The color match and fit are very important to me.  Quality machining too.  I want a new A1 upper, not a refurbished one.  Must have a forward assist, shell deflector doesn't matter, either way.

Please help, I don't want to buy an upper that doesn't look "right" on my lower...

Thanks!

(I was just going to buy a upper and lower of the same company, but I decided I like RRA lowers too much)

Best way take your lower to a gun show and match the finsh.  

Both Bushmaster and DPMS are still selling A1 (actually C7 copy) uppers, with forward assist AND the shell deflectors. Any others you may see listed in this or that web site are actually DPMS pieces, and I don't care if they call it by their own brand name.

The DPMS piece is less expensive than the Bushmaster, but the color is almost certainly going to be a bit more "off" than the Bushie. Neither is going to be an exact match, but the Teflon coating that DPMS uses on it's pieces does change the color just a bit, so that you rarely if ever get a close match between a DPMS unit and another brand.

Understand something.  You're likely to get at least slight differences in color and "tone" of upper/lower combos, even in the same brand.  Slight differences in shade are a fact of AR life. Pieces made on different days in the same plant may dry diiferentl;y, or be sprayed with a different lot number, or ????

You might conceivably find a dealer at a show who is selling new A1 type uppers, but I'd call that a long shot. At least a long shot here in Georgia.

Colt and other milsurp pieces in abundance down here, but the only commercial A1 type I've ever seen was a DPMS. slightly used C7 job----and I bought it for the C7 clone I was building

I'm thinking I'll just get the DPMS.  If the color is off too much, I might just have to put some paint on it.  Will duracoat stick to the teflon finish your talking about?  I've never used duracoat, or any paint on a weapon for that matter.

Look here also some good deals and very good quality.
www.del-ton.com/

Quoted: I'm thinking I'll just get the DPMS.  If the color is off too much, I might just have to put some paint on it.  Will duracoat stick to the teflon finish your talking about?  I've never used duracoat, or any paint on a weapon for that matter.

No personal experience, but have seen posts indicating that the Teflon does not take overcoating well at all. On the other hand, taking a tip from the Testor's model paint web site awhile back, I put a test strip of oven cleaner on the inside of a DPMS lower I own, and it seemed to remove the Teflon w/o harming the color underneath. The stripped area then did take a brush full of Testor's model paint much better than the surrounding unstripped area, so that may be a solution to the overcoating problems.

That MIGHT be a solution, but I can only recommend it as something to try for yourself.

CMMG C7 type made a good match to my RRA lower.(stripped upper with sights and F/A)
My new RRA was dull and dry new with a little rubbing with CLP or what ever you use looks great.