what ever you do (depending on what your looking for) do not build an AR from the ground up, lol I did, I end up spending three times as much I guess cause if my mods, 223 Wyld upper (shoots both 223/5.56 ammo), M16 bolt, Anderson arms lower with parts kit, upgraded pistol grip, upgraded but stock, up graded buffer and spring, scope for long range, light, laser, ect fully loaded... and the labor to put everything together was not added to my overall price cause I put it together lol, (very Fun) and all I wanted it for was to take to the range and have fun lol I could have paid $600-$800 for a nice beginners AR15 and be done with it but now I have a AR15 in the near $2000.00 expert level for just the range lol. oh well,, what's done is done, so my advice is just look around and know what you will be using the gun for and shop around