Hello- I have a little Colt H-Bar II that I love to play with. Now I'm feeling the urge to shoot service rifle. I've checked online at DPMS, Bushmaster, and Fulton Armory. All seem to be nice rifles, with huge ranges in price. I've thought of buying just an upper, but just can't bring myself to do it.Seems a complete rifle should be fitted better? Any help y'all could give would help. Thanks.

Well, on your current lower, what kind of stock do you have? If it is telestock, you either need to change it, or buy a complete rifle.

If you do decide to shoot service rifle, I have found that you will need as much wieght as possible in the gun. The front end wieghts in my handguard makes my offhand scores go from getting 58/100 (I know it sucks) up to 80/100 in ten shot strings.

The Colt lower has the standard stock, and a JP trigger in it. Understand weight is an issue, especially standing.

timmer

Since you live in AZ, maybe you are close to Rio Solado.  If so. this is the best clinic for first timers in the world.   Highly recommended.

[url]http://arizona.rifleshooting.com/m1clinic.htm[/url]

As to rifle, since you already have  the standard stock and a quality trigger, all you need is a good upper and weights.  Pribably only need to weight the stock at first til you figure it out.

I have a RRA NM rifle and  it is a great shooter.  Buy and upper frome them, slap that on your colt lower, add weight in the buttstock, and off you go.  Oh, and you will NEED a good sling.  Turner Saddlery makes a good one.

But start with the clinic if you can.   Those guys are good.

if you want to shoot service rifle and have a colt hbar(full stock,20" barrel) and the gun shoots 2minutes of angle or less, it will suffice for entry level service rifle competiton. Spend your money on a lot of practice ammo instead-only if you get to the point of shooting a 450/500 score consistently will you see a distinct advantage in the match grade guns

My suggestion is go with an upper since you have the quality lower already set up. I bought an Armalite Nat. Match upper from Quantico and couldn't be happier. You can spend the money you save on training and ammo.  

Just last month I bought a DPMS NM upper thru MidwayUSA and I love it.  It's super accurate, hindered only by my eyesight, very well put together and it was much cheaper than those already mentioned in the previous posts.
DCS

Thanks for the tip. Every club in the area that I've contacted has been more than helpful.Seems everyone wants you to learn and get better, just so you don't get too good!