflon then maybe I could see the cost. But it looks to be poly ... it costs $$$ to make the molds that make the molds and they can be expensive but I think that they have priced themselves out of the market. Saying it costs $25 to produce one is nice but that is not how the marketplace works.

The product is likely an epoxy ... the reagents cost about 1-5 dollars a pound. You can ask for the MSDSs for the reagents - that may offer some insight. It could be a urethane, but the costs of those resins are about the same and epoxy is likely a better resin for the end use.

Now if it was the cost for 5 AR-10 lowers, that would make better $$$ sense to me.

I can get polymer lowers for 20 bucks .. but I prefer metal, even cast ones.

Its an interesting product but the cost needs to come down.

Have fun, post pics of the final product and of your experiences with it.
 

Firearms Iinstuctor

Regular Member
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Jul 12, 2011
Messages
3,428
Location
northern wis
Once the idea and materials are out their expect things to get cheaper.

I would like to see some test fire reports.

Looks like the one lasted around 300 rounds interesting a lot of work can be done with 300 rounds.
 
Last edited:

MAC702

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Jul 31, 2011
Messages
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Location
Nevada
Once the idea and materials are out their expect things to get cheaper.

I would like to see some test fire reports.

Looks like the one lasted around 300 rounds interesting a lot of work can be done with 300 rounds.

Agreed on both counts.

But it's not that it only has a 300-round service life that would concern me. It's HOW it notifies you that it's reached the end of its service life.
 

davidmcbeth

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earth's crust
Agreed on both counts.

But it's not that it only has a 300-round service life that would concern me. It's HOW it notifies you that it's reached the end of its service life.

The most failure points include: a) pins for firing control (can be minimized using a box-type trigger group) and b) where the buffer tube connects (can be solved with a metal bracing).

But why not just cast metal? Hey if it breaks, you can just melt it back down:

VNSuQot.gif


fg2_51.jpg~original
 

MSG Laigaie

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Jan 10, 2011
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Philipsburg, Montana
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