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Not one to rest on their laurels, Polymer80 is back at it with a world first. They are starting  production on the world’s first reinforced AR10 308 lower. Following the Ares Armor raids by the ATF last year, many became hesitant to purchase such items. During this scary time I was in constant contact with Loran Kelley, the co-founder, and chief product architect at Polymer80. When news of the Ares Armor situation broke they were proactive in understanding and making sure their customers were safe . . .

Polymer80 reinforces all their lowers, so those broken polymer lowers you see in pictures on the internet, well they are not Polymer80 lowers. So while there are some billet or forged lowers to be had for 308, the polymer market has seen nothing until now.

LeftSideLower-Logoed

Polymer80 is introducing the WarrHogg. The thicker octagonal buffer tube mount means it’s not a week point. It is also a perfect match for a Mega Arms or Sun Devil Octagon Upper assembly. Loren has promised me a sample, due sometime after the SHOT Show. Yes, I am totally excited, like a kid on Christmas morning.

They are scheduled to start shipping them on February 15th. Of course there is an incentive, too. Pre-sale sale pricing for $129.99 which will rise to $140.00 later. This falls in line with your typical billet lower, but you don’t need an expensive tool set to complete the build. As with all Polymer80 lower kits, you get the lower and jig, along with all the bits needed to complete the project. Their Pre-Sale starts on January 16th. You can order yours from Polymer80.

Rifle

On a side note, for those who just hate plain black, Polymer80 does custom designs, and hydrodipping. They will also offer complete rifle kits for the 308 as well. If you are a fan of one-click shopping, this will suit you just fine.

The WarrHogg Design features:
– Unique reinforced polymer design with solid core design
– ATF compliant design
– Beefed up buffer tube ring and ribbing across the entire upper surface area.
– No-thread design on pistol grip area.
– Stiffened magwell, ultra-light design.
– Improved jig system with additional insert to assist with trigger hole drilling.
– End mill bit and drill bits included with kit.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

73 COMMENTS

    • I know they are lighter, depending on milling it won’t be exact, but I will provide that when I get it.

      • Did you ever get a weight comparison ? I would like to know what the weight is of one of these finished. I can’t seem to find that info anywhere.

    • Buying something named “WarrHogg” is what you do after fornicating your sister, then marrying her. Self-respect? Precisely zero. This is like a company that has “Git-R-Done” in the company adverts – I hear dueling banjos every time I read it. No one with an IQ over room temp will ever take your product seriously, nor should they.

      Talk about r-tard marketing, it’s almost as sad as using someone who has “Extreme” or (god forbid) “Bad Boyz” in their corporate name to do anything but pick up the waste products of your dog.

        • There’s a market for “Zombie!” labeled stuff too. It’s kind of a cultural gutter, like having a pair of ‘truck nutz’ hanging off your hitch. But hey, if it’s where you’re positioning yourself, it’s a market.

          • I find you last post VERY encouraging. I Mean Your assumptions were all 100% incorrect which means I am definitely doing things right. Thanks for confidence boost! It really helps!

        • McD’s and Olive Garden exist too. Apparently that’s your level, so if you can be proud of sub-mediocre, then you are in the right place. Enjoy.

          I’m really a big fan of polymers and more current materials that won’t see guns for 20 years. That said, I’ve seen how quickly your product fails, and when one does the math, it’s hardly worth the bother against a standard aluminum lower. Let alone against a metal alloy-matrix printed model that’s even lighter than a polymer.

          • Again. .. if your caliber are naysayers. .. I feel pretty good about that. Thanks for your continued reassurance that we are doing the right thing. Is it hard being wrong all the time? Or do you just get used to it?

        • After using several G150’s in builds, the long awaited War Hogg came in the mail! Took about an hour in an x-y jig on my drill press to complete. Couldn’t be happier with the results. Mated it up with a DPMS upper sporting the new .45 Raptor barrel. You hit another one out of the park with this one, LORAN! Thanks again for another exciting product- keep em coming- I’ll keep buying!

