Originally Posted by Nomercy448

Bottom end receivers can be had for $70, top end prices are as high as someone is willing to pay, but typically no higher than $250-300.

That Triumph is running $350 and up new. Even used, it's definitely worth a lot more than ANY stripped lower in my book.

I have no reason to believe that there will be any "collectors value" for a Blackwater Lower. No offense to the smiths at BW, but from where I sit, they're a "Lego shop". They take a bunch of pre-fab vendor parts and slap them together. Regardless of how many Bushmaster lowers the Blackwater shop put together before they contracted a direct vendor (early BW's were actually bushmaster parts...), Blackwater doesn't have a name in AR-15's, and with their current state of affairs, they likely never will. There is no reason to believe that the Blackwater lower receiver is of any significant quality compared to any other builder.

Additionally, if you ever try to re-sell the rifle: 1) it will be a "no-name" rifle, since NO ONE will know what a "Blackwater BW-15" is, and 2) it will be a mis-matched rifle, i.e. a BW-15 lower with a bushmaster upper 3) it will be a home-built "kit rifle", which people KNOW was cheaper on your end than an equivalent factory rifle AND people won't put high value on your gunsmithing skills. If you approach me with a mis-match brand, mis-match number, home built kit rifle that was your first build, I won't touch it with a 10ft pole.

I'd put a value of about $60-75 on the lower. Any receiver is worth at least that much.

Now, as far as building your own rifle from scratch goes, you can buy complete rifle kits for $500 (without lower receiver) for a "Standard" model. For a competition grade heavy barreled rifle with a quality trigger, I would plan on at LEAST $1,000 plus the lower. You'll also need a few specific tools to properly assemble the rifle, and ideally will spend a LOT of time mating parts together during assembly.

The major disadvantage in building a "kit rifle" is that the upper and lower may not mate properly together, so there could be slack between the two. I like to buy a few uppwer and lower receivers at a time so I can pick out the best mating sets.