I have been wanting an A2 20 inch upper for a while.  Just for fun and to round out my ARs.  I keep seeing PSA 20 inch flat tops going for ~$200 on sale, while an A2 upper (Del Ton) and barrel (Windham) will cost ~$450 and are in stock infrequently.  Will the flat top and a detachable carry handle scratch the itch do you think?  I'm sorely tempted...

hell yeah, one of the cool things about the ar15 rifle is the ability to drop two pins and completely change the firing characteristics

go for it

I have a Del Ton, that I picked up after the holidays on sale and I have really like it, it is a good shooting upper.

Flat top with a detachable carry handle won't scratch the itch. It's a good look, but not quite as retro as an A2. I find that whenever I make a compromise concerning a gun build I always end up spending the money later to get what I originally wanted.

Also, the Windham barrel is of excellent quality, you won't be disappointed.

In a way, I agree, I like my Del Ton, good shooting gun, but I have been looking for that just right A2 upper for over a year now and finally found one a couple of weeks ago, so my train of thought has changed and I sit here with it in my lap and my wife looks at me like I am nuts, I am really looking forward to building it into what I carried while in the service, what is sad, my interest will probably wain now that I finally found that just right one...

I am sure my wife will be happy with that aspect!

Well, better $450 than $650...now I just need to bite the bullet one of these days.

It really depends on you.  I think I could live with an A4 as my only 20"er.  Gives you the option to put an optic on an a more friendly manner.   I like both A2/A4's.  My thing is more about the sight radius just works so much better than a carbine.  And I like to shoot irons.   So to me it's a horse a piece.  But there is something really cool about an A2.  I grew up in the 80's and was graduating high school for Desert Storm.  So......  It's the rifle of my youth.  And then we saw a lot of them in the Invasion of Iraq with Marines.  

Now it's poo poo'd as a serious gun but whatever.  I'm pretty sure they did their job and I dare say did it well.

I thought that getting the A4 would scratch the itch to... It didn't, I ended up getting an A2 upper and swapped out the barrel.

Get the flat top for now if you are on a tight budget, then later on you can get an A2 upper and swap the parts.