I am not a newbie to firearms, but I am a newbie to AR-15’s

I am looking to buy my first one and I have made a discovery

I can buy a whole rifle, like a bushmaster 20 inch A2 for $800 or so

Or I can buy the lower receiver and stock for $250
And the upper receiver, barrel, bolt, charging handle all the stuff necessary for the rifle to be complete, for about $450

Making the price $700 for the same damn rifle, just that its in two pieces.

How simple is it to connect the upper and lower?  Don’t they just go together, kind of like the upper and lower of a Ruger MKII pistol?

Can someone give me a link to instructions?

Thanks

As long as you're not mixing a Colt upper with a non-Colt lower (or vise versa--newer Colts don't use mil-spec pins), it only takes a couple seconds to put them together.  Pull out the pivot pin and the takedown pin, fit the upper and lower together, and push the bins back in.  If you have the parts, it's really self-explanatory.

And if you want to go the really cheap route, you can get a stripped lower for about $100 and kit containing the upper and the lower receiver parts for about $450.  You can assemble the gun in about half an hour.  Less when you know what you're doing.  Instructions are [url=http://www.ar15.com/content/docs/assembly/lower/]here[/url].

It will probably be a Bushmaster, or Rock River, or Armalite for the lower

and a Bushmaster or a Rock River for the upper.

So thats it?  pull pins, put together, put pins back in.

I thought it would be something like that.

That's all.  But it probably won't be an Armalite lower.  Armalite lowers are only sold as complete rifles.  But Eagle Arms is the same thing.

On the upper--Unless you're getting stainless, the Bushmaster will be chrome lined and the Rock River probably won't.  Most people around here seem to prefer the added corrosion resistence and (possibly) more reliable feeding of the chorme lined barrel to the marginally better accuracy of the non-chrome-lined barrel.

You can do exactly that at adcofirearms.com with RRA for cheap.  The only thing is they have complete lowers on backorder.  The reason they're so much cheaper in two pieces is that when they sell a COMPLETE rifle, they have to pay a federal excise tax, which is 11%.  So, you and they both save money if you buy it in "parts".  I had this same question recently and people were nice to inform me.

here is a question for ya.

does anyone have experience with these guys??

[url]http://www.model1sales.com/item-detail.cfm?ID=KSO200&storeid=1&image=s20postk.gif[/url]

I can't get a straight answer about who makes their stuff, but the barrels are chrome/molly  and everything looks good.

I made one of these, the lightweight 16" with the LE stock, and it shoots as good as my ArmaLite.  Go with them, and you won't be dissapointed.

I haven't used Model 1, but I have built several rifles on [url=http://www.jtdistributing.com/index.shtml]J&T[/url]'s kits.  The service and the product are both excellent.  They sell complete uppers or full kits (less stripped lower).

Just keep in mind that chrome moly isn't chrome-lined.

Then what is chrome/moly?

Chrome moly refers to the type of steel used.  The chrome is a component of the steel itself rather than a lining.  They're easier to finish and may have somewhat better accuracy.

Chrome-lined barrels, as the name implies, have a thin layer of chrome in the bore (look for a chrome-lined chamber too).  This gives good corrosion resistence and somewhat longer barrel life, but the  electro polishing and chroming processes tend to reduce accuracy somewhat.

The other option is stainless steel, which is easy to polish and gives good accuracy.  It gives better corrosion resietence that chrome moly, but not as much as chrome-lined.  

Or so they say, anyway.

Chrome moly is just a term for type of steel used to make the barrel.  It means the steel contains chromium and molybdenum.  Most AR barrels are chrome moly.  

Chrome lining means the bore/chamber has been hardchromed to resist wear and corrosion.

Generally, distributers use the terms chrome moly and stainless to let you know what type of barrel is being used.

Edited to add:  Looks like John and I were typing at the same time...