Anderson Manufacturing AR-15 Lower Parts Kit with Stainless Hammer and Trigger
By George Ross Jr. May 1, 2021

When I buy a lower parts kit when building an AR I tend to go for one that is fairly cheap and made in the USA by a reputable manufacturer. This is the case with Anderson Manufacturing's AR-15 lower parts kit with stainless hammer and trigger. However I was pleasantly surprised to find that this lower parts kit has a little bit more to offer than your run of the mill mil-spec lower parts kit.

Packaging

Anderson Manufacturing has done a good job with how this parts kit is packaged. A lot of lower parts kits come in sorted zip lock bags, but this one is retail packaged. The plastic housings keep everything separated and sorted so the parts that are used together are near each other. The pockets in the plastic housing are deep. So I used a pocket knife to dig the parts out.

Installation

Installation was just like you would want it to be. I installed this kit on an Anderson Manufacturing AR-15 stripped lower. All of the pieces fit like a glove with the exception of the pivot pin. The pivot pin does fit, but it is really tight. This may be the fault of the lower itself as the first AR-47 I built had the same issue with the same stripped lower that eventually subsided after some use.

So What’s So Special?

There are a couple of things that make this lower parts kit better than a mil-spec parts kit. The first is the grip. This grip is a bit fatter and more aggressively textured than a standard A2 grip which I like. The second is the stainless hammer and trigger. The trigger is wider than normal and has been polished to a shine at its engagement points.

This makes for a trigger that once installed has zero creep and breaks clean with an average trigger pull of 6 pounds 1.9 ounces across 5 pulls. Wheeler’s professional digital trigger pull gauge was used to get the pull weights. A lighter trigger spring would reduce the pull weight, but since this is a review of this particular parts kit I left that for another day. This trigger is the best I have seen in a lower parts kit and you can have this trigger for around $40.

Conclusion

If you are in the market for a lower parts kit for your next AR build I would highly recommend Anderson Manufacturing’s AR-15 lower parts kit with stainless hammer and trigger. Given that it can be had for around $40 to me it is a no brainer. Having a trigger this nice in a $40 lower parts kit makes me want to upgrade the triggers on some other rifles I have. Ergo you better buy your Anderson Manufacturing AR-15 lower parts kit with stainless hammer and trigger before I do.