      • So, who else are you bigoted against? Do you use other ethnic slurs? Or do you just hate the rural working class?

        • “Bigot” means unfairly against a person/belief. I only target those who are out to destroy American Culture and replace it with their own twisted garbage.

      • Dude… you’re a faggot. Stop trying to act so superior, it is obvious over compensation due to your neglected trailer park up bringing.

      • Well their company name is Polymer 80 and Warrhog ain’t any worse than Spikes “tactical jack” lower so try shutting your shit trap and if you don’t like the name, F off and don’t buy it.

  3. I would hope this holds up. I have a first Gen ATI Omni that only survived 200 rounds on a 5.56 AR before cracking at the rear. I have a different one on a Chiappa .22 upper and it shows no signs of problems as the bolt is not moving into the buffer tube and recoil is minimal.

  4. I don’t get the polymer lower thing, for an Ar10 or ar15. When they run out of aluminum, then we can talk.

    Not saying it doesn’t work, or doesn’t have dome benefit, just not enough bennies to forgo some 7075 squished into an ar shape

    • Bob,

      I agree with you. When people were panicking in ’13, it made some sense to spend $60 on a plastic lower as a hedge against a ban. But now that you can get an Anderson Mfg forged 7075 lower for $39, it seems pointless to go the plastic route.

    • I’m one step back from that even. I don’t understand the obsession with ultra-light weight rifles in major calibers. Once you get under about 7.5 lbs, recoil starts becoming rather snappy.

      Personally, I don’t like aluminum on guns, never mind plastic or composites. Aluminum work hardens, is more difficult to weld successfully, has to be anodized instead of blued… I view aluminum as a real step down in gun-making material from steel or stainless steel.

      • And given that the auto industry has learned how to use neato steel alloys that yield 90% of the strength/weight benes of aluminum. Not to mention the world of ultrastrong magnesium alloys.

        It’s guns. They’re always about 3 decades behind state-of-the-shelf.

      • In this application, polymer doesn’t seem to have proven itself. I wouldn’t trust a polymer lower on a 5.56 AR for hard use, much less so on a 7.62 battle rifle. But lightweight polymer framed handguns certainly have proven their toughness. I like the weight savings in carry guns. YMMV

        • Of course not, this is the worlds first, but we have been at this one for about 2 years so WE have our own experiences that have show us that it is MORE than viable when done right. You cant rush this stuff but if nobody ever stepped out of their comfort zones and tried things that some deemed crazy, you wouldnt even have ANY .308, or guns, or gun powder.

          I am glad for this resistance, without it others may well have beat us the punch, so I welcome the skepticism; it gives us something to over come and will be all the better when we do!

          The WarrHogg is a solid platform that has no problem or stress from .308. In a few months there will be those who have put thousands of rounds through and still shooting with a smile.

          This is Great!

      • >> Once you get under about 7.5 lbs, recoil starts becoming rather snappy.

        With a good compensator, 5.56 has laughably low recoil well below that. I have an Extar EXP-556 – those things are 5.5 pounds loaded with a 40 round magazine. Recoil is still light.

  6. Wow… lot of negative nancies…

    OK let me clear up some of these concerns and questions.

    Why Polymer?:
    1. Production is much faster and cheaper.
    2. Tools required to finish are far more common and easy to use.
    3. Lighter you may not be into light builds but it sure helps when lugging around large rifles!
    4. It’s the future of firearms

    Isn’t metal better?

    Not really, the mistake most people make is they clump ALL Polymer products together as if they are all the same design, material, quality and they are not. At all.

    with a sub 1% failure rate on our 5.56/.223 platform and .50 cal. builds with hundreds of rounds through them, .308 is a cake walk for us!

    We offer a lifetime warranty on all our products and if Polymer was such a terrible choice, there is no way we would be on business by now. (We are thriving BTW).

    And finally there’s the matter of choice. Polymer is great alternative to metal.

    I have personally been involved in designing, testing and improving multiple firearm platforms that are traditional metal frames as polymers. Believe me, when done right Polymer is an awesome medium for AR platforms.

