I picked up a Noveske Chainsaw N4 Gen I lower receiver at Rainier Arms LLC. to put in the back of the safe for a rainy day. I'll source a Gen I or MUR Noveske chainsaw upper as they come available, and I'll decide on barrel options at a later date.
As always it's difficult to dispute the quality of Noveske components, and even if you're not a fan you'd still be hard pressed to say that they don't make a proven reliable rifle. I've never built an AR-15, but I've fired enough of them to know what features I prefer and there are a multitude of online resources to guide me through every aspect of the build. I won't need to do any machining, drilling or tapping, so I can assemble a rifle here at home without expensive specialized tools.
The Chainsaw branding is due to a blemish in the finish, the blemish on my lower can be seen faintly near the Noveske Iron Cross symbol. I'm used to old badly beaten mil-surp rifles and this would pass as "pristine" if found on a FN/FAL or AK, in fact, if I didn't know that I was buying the "chainsaw" lower, I would never have even noticed. The critical tolerances, fit and machining of this lower is guaranteed to be no different than that of a non-blemished lower, and I saved 15 bucks in the process. (Plus I kinda dig the Chainsaw branding under the trigger guard)
This is a N4 lower, vice the newer Gen II lowers which sport the flared magwell and solid trigger guard. I wasn't keen on the Gen II's hefty price tag... and they were out of stock at the time so... I came home with a N4 Mil-spec type lower. It's a great deal on a lower, and now that I have the lower receiver on-hand, I can buy whatever components online and complete a rifle.
I picked up a Stag Arms lower parts kit (LPK), some non-scientific research resulted in finding that the Stag LPK mirrors the Noveske LPK almost exactly (Produced by the same manufacturer (CMT), to similar tolerances). If you remember a few months ago in the big panic when folks were worried that the political climate was changing, it was near impossible to source a LPK. At about 60 bucks for this set there isn't any good reason why you shouldn't have one on hand to match your lower.
Lots of little parts, little parts that fly, bounce or otherwise escape when you try to install them... It's funny that all the install guides say you should put these together in a well lit, clean, tidy space, and my home wasn't built with not even one of these aforementioned rooms.
I can put the lower together on the bench without a jig or vise setup, but the upper needs to be held tightly to install the barrel. we'll see how I like this one after I get an upper and barrel combo.
AR-15 Wrench, 25 bucks... lets hope it does what I need it to do...
Pick up a lower while you can, it never hurts to have a few in the back of your safe. In hard times they trade at well above their purchase price, and if you get bored you can build a rifle in your spare time. People are rapidly forgetting the big panic a few months ago. That panic turned out to be all for nothing, but a lower saved is a rifle earned in the next panic.
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