Thank you for the reply. After doing some more research, it seems like the best option for me is to buy a complete upper, sans the BCG and charging handle. It seems like I can avoid buying specialized tools by doing this. Unless I'm just not looking in the right places, the parts by themselves seem to add up to a complete upper anyway I have been checking Slickguns.com for specific deals on these parts, but I'm still not entirely sure what to look for. From what I have seen so far, I believe what I want is a
-16" barrel 1:7 twist
-Chrome lined
-Attached front sight
-Removable carry handle (in case I ever want to add a red dot or a similar sight)
Seems simple and basic enough, but the prices seem to vary so much...
And thank you for the offer on the lower, but it seems it is just as much (or as little?) elsewhere. It's currently the same price at $40+$16 shipping at aimsurplus.com. And then of course the FFL fee, which around around is no less than $25. Is that as cheap as lowers tend to get?