    • 5.56 is a popgun round, so even a low-tech polymer can handle it. For a while. Fortunately for your warranty, very few people who own this platform ever put more than a few hundred rounds down the pipe in the entire time they own the weapon.

      I know hundreds of owners of Stoner’s puke-in-it’s-own-mouth-mistake. None have a shot that thing like we used to do with AKs 20 years ago – grab 3 cans of 880 of rounds and go plink for a day. Do it again next week. Maybe you clean the gun after 2K, maybe you don’t. Doesn’t matter, it still works. On an AR? Yeah, iF it makes it through 400 rounds without an FTF, you should buy lottery tickets.

      They had to come up with the ‘SPORTS’ reminder of how to slap that AR turd when it inevitably malfunctioned.

      • I keep reading about all the “problems” with DI stoppages. I’ve got a 6920 with a current round-count of just over 3k that’s never been cleaned internally, and I built a “true” dissipator (rifle-length gas system, rifle-length buffer system, 16″ barrel – yes, that means there’s just over an inch from the gas hole to the end of the barrel) with a round count of slightly less than 2k that’s never been cleaned internally – neither of these has suffered an FTF or FTE as of yet. I don’t do anything special when I buy ammo – whatever I can get my hands on the cheapest – yeah, I’ll take 1000rnds of that. The dissy in particular should be “twitchy” if for no other reason than it’s a “slick-side” (no F/A), but I have yet to HAVE to tap the F/A on my 6920.

        I’m not saying that the piston-based systems aren’t better (I do think they are) but I personally haven’t, nor do I know of anyone who has, seen any modern incarnation of Stoner’s design fail because it got too dirty from soot/blowback – actual DIRT is another matter, but nothing related to the direct impingement design.

        • Jack, Some people have a 350 Chebby that lasts more than 70K miles before serious malfunctions. You’re incredibly lucky – enjoy it.

          There’s no other DI rifles on the whole planet for a reason, DI is a bad idea that just doesn’t work in the real world. 3K rounds without a malfunction is an outlier in an AR/M platform. It’s an order of magnitude from acceptable in an AK rifle.

        • As to the comment about the 350 chebby. I currently own a 350 Chevrolet that was built with good parts and puts out 450 HP to the back tires and is going on 135000 miles. Sounds like you are used to driving your Prius and shooting an armalite. Not to say that’s bad but buying or shooting something to keep with the status quo some of us shoot polymers and enjoy it. If you don’t like the polymers fine. Your opinion is noted.

      • Ah yes the vaunted AK. The wonderous 20th century lightsaber handed down from on high by Uncle Joe and his “disciples”.

    • Loran, thanks for filling us in- I look forward to hearing more, and thanks for pushing the technology.

      An accurate semi .308 when loaded up with a big scope, bipod or other accessories will weight much more than 7 pounds, I imagine, and every pound counts hauling it on steep ground, so I’m looking forward to how it works out.

      From what I’ve read buying a .308 with sufficient accuracy to be 1MOA good to 300 yds is going to cost $3000 – $4000,

      so if a guy can get close to that same accuracy by building your own for half that, then its worth the trouble to tinker-DIY, to me, anyway.

      As an end-user more pig-hunting oriented than weeks of zombie defense, I am less concerned about DI, vs gas, as I figure I wont be putting hundreds of rounds down range, between end of hunt cleanings…unless I win the lottery and go heli-hunting over swampy southeastern hogzilla habitat of lore.

      Ya, its a tough crowd here at TTAG, but also quick to share when the results are good, too.
      Be nice to get a range report by Nick or JeremyS on a typical end-users well-put-together version, when its had a couple thousand rounds put through it.

      Good luck at SHOT!

    • LORAN how long has Glock been using polymer in their pistols? I think the popularity of those pistols speaks volumes about the strength of polymer. Just built a Blackout on your new 2nd generation Phoenix. I think it mills cleaner. Thanks for a GREAT product!

