Just as the suject line says: "who would you buy an AR kit from, and just as important who would you NOT buy from. Please, NO trolling or bad-mouthing anyone or their products. I put this post on the hometown forum, because I have met, and respect the opinions of those who frequent this forum.
BTW: The last kit I purchased came from J&T. It was a 20" flat top...happy with everything except the $19. or so dollars for shipping.

I have bought uppers from Model 1 before.  They are ok.  Not as well finished as some others I've seen, but they work and the price is good.  I don't know about their lower parts.

BTW, $19 for shipping a 20" upper doesn't sound too far off.  UPS ain't cheap.

Well I shipped an emtire AR in a plastoc Docksill case to Coal Creek Armory via UPS, insured for $700, for around $12.  $19 for an upper is high.

Another member who I am friends with has ordered several kits from M&A and has always been satisfied.  (his username is VA_Gunnut if you want to IM him)  I think he had a problem once and they ended up sending him a higher 'grade' part in replacement.  So, nothing spectacular to say about them except that their kits have always worked and seem to be on the good list.

I have an upper built by Model 1 and I can't say anything bad about it.  (2002 LEGP 24" 'extra' upper)  It functions beautifully.  However, I have read posts here on the boards with some 'difficult' experiences with them.  I won't say more because I have no direct customer/retailer experience with them.

Of course I would buy a kit from Bushmaster without thinking twice.  I would also buy certain DPMS kits without hesitation.  I have used Armalite lower parts kits and they are great.  Their uppers are pretty cool too...

Hope that helps a little!

As FMJunkie said, I always use M&A and have always been happy with them. I haven't used the other companies because of the good service I have gotten from M&A. I hope this helps.

My first choice is always J&T.
The average S&H is about $8.95, where everything comes in a box. With J&T it all comes very well packaged and secured for just 10.00 more. I think is worth.

Why don't you give Pete-in-NH a call, he does not advertise 'kits', but he can put one together for you. My last M4gery came from him and it is a superb rifle.

BR

I got my kit from J&T via another board member, CS223.  CS223 will order the kit and ship it to you with no shipping, and you also get a slight discount (5% I think?) off of list price.

I'm not sure if he's still doing it, but send him an IM and ask him.  He's very good to deal with...every day he updated me on the status of the order.

By the way, I love my AR and had plenty of fun putting it together, except for when I screwed up that little spring that puts pressure on the selector switch.  But that was my fault.

One word of advice--AVOID the "Ambi" grips (I forget who makes them).  Although it felt really good in my hand, it was designed poorly and the damn recess in the grip was too narrow to even accomodate the lockwasher that has to go to the bottom of the grip!  Idiots!!  I wound up going with the OEM/stock grip after I tried the "Ambi" grip.  I've heard the Hogue grips are nice, but I haven't seen them around at any gun shows so we'll just have to wait to put one of those on.

-Nick Viejo.

I am not sure it DELTON sells kits, but I have got good service from them.

Also Peter in NH   Peter Southwick"            [email protected]

He does great work and I think has kits. Very Good service

Check out www.quantico.com

or it might be quanticoarms.com. I get my stripped lowers from him.

I have also used Tormix.

There are some others I just cant think of. If you want brand name try Bushmaster kits or even DPMS. Little more expensive but good service

Midway or Brownells Just another choice

last kit was put together by myself and EDPMedic.  I pretty much shopped around and got the exact barrel, upper, bolt and whatever to complete it for pretty cheap.  I think total parts not including the RAS setup was around 425.  That included a 14.5" m4 bushmaster m4 barrel kit (barrel, gas tube, delta ring, handguards), Armalite flat top upper, RRA bolt/carrier and a Phantom Flash hider.  It took us around 60 minutes to complete the upper and the only reason it took that long was because we had some issues gettng the gas tube in.  
Just piece the kit yourself this way you get what you want