If you’ve tried to buy an AR platform rifle or the components to build one lately, you know what the unprecedented demand for all things gun has done to the supply. Suppressor maker Silencerco is looking to fill some of that demand with the announcement of their new SCO15 AR lower.
The SCO15 is made from billet 7075-T6 aluminum and finished with a type III hardcoat anodizing. It has a proprietary ambidextrous bolt catch design, an integrated enlarged trigger guard, ambidextrous multi-position QD sling cups and a flared magwell.
Here’s their press release . . .
SilencerCo, the world’s largest firearm suppressor company, has announced the latest addition to their lineup of parts and accessories–the SilencerCo billet AR-15 lower receiver. Silencerco is excited to offer consumers a high-quality, fully customizable AR-15 lower.
With a reputation of going above and beyond to design and manufacture the industry’s best products, SilencerCo has put the same amount of care and time to make the industry’s finest, billet lower.
“For years, SilencerCo has aggressively ventured into various segments of the firearms industry with innovations like the Maxim 9, Maxim 50, and Radius. I was confident our engineering team could bring unique features and options to a lower receiver as well. We accomplished our goal by including a unique ambidextrous bolt catch, integrated QD sling cups and integrated trigger guard, all at an affordable price,” said Scott Clinger, SilencerCo’s VP Business Development. “As we continue to expand our line of firearms accessories, it is a natural progression to make a quality AR-15 lower.”
With an MSRP of $249, the SilencerCo lower is available for purchase now exclusively at Brownells, Capitol Armory, and Silencer Shop.
Click here for more information on the lower.
I’ll take 5 Anderson lowers for that price, thanks.
dollar for dollar theyre the best out there
aint never had no problems with them
Yea that price point is hilarious, and they’re not even cerakoted for that price! And it’s not just Anderson, You can get 4 stripped Aero Precision lowers on sale for that.
I would bet money that these are made by Aero.
Bingo! AP are better anyways.
Eh the only thing new here is the QD. My Seekins lower has a great ambi bolt release and I bought that one 5 or so years ago. Silencerco is late to this game.
Price aside, I’m wondering if the QD cups add a bit of strength to a traditionally weak spot on AR lowers.
As a machinist I seriously doubt it. If anything I’d expect it to be a bit weaker and enduring another stress factor. Yeah it looks like they added some material to that spot, but then immediately create a void inside of it and now you’re applying stress on the outside (supporting the rifle’s weight at that point while hanging from the QD stud) in combination with the stress it was already enduring outside.
I’d say sticking with the steel end plate for your sling options is still a superior choice and those things are cheap to begin with.
I’m no engineer, but the hole in the weakest spot jumped at me at first look as a bad idea.
As a mechanical engineer I also doubt it.
Sean Pierce does a good job of describing why.
Can buy forged lowers for less money, no advantage of billet lowers for more coin, no thanks.
HiPoint should get in on this. Make it cheap, sale a million.
Zinc lowers? Hard *pass*…
edc tactical in virginia used to sell these for 100 bucks shipped cerakoted in color of choice
no fancy ambi bolt release no qd
but for 100 bucks shipped they were awesome
i nabbed 3 of them before they went out of business
i built 2 10.5″ 5.56 pistols and a 16″ 300 blk with them
theyre the best of the lot
I went opposite. Two 10″ .300 BLK and a 16″ 5.56. Also got coated lowers (billet 6061) for them well under $100 each. Still have one left in the safe, waiting for me to decide which exotic “must have” config to have fun with. Still thinking about the .50 Beowulf. Hit like a standard shell 12-ga slug, but you get 10 rounds in the mag.
Why am I still thinking about this, now that I think of it? 🙂
Your choice of barrel lengths makes much more sense, Haz. The .300 was meant to work well in short barrel, .223 wasn’t and so it doesn’t.
I have been toying with the idea of .50 cal AR 15 upper as well. Maybe for the next build…
I still have some orphan uppers without dedicated lower to take care of first.
Correctomundo. The 5.56 is (generally) designed for optimum performance and powder burn in a 20″ barrel, with acceptable results in a 16″ carbine. .300 BLK (generally) was designed for optimum performance and powder burn in a 10.5″ barrel.
I know a couple of guys who built 5.56 configs with 5.5″. No thanks. I still wouldn’t want to be in front of any bullet that comes out of a 5.56, even with the loss of muzzle energy (and flamethrower visuals) such a clown design would offer, but if you’re going to go shorter than 8″, why not just make an AR-9 and enhance the caliber’s performance?
Awesome that a company getting into the lower game starts off with a fully ambi lower. I don’t see why any company would start and not do that from the get go. As soon as I bought my first fully ambi lower I haven’t bought any non ambi lowers except for cloning purposes.
“Metallurgists agree that a forged piece of aluminum is stronger than cast or billet. The reason being, when the material is shaped under pressure, its ‘grain’ follows the same shape as the part. As a result, the product manufactured is stronger due to the continuous grain characteristics allowed by the forging process.Jul 30, 2020”
The above quote is from 80-lower dot com
My local gun shop has forged anderson lowers for $70.00.
Some name branded lowers are actually come from Anderson manufacturing.
You can keep your overpriced stuff.
Forged is definitely the strongest process. Billets advantage in the AR world is better fit between the upper and lower (assuming you buy a billet upper and lower from the same company), and more rigidity. The rigidity is simply because the walls and other areas of the receiver are thicker than forged. If you could find a forged lower and upper the same thickness it would be superior to the billet in a lot of ways.
Okay, it’s a logo lower with some non-standard bits.
I’ve put enough ARs together now to not really be excited by anything I see here. Granted I appreciate not having to install the trigger guard, but … all the same I’d rather spend the cost difference to a more generic lower on a good trigger.
My preference is to skip the manufactured lowers entirely and either finish an 80% lower or machine a 0% forging myself. Whether there’s a fancy logo on the side (I can electro etch those, too.) if of less importance to me than the LACK of a government-logged serial number on the other side.
I know plenty of people who do the same. Suck it, AFT and the rest of you fed bois.
All my lowers are home made from 80 percent paper weights. I have no mill or knowledge to machine the whole thing, but is a forging technically 0%? Wouldn’t 0% mean a block of aluminum? 🙂
Watch for local manufacturers soon.
For 250 bucks it better come with a transferable stamp that makes it an actual ‘assault rifle’ instead of a scary-looking pretend ‘assault rifle’…
lol for real. It better be a 90% ambi lower with a geissele trigger, 45 degree safety, and an h2 buffer. The $350 dollars better be the “savings” to pick your own stock. At this point, nothing special about a lower and a mil spec will do the same trick as any other one, especially a stripped. The investment should be in the upper. Although, I do like those new “Thunder Ranch” Aero’s.
oops, $250. Still. I’ll get a PSA for that price and fix it myself LOL! Get it… PSA… fix it! hur hur…
Drat! Stole my initials! But great entry from SilencerCo!🤣👌🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Exactly what question was asked that this became the answer to?
Is their brand even have enough clout any more to charge like that? When I was there it seemed like there was some boutique credibility…..but these days….