    • Hi there. I am doing a build on the warrhogg 308… I start tomorrow. Your customer service is great! Only suggestion is a video of milling the lower. I look forward to sending more orders your way if the product holds to expectations. I’m sure it will. Please email me with any new products

  7. “The thicker octagonal buffer tube mount means it’s not a week point.”

    A week point?

    Auto Correct strikes again…

    🙂

  9. I am not about to pre-order one, but hey, maybe in a couple of years if the guinea pigs, beta testers, early adopters prove the reliability I absolutely will buy one.

      • Loren, I have block 27 and hey its polymer. I have lost count of rounds over the years. I have ordered a warrhog and I am looking forward to building it. I look forward to the weight reduction. My wife has the ATI omni hybrid. I ordered one of your lowers for her to use with the .556 upper. Shoots great and no problems. Thank you for helping those with big bores. Look forward to getting mine in the mail.

  10. My GWACS lower works just fine, granted it has avoided the buffer tube joint by incorporating a fixed buttstock. I don’t see them replacing alloy receivers, though I do wonder if the idea of inserts in a core a la handgun designs might make the feasibility difference. After all, the Ruger P-90 series was the only handgun I can think of to actually use a full poly frame/rails…and that is with handgun rounds.

  11. I really don’t want to be that guy. But I have never in my life seen a hog that looked like that.

    • Do a search for Spartan Hunting preserve. The pig might be slightly stylized but they do exist.

  12. Well Pilgrims, there are polymers and then there are polymers.

    If you drive a car and don’t like polymers in stressful situations, time to park it as repeated flexing, high heat, repeated use and all sorts of others things in cars are done with polymers. If you fly, cancel any unused tickets and never fly again.

    I’m partial to heavier firearms as I’m small and can shoot better with a heavier firearm. That said, it’s a fun project and you get to decide what to put in it and save money.

    It will be a few years before I go to 308 but when I do, for a build, this is a real good option.

    For those hoping to avoid the government knowing about it, don’t worry, if they want to know, they will, sort of.

    The governments incapable of getting the details on anything right. If they come looking for you they will attack the guy on the next street.

    There are already too many guns in the US and they will not be able to get the vast majority. That is why the NYS police won’t release numbers on how many people registered their AR’s under the SAFE ACT. The low numbers are embarrassing.

  13. Polymer lowers: “Isn’t metal better? Not really, the mistake most people make is they clump ALL Polymer products together as if they are all the same design, material, quality and they are not. At all.Got it.” Ok. Got it.

    If polymer is so good, why no polymer uppers?

    • Ok… let me break this question down

      1. I was speaking to THIS particular application. I would not suggest a polymer barrel, for instance.
      2. There ARE Polymer uppers and they ARE very successful. We have a design of our own on file and will eventually produce our own, but in the mean-time; here you go!

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29ogf9Fsw74

      And

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcd1y3h6kvA

      These guys like to throw around “Carbon fiber” but they are injection molded nylon and use carbon fiber as a contaminant to strengthen the material. We use one (trade secret) but its essentially the same thing.

      I KNOW there are not any .308 Uppers (yet) but polymer 308s are new ground and we are the first ones to really come out with one.

      So apparently Polymer IS good.

  14. Loren, my hat is off to you for putting in the time experimenting and testing to come up with a .308 lower. I am the proud long time owner of a first generation Glock 9mm model 17 and I well remember the stuff I heard from the shooting media, my shooting “buddies” etc of how I wasted my money and that the gun would disintegrate in my hands. That was about 25 years ago +/- and it still shoots fine. Keep up the good work, and I look forward to seeing more new stuff in the future.

