Palmetto State Armory - Comp. upper and lower info

[bogus]

Palmetto State Armory - New AR purchase question

Palmetto doesn't seem to be offering a complete AR (yet), but they do sell complete upper assemblies and complete lower assemblies under their brand name. The upper assemblie ad seems to place emphasis on being mil-spec.

I do not currently own an AR. I'm thinking about diving in. I've been looking at the usuals stuff like Spikes, S&W Sport, etc...Range time and home defense only. For the price, this might be in the running as well.

Does anyone have any experience with either of these?


Complete Upper info: Palmetto State Armory AR-15 16" Complete Upper

Complete Lower info: Complete PSA AR-15 Lower - Classic Edition

They also list a Magpul MOE complete lower for $60 more here: Complete PSA AR15 Lower - MOE Edition

 

[esrice]

Does anyone have any experience with either of these?

No, but a cursory inspection of the specs looks good.

I say you buy the upper and lower and give us all a report back.

 

[bogus]

It looks like I could save $40 just by purchasing their "Lower Classic Build" kit and one of their stripped lowers. Looks like the only difference might be that they would stake the castle nut and of course my time. Would the staking be worth the extra cost? Not worried about my time.

 

[esrice]

If you can build it, then save the $40. Staking would take you 2 seconds.

 

[bogus]

Complete upper just went out of stock! Oh well, more time to look around and make a final decision I guess.

 

[nipprdog]

Complete upper just went out of stock! Oh well, more time to look around and make a final decision I guess.

That's because they were on sale for $399. Looks like yesterday was the last day.

 

[theweakerbrother]

Order the lower separate from the lower parts kits or they will hit you with an additional excise tax.

 

[esrice]

Order the lower separate from the lower parts kits or they will hit you with an additional excise tax.

Eh? Please explain.

 

[Fordtough25]

J&T Distributing: AR-15 & Black Rifle Specialists These folks have had some Doublestar uppers for around the same price and I haven't held a bad Doublestar yet!

 

[chewylax8]

I have a couple of their stripped lowers and the fit/finish were perfect, everything seems to be in-spec. I also bought the Magpul MOE lower build kit and put it together with no problems. The LPK was missing the bolt catch roll pin but PSA sent one right away.

IMO Palmetto State is good to go.

 

[theweakerbrother]

Eh? Please explain.

PSA AR15 Lower

"Choose between traditional safe and fire markings or universal bullet pictograms.

Due to Federal law, if you order an AR15 lower and AR15 parts, we will have to add an additional 11% Federal Excise Tax to the purchase price of the AR15 lower and AR15 parts. This amount will not be reflected in your shopping cart or on your invoice, but will be added when your order is processed"

I can't explain it well but I read it on their website.

All the better reason to pick something up from one of our many awesome Site Supporters!

 

[esrice]

http://palmettostatearmory.com/1560.php
I can't explain it well but I read it on their website.

Interesting! Perhaps someone can chime in here as to why that is.

 

[malern28us]

I know this is the reason its almost always cheaper to build your own. The 11% tax is a nasty wench!

 

[mammynun]

Interesting! Perhaps someone can chime in here as to why that is.

Complete guess with a basis in fact. In the early 90's, North Carolina had a 9% tax on a "finished product." In my case that meant we rented a small office and put the final touches on videos across the border in South Carolina and avoided the tax... kinda of a small scale offshoring. My guess is that SC caught up and maybe surpassed what NC was doing. Short of it is I bet it's a local tax issue.

 

[TREETOP]

The 11% excise tax should only be applied to complete firearms, it's paid by the manufacturer. I've seen some companies charge the tax when selling both a complete lower and a complete upper in the same transaction but most people will suggest buying the upper and lower in separate transactions to avoid that.
I don't know why Palmetto has decided to add that tax to just a stripped lower and any other parts, it doesn't seem right to me. I asked in one of their threads on ARFcom and they didn't respond to it.
I purchased one of their stripped pictogram lowers while they were on sale for $65 shipped (who wouldn't?), and purchased a lower parts kit from them the next day to my own address to prevent any chance of them adding an excise tax to the transaction.

BTW, the pictogram lower is NICE. Low shelf, went together easy, finish is great. The LRPK they sent was complete and OK, but a couple parts seem kinda iffy compared to other more MIL-spec parts kits I've used before. All the parts installed well and seem plenty safe and reliable, just not quite the quality I'd prefer to see. This was for a dedicated .22lr build and not a go-to rifle, so it was a non-issue in this case.