Primeh1alpha Posted January 30 Report Share Posted January 30 Just wanted to throw this out there, does anyone have any dealings with Noreen Firearms out of Montana? I was looking at their website at the .308 billet lower receiver in the DPMS pattern. They have a disclaimer about working with "other" uppers. Thanks for any feedback, the price seems a little too good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpete Posted January 31 Report Share Posted January 31 Your best bet to get an upper, lower, and BCG to play nice together is to get them from the same manufacturer. Yes there are exceptions, but since there is no milspec in the 308 AR world, anyone can do anything and claim its "DPMS pattern". Some manufacturers are satisfied with close enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shepp Posted January 31 Report Share Posted January 31 On 1/30/2024 at 6:42 PM, dpete said: Your best bet to get an upper, lower, and BCG to play nice together is to get them from the same manufacturer. Yes there are exceptions, but since there is no milspec in the 308 AR world, anyone can do anything and claim its "DPMS pattern". Some manufacturers are satisfied with close enough. 2nd this, there is no milspec in this world Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted January 31 Report Share Posted January 31 1 hour ago, shepp said: Your best bet to get an upper, lower, and BCG to play nice together is to get them from the same manufacturer. Yes there are exceptions, but since there is no milspec in the 308 AR world, anyone can do anything and claim its "DPMS pattern". Some manufacturers are satisfied with close enough. Best example of this is PSA. They claim (or claimed in the past) that it was a "DPMS Platform," but it wasn't. Later, they claimed that "not all DPMS platforms were made the same" when some true, real DPMS uppers wouldn't work with their lowers. This is a history lesson, here. Later on, they claimed that their uppers and lowers were "proprietary," and guaranteed only their uppers and lowers would work together. I can tell you this much - I can take an Aero Precision M5 upper, or lower, and mate it to a real DPMS upper, or lower, and they work together. The Real DPMS is gone now, though, but the real DPMS pattern is alive and well - with the Aero M5 series. PSA parts, uppers and lowers, do NOT work with Aero M5 uppers and lowers, and they don't work with the original DPMS uppers and lowers. That must have been that "proprietary" claim that they made. Just another example of "manufacturers doing whatever they want" on this Large Frame AR platform. The biggest, greatest example of shiit not working right was Iron Ridge Arms, and their "IRA" series. IRA-10D - for DPMS, the IRA-10A, for Armalite series. None of those receiver sets worked, and all the sets were straight from Iron Ridge Arms. They just didn't have the Large Frame AR figured out. That sucks, too, because those were gorgeous receivers... for wall-hangers... Soup Sandwich, completely, in operation. They were fuckin' BEAUTIFUL receiver sets. They just didn't work. Long story short, get your uppers and lowers from the same company, from a REPUTABLE company with a proven track history. I don't spend your money, but I get on here just about every day and figure out the problems with these things. When I tell you about the money involved to figure out your gun, that's when the shiit starts. It's not our fault, here, as members of this place. We've just about seen it all, though. Spend your money wisely. Ask questions first, before blowing up your credit card. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rsquared Posted January 31 Report Share Posted January 31 11 hours ago, 98Z5V said: 11 hours ago, 98Z5V said: Spend your money wisely. Ask questions first, before blowing up your credit card. That right there is some of the best advice to be taken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albroswift Posted January 31 Report Share Posted January 31 The Noreen 80% forged lowers were plug and play with "DPMS pattern" uppers. Seemed like really nice quality. Have not tried their "Billet" or "100%" lowers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primeh1alpha Posted February 1 Author Report Share Posted February 1 Thank you for all the advice, very good stuff. The thing that is going on now is that I have a upper from Davidson Defense (called a Ghoul") that does not seem to have any kind of lower for it (at least one I could find). The best thing is that it does not owe me anything, and it might be useful for potential build, or maybe just as a decoration for the den wall. So what are the odds about finding a mate for it, or not. I found out later that Davidson Defense was probably not the best place to blow up a credit card. Still learning and laughing at myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted February 2 Report Share Posted February 2 6 hours ago, Primeh1alpha said: Davidson Defense (called a Ghoul") I checked the listing on that one, and the guy definitely doesn't do his homework, just posts stuff. Example: he listed Stag compatible. No way, unpossible, because the Stag has the Armalite AR-10 cut to the receivers. Never gonna happen. He referenced CMT compatible. Cross Machine Tool? Might work. Or is it Continental Machine and Tool? They are the parent company of Stag, so that's not gonna work with this upper. Mega? Does he mean Mega Machine (Mega Arms, now owned by ZEV)? Not gonna happen, Armalite cut on those billet receivers... With all that erroneous information, I don't trust anything that company states, at all. Didn't even do the necessary research for a proper parts listing, just tossed a bunch of shiit against the wall to see what stuck... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primeh1alpha Posted February 3 Author Report Share Posted February 3 Thanks for all that information, maybe I can salvage the BCG and barrel that came with it and place it on a matching set, it does have the correct length gas tube, an ok freefloat handguard, and a clamp on superlative arms adjustable gas block, the upper looks kind of strange anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted February 3 Report Share Posted February 3 Those pics above ^^^ - that's a straight up DPMS LR-308 looking upper receiver. Identical to the original DPMS LR-308 upper, in every single aspect, every way. Risk it, get an Aero M5 lower receiver. I can tell you for a fact that the real DPMS LR-308 uppers directly mate to the Aero M5 lowers, and work well together. Take the chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primeh1alpha Posted February 3 Author Report Share Posted February 3 Thank you once again, so glad that you share your knowledge. Ordered an Aero M5 lower from Brownells for an awesome price and got and Aero lower complete kit with FCG from OpticsPlanet with leftover credit. Should come in under $200. Glad I didn’t scrap the whole thing now. Give me a couple weeks to build and maybe get to test. Hopefully the weather will get better. You guys are best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primeh1alpha Posted February 23 Author Report Share Posted February 23 Big thank you to 98Z5V for the information. The Aero lower came in and the standard fire control group and kit (also Aero M5) and have put it all together, and it mated up perfectly with almost zero gap or wobble, still waiting for a couple of little parts to show up and off to the range (I hope) will put up some pictures soon, maybe this Sunday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Z5V Posted February 24 Report Share Posted February 24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primeh1alpha Posted March 2 Author Report Share Posted March 2 Wow, that ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would take, but here is the finished product. I really do not want to go to an indoor range, but the weather is just not working out. So it used the Armalite rifle tube to get right in the center of the cutout, orange spring, Aero tube, and 5.4OZ buffer. So want to go shooting and see how it runs. Thanks everyone for the guidance and for 98Z5V pointing out what I had so that I did not scrap the upper. If everything works out, a scope may be in the future for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cunuckgaucho Posted March 4 Report Share Posted March 4 Nicely done, mind you it does look lonely. Think how much faster the next build will go with all you learned on this build... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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