  15. after reviewing your polymer design , its just as the same as the glock design materials , so whats the problem all ? in use since the early 1990 s . or better yet why not colorise the fcg area with an alternate coloring system , no solids nor biscuits etc. just follow the color red ? white ? or blue ? see ? this way you cut through the color right ? just inject color to the right areas during mfrg ? ok . next depth gauges that are clear so that ones can see through where they are cutting into fcg right ? please correct me if any of you all have rebuttle ? I bough a polymer else where and laid a sledge hammer to the damn thing and the rifle still fired ! with all the lower parts installed ! so don’t you all bs any one here and belittle the design nor the owners of this great product . hit an aluminum design and you get major tweeking baby ! no shit ! as an mechanical engineer and electrical engineer and mold maker and machinist , etc. don’t ever bs your info to try to tell stories of lies . this product has potential . will be on top of the sellers and buyers list online/offline ! im pleased with it period and you all better or else . would I put my life associated with this polymer product ? ,… yes damnet ! ps , one day this product will save you all from gun confiscations and the new world order /nato confiscations and the so called future gun control acts of 80 percenters bans so buyem all up 1 you will not be able to when bible prophecy comes to play .

  16. rynite 540/545 is a material that can be used for high impact and for fireaerms frame designs , of coarse you can use any one of materials from the polymer family but this material is fleable and has high tensil strength . I used this marial for use as a hammer handle and sledgehammer handle and it chopped wood with no problems . obsorbs kinetic energy with ease ! so whats all the fuss with plastic type receivers ? hmmm ? just research the kinetic energy areas of rear for bolt passage and buffer tube threading and allignmentation . bolt release area for bolt catching . magazine well for accepting magazine catch and magazine pushed against siding of walls of mag well . pivot area and take down areas are need in strength for upper seating and for cleaning fcg area . so if this product was not well researched in design materials for accepting kinetic energy absorbsion . don’t forget the hammer/hole and safety hole areas etc. for true alignment for hammer to rear of firing pin hit to primer for powder ignition to casing to explode to bullet going out the muzzle barrel . see ? if your polymer was in cheap materials ? but its not ! I tested this item the old fashioned way . with a hammer and sledgehammer . I even through the rifle out of an airplane Cessna and off a mountain . rock mountain ! some pits but what a champ ! I through an aluminum out of the same plane yes I also have a pilots license ,lol , and mountain top and the aluminum was tweeked very much in the areas needed for bolt release and magazine acceptance . I recommend this product to thev masses . just because its metal doesn’t mean its better ? why are the gun /firearm mfrs building them with polymers now ? lightness ? ? for more flexability ! means more control and usefulness to save ones life or others so weight has a lot of meaning here . lets see what else ? ohh yes don’t forget if you have to hold that rifle in your hands for a long period of time using an aluminum frame ? your arms will be tired more than a polymer . try to test this , I did . a light weigh rifle will save your ass in the long run . but do your own research and test this product on your own . lets see if you all have brains and education to figure it all out that glock has already done the research for you ? polimers frames were,are and will be the materials of choice . DuPont corp is developing a plastic that can be rifled , kinetic energy ,non bloating of barrel , and can be welded and rewelded by using frequency cutters that are in development by darpa and yes im a gov contractor . so I wear a lot of hats and do my very own testing in my facility . my partner told me that makeup may be used of firearms one day but again he was laughing when he indicated that , thank you . I hope this info defines where your minds are headed ? to the ultimate self test initiative ! get to it all ! go test forget the rest ! put your findings on youtube !

  17. I Just received the polymer80 80% 308 lower jig kit. I purchased the kit on a whim when I was at the bigreno show, where I ran into someone representing the company. A big mistake. Not only were the promises of the individual unfulfilled, but it took multiple calls and 11 weeks for him to actually deliver the product.
    Immediately after removing the lower from the plastic jig to examine it, I noticed it is warpped across the top surface. I thought maybe it was an optical illusion, but when I mounted it the my DPMS upper, sure enough it is convex. It fits tight in the center with about .075 gap at the pivot pin and .100 at the takedown pin endThere is also a huge gap at the radius of the receiver extension mount of approx. 0.125.
    Now color me reactionary, but I believe that this type of quality or non quality is unacceptable in gun parts of any type. So my take on this, It isn’t about the polymer use in firearms, but the quality of part maufactured This is my 5th AR build this year and nothing I’ve put together previously has had quality issues this bad.
    With manufacturers such as Aero precision and MEGA designing quality pieces with fit and finish second to none, It would seem that Polymer80 has a long way to go. By the way I have one for sale if there’s any intresst left.

