Tegra Arms Carbon composite AR Lower Review

Tegra Arms AR 15 Lower Review

Editor: Mike

Basic Description of Item:
Tegra Arms Carbon and Polymer AR 15 lower receiver. Lightweight, durable tactical lower for 5.56, 223, 308 or 300 blackout.

Just the Facts:
The Tegra Arms AR-15 carbon fiber composite lower is the strongest ever made. It is manufactured with the highest and most advanced carbon fiber construction on the market. This will be the perfect lower for your AR-15 build to make it extremely light and incredibly durable. We have a lifetime warranty on our lowers to back that up.
• Unmatched strength with the most advanced technology on the market
• Extremely durable with carbon fiber construction
• Accepts all MIL SPEC and standard AR-15 parts and upper receivers
• Made in the USA.
• Lifetime warranty on all our lowers, no questions asked
• Less than half the weight of an aluminum lower
• Weighs only 3.7 ounces

The Story:
The guys at IrevieGear.com have been doing a great deal of AR 15 lower building, and testing over the course of the last year.
We have looked at Spikes, Anderson, 80% Arms, and many other lower and uppers.
We decided to take a deeper dive into the Tegra Arms lowers for a couple of reasons:
-They are a US based design and build company. 100% US Company, awesome.
-They make a polymer / Carbon lower. Carbon lowers are loved by some, and lothed by others. We wanted to make our own decision based on use not on our ideas.

We visited the Tegra arms factory in Orem Utah. The guys at Tegra gave us a nice tour of the facility. They talked to us about the design process, the build process, and showed us the equipment.
We were able to see the raw material that went into the lower…well except for the secret material that they add, that they believe sets them apart from others.

We then took possession of a lower, and headed to the store to get all of the other parts we needed.
We settled on:
-Lower parts kit from CMG
-Trigger from QMS
-Tapco buffer tube assembly
-Magpul, pistol grip, and butt stock.

We then headed back to the shop for assembly. We were anxious to evaluate how the parts kit fit.
Building an AR lower requires putting metal pins through several TIGHT holes. (high level)
The metal pins pushed into Carbon was a worry for me. I hoped that they would fit well, and not create wear during use.
We were thrilled with how the parts kit installed. The milling work on the Tegra Lower was outstanding. The pins fit in tight. I was very impressed that the metal pins went into the Carbon lower just like they would in an aluminum lower. NICE JOB Tegra.

The lower build was completed in about 30 minutes, no surprises at all. We then grabbed several uppers from: Rock River, Tegra, Anderson, and Bushmaster. We were thrilled to find each attached to the lower easily, and had a nice tight fit.
The next phase of the lower test was an abuse test. I drove down the road at about 15 MPH and threw it out the window…do not try this at home, we are professionals We then drug it behind the 4 wheeler down a dirt road. Keep in mind we did this with NO PART KIT INSTALLED.
The Tegra lower handled all of this abuse well, and with NO issues. You could not do this with an aluminum lower, with aluminum you would experience denting. You have no denting with this Carbon lower.
The final test was field use. We were confident that the Tegra lower would perform well when shooting. We took it up to the range on several occasion, and shot several hundred round through it with a combination of uppers. NEVER A PROBLEM.
After shooting we evaluated the fit of the pins from the parts kit…No issues, it remained tight, and well fitted.

In Summary:
-Tegra is 100% made in the US. AWESOME
-Tegra Arms lowers are tough, and parts just fit well.
-The Tegra lower is light, and great for a predator gun build, or any other build where packing it is common.
-The Tegra lower, can be counted on! Similar to any of the other polymer guns: SCAR, Glock, etc.

We have been thrilled with our Tegra Arms lower AR. What a nice light, cool looking and well built gun! Nice job Tegra, you have a winner!

What they could do better:
We will update this over time as we continue to use the Tegra. Right now, this thing is spot on.