I'm gathering parts for my first retro-ish AR, and I picked up a NOS 14.5" Daniel Defense carbine-length pencil barrel.  I want to get a standard height (non F marked) front sight base installed on it.  I have a couple of questions about this.

1) Who do you recommend for pinning the FSB?  I want to make sure it gets installed dead-center, while also being affordable.  I've read about:
ADCO Firearms
AR15barrels
Retro Arms Works
On their websites, ADCO is more expensive than AR15barrels, and I didn't see a cost listed on the Retro Arms Works website.  I am interested in any experiences and recommendations you have.

2) Where would you recommend buying the 0.625" FSB?  I will be getting a round handguard cap to fit behind it.  I'm not sure if there are particular things I should be looking for in the 0.625" FSB, other than non F marked.  Would the one at Brownells be a good choice, or would you recommend somewhere else?

Many thanks for your help and suggestions!

John Thomas at Retro Arms Works does OUTSTANDING work, and I believe he is the least expensive of your choices

Another recommendation for John Thomas at Retro Arms Works, does great work and has an insane (short) turn around time.

Had him do a prototype FSB as well as barrel to shorten and some work on a BRN10 barrel. He had them for less time than USPS did for the shipping.

@Tikiman001 I’m just curious, so if you don’t mind me asking, what work did JT do for you on the BRN10 barrel?

Member heatnbeat, been doing this stuff since before the retro forum was ever a forum. See my sig line.

@M16indiana

Wanted to make a "close enough" copy of an early DMR AR10 from this 1989 Quantico picture:
https://www.ar15.com/forums/ar-15/Picatinny_Arsenal_ar10/123-624254/

Had a spare Eagle Arms/Armalite reciever set I wanted to use, but needed to swap the barrel nut on the BRN-10 barrel to make it fit.The FSB was tight so I sent it off to John rather than risk screwing it up, he was very fair on the price and did everything exactly how I wanted.



Excellent work on shortening a different .308 barrel  sent in also ( AR10 Pistol, 3rd one down).



3 possible things left to do are swap the suppressor for a reflex can like an Amtac (don't think the ops inc is really an option), machine off the shell deflector, and maybe grab an AR10A lower so I can use waffle mags. To be honest though I will probably only change out the suppressor, as this is definitely a "social distancing length" rifle with the can on it.

JT at Retro Arms Works has done my last several since my drill press died a few years ago.  I used to do my own.

JT is amazingly quick & never had an issue.

John Thomas is so far the only one I send any AR work to. His cost for installing the FSB is $60 + return shipping.

I was having a similar problem as I like using the PSA 10.5" CHF CL barrels & uppers, but the plain barrels aren't drilled for a FSB & the uppers come with a round end cap & F marked FSB's & I wanted to do a retro-ish shorty build with an A1 upper & triangle handguards.  I didn't want to order an entire upper I only needed the barrel from & wasn't sure about sending just the barrel off to get drilled, so I ended up ordering a barrel from Centurion with the FSB, delta ring & barrel nut installed.  I emailed them & asked if they could put on a triangle end cap instead of a round & they said they would order some to put on!  I thought that was awesome customer service.  I forgot about the FSB until a couple days after I ordered & just decided if it did come with an F marked one, I could just get the taller front sight post to install.  Even with them having to order the triangle end cap, I still got my barrel 1 week from the day I ordered it.  I am still very interested to see what all options might be available for drilling barrels that people have as maybe I'll want to give that a shot down the road too.

https://www.centurionarms.com/hammer-forged-barrel-carbine-p/hfb-lw-car.htm

Another option is Top Notch Top Ends


https://www.tntesales.com/

They do outstanding work.

Thank you all for your recommendations.  I will be going with Retro Arms Works.  I sent John Thomas an email, and he quickly gave me a call to talk about my project, and he also helped me pick out the additional parts I needed to purchase.  He seems like a great guy to work with.