BLACK EP80-2

Simply the best alternative to purchasing a stripped or completed lower. Much more fun to mill it out yourself and build from scratch. Lower came in great shape with jig sticker which makes for fool-proof drilling. I would recommend getting the jig frame that is sold separately.

For about $30 this lower is as cheap as it gets and easy to mill. The lower arrived with a sheet of stickers that serve as a milling guide but applying the stickers was rather tedious, so I opted out to using a regular AR15 milling jig which worked perfectly fine than spending another half hour just trying to get the stickers in the right spot. Mounted a 18" A2 HBAR upper that was lying around onto this lower and seems to hold up very good. A friend of mine also has his own EPArmory poly receiver and dumped maybe 500 rounds of ammo rather quickly and it's still holding strong. Would recommend this to beginners as it is easy to mill and inexpensive than buying an aluminum 80% lower just to screw it up. With inferior tools, it took me about 2 hours to mill the lower and maybe another hour or half for fine fitting the parts kit. If I were to make design changes based on priority I would put metal/brass threads instead of bare polymer threads for the pistol grip. Beef up the top part of the receiver especially around the opening for the fire control group. Slightly enlarge the holes for the safety detent pin hole, and the takedown detent pin holes as they are very tight. And personally I'd like to have the drill/milling areas to be marked with white onto the receiver rather than having the stickers, or maybe even have the stickers placed onto the receiver straight from the factory. But not bad for a simple $30 poly receiver.

+I purchased 2 EP80-2 lowers to practice on before I started working on my aluminum 80% lowers. The polymer lower from EP was easy to mill on my drill press with the aid of the jig they sell. I was very pleased with the result after I was done. When I assembled the lower with my lower parts kit I could not believe how light and well made the lower is. The lower fits tight on my upper receiver, I haven't tried the lower yet but plan on next month. I have and will recommend EP armories lowers to my friends.

I originally purchased a 3 pack (Buy 2 get one Free deal), one Black, OD Green, and Pink. This was my inexpensive option to learn the ins and outs of my 80% mill. I miss measured when doing the first one (pink) and had to destroy it, the other two turned out well enough. It took me about 30 minutes to mill each out with a hand router and 3 flute end mill on my jig. When I installed the black lower I had trouble getting the rear takedown pin to seat properly, it was about 2 thousands of an inch off, I used a round file and removed enough material just to the point where the takedown pin would seat through the upper and lower together. Its a very tight fit but is fully functional. My OD Green lower had no issues at all. After being milled, both my lowers weighed in at 4.5 oz so they are very light weight. they seem solid enough. When I destroyed my pink lower it only took a medium force swing of a standard hammer and it exploded, so these will do fine as a range plinker but don't expect to be able to run through the woods and bounce off trees with these. All in all, a very solid product and I would definitely buy more in the future.

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