It is jungle juice Thursday at Casa de Walt. Please forgive the jumbled post:
I agree with Kirstang, Dunedan and Slims. Colt is overpriced. All of the other major AR manufacturers are pretty much equal (and equally good). IIRC, it was Dunedan that explained to me that
there are only 3 or 4 different plants in the US that manufacture AR uppers and lowers. All of the major weapons manufacturers receive their forged receivers from these plants and then polish them up, parkerize/phosphate-coat them, stamp their name on them and sell them for whatever they think their brand name is worth. I'm pretty sure that the $230 Wilson Combat receivers are coming out of the same line as the $120 DPMS receivers. Owning receivers from both companies, I can honestly say that I can find absolutely zero difference in fit/finish between the two.
Also, Colt's receiver pins (or whatever you call the guys that lock the upper to the lower) are uniquely sized so that they are slightly bigger than all the other manufacturers. All the other manufacturers run a standard receiver pin size. This means that you can run an LMT, Wilson, Stag, DPMS, etc upper on a Wilson, Stag, DPMS, Double Star, RAA lower with no problems. You can only run a Colt upper on a Colt lower. Definitely something to consider if you plan on running more than one upper on your lower receiver.