    • Mark,

      If your case was the norm, then our lifetime warranty on this product would put us out of business. The truth is, there are thousands of these built into perfectly functioning firearms without issues like this.

      I am very sorry for what you have experienced through one of our dealers and the poor customer service you received from them and they will hear from us about that for sure.

      Please contact me directly and we will get this resolved and get a good unit in your hands ASAP.

      Cell: 707-346-0075
      Email: [email protected]

      Thanks!
      -Loran Kelley,
      Co-Founder, Polymer80, Inc.

      • ok everyone , its now time for a communications brochure so that theres no misconceptions in regards to communication of polymer 80 s product line . the sales rep or who ever represented polymer 80 should had a communication brochure with him so that the potential buy or distributor or whoever was to buy in bulk or just one item/product , they would of been debriefed like what the military does before a situation if its in communication, research or in the field , a retraining is a must here after reading article . since no one really believes in spending time with anyone within the time limits allowed guessed that why is this person bothers me ? he may be a rep for a big distributor ? or multiple buyers from a gun club ? see ? that one person uncle may be the banker of polymer 80 ? see ? treat everyone the same because you never know who represents who ? when ? future profitability is involved , thank you .

  18. What is the weight differenec between a polymer lower and a aluminum one? I am pretty sure that folks have worked out the bugs of a 308 polymer lower reciever. The catch is if there isn’t a significant weight savings I don’t really have a need for one. My current 308 is built from an aluminum 80 percent lower and I built it strictly as a hunting rifle. If swapping to a polymer lower reciever will save enough weight to be worth the price, I’m on board.

  19. I put together a 6.5 grendel on a Plumcrazy polymer lower with about 1500 rounds through it with no problems what-so-ever. Cleaned once @ approx 500 shots.

    Looking forward to picking up one of these 308 poly lowers.

  20. no metal (ie brass) ring like tnarms version…the weak point is the rear takedown pin hole (before buffer tube ring), if a crack starts there, you’re done. I wouldn’t mind having no contour on the rear, just solid plastic from end of handle cutout to rear end dimension/surface of frame. I think the entire inside should have a stamped metal liner to include all holes obviously.

  21. “The thicker octagonal buffer tube mount means it’s not a WEEK point.” Errr, WEAK point?

    I bought a gen2 Polymer 80 lower, because I thought it would be a cool project. Don’t own a mill, so I got a 6″x6″ sweep XY vice and used my stand alone drill press. Thanks to Youtube, it became pretty apparent how to “mill out” the trigger group pocket and holes for the pins & safety selector. I had immediate suspicions, as the drill bit cut through the Polymer (plastic?), like a hot knife through a Fudgie the Whale cake :-). The lower parts kit went together as easily as a metal lower (same fear of pins/springs flying). I was impressed with how light the assembled lower was, but when I assembled the weapon, I DID NOT like the side to side flex i could EASILY create with the slightest bit of side to side pressure across the middle of the weapon. It sat in my safe for weeks until the day came I was going to test fire it. I slid it into a soft case for the car ride, but when i went to take it out of the case as my destination, the buffer tube spring came flying out, like a Snake in a can. It broke at the buffer tube thread ring, an OBVIOUS weak/stress point. Keep in mind there is NO machining that happens around that ring, and I DO NOT abuse my weapons while cased.

    I almost wish I had a spare/junk Glock frame to take the same mill bit to, just to see how easy it cuts. My bet is a lot harder than the Polymer 80, the latter of which i’m more apt to call plastic, not polymer.

    So, my unrequested, unabashed review is 2 thumbs down, unless I was building a pellet gun, or maybe a .22LR AR platform.

    what i’ve learned: Never send plastic to do a job meant for metal! 🙂 -ziggy

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