Great lower! Good value?
I have very mixed feelings about this receiver. The rifle I built isn't exactly a WWSD upper, but it does feature a no-FA upper, Faxon pencil barrel with integral flash hider, Faxon lightweight BCG, and a carbon fiber handguard. The entire rifle, ready to shoot, with magnified optic, weighs a hair over five pounds (5lbs, 0.3oz according to my kitchen scale.) One might easily pick it up and mistake it for a toy instead of an actual, functional rifle. It's something of a revelation if you're used to shooting something eight or so pounds with a significant portion of the weight out towards the muzzle. Despite the (lack of) weight, it's a delightfully soft shooting gun with the gas tuned for 3-4 o'clock ejection. The monolithic polymer lower is great. It's sturdy. I am a little worried that it may be more prone to cracking if the hammer is released without the upper in place than an aluminum lower --KE's website cautions about it) but that's a minor concern. In exchange you get a comfortable lower with some great features (oversize trigger guard, flared mag well, trapdoor butt plate) that is, as mentioned, fantastically light. Stripped lowers are also an incredible value considering you don't need to buy a grip, stock, or trigger guard. This particular lower features the ambidextrous bolt release and of all the ambi controls, this is probably the most desirable for a right hander as it makes locking the bolt open more convenient than the conventional catch. That feature is, I think, unique to this version of the lower. The JP Silent Capture spring is a positive, in my opinion. The buffer capture isn't necessary when using it, which may be desirable for this lower as the buffer tube is integral and the capture is held in place with a roll pin if installed. On the one hand, omitting the capture makes it easy to pull the buffer assembly out for cleaning. On the other, tilting the lower forward without an upper attached means that the buffer assembly will fall forward, most likely smacking the back of the hammer. I might maybe prefer the capture be installed even if doing so makes removing guide rod style buffer assemblies more of a headache. (I have another rifle that has an Armaspec one piece and the capture plunger in place, so I have some experience with similar setups. As an aside, KE says to only run the JP or standard buffer and spring in this lower.) As I am right handed, I cannot comment on the function of the mag release beyond noting that for a right hander it works conventionally and, as this is the top tier model, I'm somewhat annoyed that it doesn't include KE's extended mag release button. You have to buy that separately. The safety is KE's ambidextrous model designed for the KP lower. All my lowers have ambi safeties on them (I have friends who are southpaws) so I'm used to them. Out of the box it is a 45 degree movement to change selection, but it's easily swappable to 90 degrees (I did so moments ago.) The selector has some notable pros. The integral grip means that there's no way to remove the safety detent from the bottom, which would make removing a typical safety selector challenging at best. KE's ingenious solution was to build a ramp into their selector allowing it to push the detent out of the way when halfway between fire and safe. You almost certainly will not want to replace this safety with some other safety for this reason alone. It does, however, have two cons. The first is the shape. Most ambi safeties have a standard length lever and a significantly shorter lever for the off side. This one has a standard length lever and a very slightly shorter and somewhat flatter off side lever. As a result, I managed to inadvertently engage the safety with the web of my hand between my thumb and index finger _every single time_ I pressed the mag release button. (It should be noted that my brother, who shot the rifle with me and has slightly shorter fingers but less pronounced webbing, did not experience this issue at all, YMMV.) It's possible that people with unusually long fingers will not experience this, and likely that switching it to 90 degrees, and/or adding the extended mag release button will resolve this for me, so it isn't a big negative, but I do not have this problem with the ambi safeties on my other rifles and did with this one, so I figured it was worth mentioning. The second drawback to this safety is that, according to KE's website, it is not compatible with a couple of popular triggers. Of course, it is compatible with the included trigger. This lower comes with the Rekluse trigger. Whether this version of the KP-15 is a good option for you will likely depend heavily on your opinion of this trigger as it represents a significant portion of value proposition. One excellent feature of this fire control group and safety setup is that it allows you to select safe even with the hammer down. I think this is a great innovation and wish all my AR's had this for administrative handling. The negatives, though. Perhaps it just needs more time to break in, but my experience for the first hundred rounds is that it feels gritty and unpredictable. It's marketed as a 4.5 pound pull, my scale says 5.5 to a bit over 6, varying from pull to pull. (My brother said that it may be intended to appeal to people who prefer to apply pressure and then be surprised when their rifle fires -- apt description.) I'm not a trigger snob, and the trigger is completely serviceable, but be aware that it is no nicer to use than a well-tuned mil-spec, and definitely not as pleasant as a number of great-yet-affordable options on the market (for instance, the LaRue MBT in the rifle I shot alongside it and used for spotting while sighting this one in -- sadly incompatible with the safety selector according to KE's product information website.) So should you buy this package? If you are absolutely sure you want all of the included parts, especially the trigger, then obviously yes. You get all the parts, it's assembled, pull it out of the box, fit your upper, and have fun. If you absolutely, positively cannot live without the ambi bolt catch, this version is your only option. In my opinion, the ideal version of this product would come with the ambi bolt catch, ambi mag release with extended button, a revised version of the ambi safety selector that has better trigger compatibility, perhaps with the other handed arm shortened or flattened a bit more, no trigger and no buffer. They don't offer that, though. Most of the packages come with a trigger. First is a mil-spec. Another is an adjustable trigger that KE recommends having tensioned by a gunsmith and recommends frequent re-checking of the tension. The Rekluse is an improved version of the third alternative. I think most buyers will be best served by buying the mil-spec variant or by buying a stripped lower, a KE-safety selector, your choice of mag release and bolt release, and whichever of your favorite triggers is compatible with the KE safety selector. As I have already bought and shot mine, I will probably add the extended mag release button, switch the safety over to 90 degrees, and run the trigger it came with since it's already installed, I do like the safety, and it's no worse than a typical mil-spec. If I had it to do over again, I would definitely buy a KP-15, but not this version. Note: This review was formatted with paragraphs, but if the preview is accurate they will, unfortunately, be stripped.
