Aero Precision Blemished Lower Report

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As a part of a group buy on another forum I picked up a couple of AR lowers from Aero Precision about a year ago.  I decided this year needed to be the year I build them into full rifles, so I ordered up some lower parts kits to get the ball rolling a couple weeks back.

The kits installed without issue, but got me thinking.  I really only bought 1/4 of the total number of lowers I oughta have.  With six kids, I need to be prepared to equip them for the zombie apocalypse/living on their own, whichever comes first. So, I visited Aero Precision's website to see how much 6 more stripped lowers would run me.

While there I noticed they offered a 5-pack of "blemished" lowers that were fully functional but had casting or anodizing defects.  The pack was $290.00, bring the price per lower down to affordable.  I mentioned this to a couple of friends, and ended up ordering 10 blemished lowers last Monday.

Overall, all I can say is WOW.  This was a great deal and a great experience.

I paid for 3 day shipping.  With freight the total price per lower came out to $60.91.  I clicked buy at 9:00 AM mountain time, and they had the shipping notice to my FFL at 3:30 PM same day.  They actually arrived at my FFL in two days.

I made it to the FFL to pick up my six (four were for friends who have to go fill out their own 4473).  My FFL does the first five firearms on a transfer for $18.  The 6th one is $10 more.  So with FFL fees I was into these $65.57 each.

But...How did they look.  I am not posting pictures cause you can google AR lower and see a billion of them.  And the blemishes were so small that I don't think I have the camera skills to actually capture them.

First thing I noticed, before I even left the FFL, is that all 10 were sequential serial numbers.  Since the serial numbers are rolled pre-anodizing, that indicates they rejected a batch.  Aero has QC standards that require them to reject an entire batch under a bunch of scenarios, even though actually issue may only apply to a small subset of the units. 

Supporting this, I could find NO defect on two of my six.  On one, I think the anodizing might be a little uneven on the inside of the fire control group well.  Again...the inside, where it can't be seen.  On each of the other three there were very minor casting defects.  One had a tiny dimple, perfectly round about the size of a .7mm pencil lead.  It was on the right side about half way between the trigger pin hole and hammer pin hole.  Another had a tiny ridge on the tab the trigger guard clips into right behind the mag well.  The last one had a few pits like light surface rust will leave in steel, on the right side of the mag well.

None of them could be detected unless you were hunting for blemishes in good light. 

I have to order some kits now and complete a few rifles, but if you are thinking of building a couple of AR's, I can strongly recommend Aero Precision blemished lowers as a base for your gun.

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I realize this post is a month old but this is pretty impressive. It seems that Aero Precision is a great buy for the price. We often see these blemished deals but I always immediatly assume they are no good, its great to hear your buy turned out so well! In reality it doesn't matter what it looks like if you need it in a scenario such as a Zombie apocalypse, or use as a back up or 'beater/truck' gun. In reality it doesn't sound like, given your descriptions, there's really even much/any 'blemishing' to them! Perfect way to arm your family. Awesome.

A friend of mine picked a regular priced non-blem Aero lower at a gun show locally a few weeks back for something like 80$ out the door which I thought was a pretty good deal. When we assembled it, I was impressed. The finish was very even, the parts kit when in it very smoothly, and it mates up with his PSA upper like a dream. It's a nice looking piece. In my eyes even their logo and engraving are nice looking and not as cheesy as some other brands, not that it affects anything. Also, that's pretty neat you got sequential s/n's, gives an interesting look into their QC.

Congrats on your purchase, I just may have to pick one up for the next AR!