First I want to thank everyone for all of their knowledge they've shared on the various threads.  You guys rock! I would have been completely lost without all the resources on this site.  If I hadn't stumbled upon AR15.com I probably would have just gone to a local gun show and picked up the cheapest AR I found and called it a day.  Then a few months later I would have kicked my own ass for buying a POS gun that I wasn't happy with.  Instead I spent countless hours on here researching all my options and ended up building my own AR which I know will last me a long time and I will be very happy with.  When I say "build my own AR" I use that term very loosely since I'm no gunsmith and I kept it simple by buying a complete upper and lower and snapped them together.  I learned pretty quickly that it doesn't take a mechanical wizard to piece together a quality AR.  After pouring over all the AR15.com members' experience and opinions this is what I ended up going with:

BCM Standard 16" Mid Length Upper with standard FSB
BCM Bolt Carrier Group and standard charging handle
Magpul MOE Handguards (plan to eventually upgrade to Daniel Defense Omega Rail)
BCM Cosmetic Blem Lower
VLTOR Modstock
Troy Industries Rear Folding Battle Sight

Total pricetag with all shipping charges and FFL transfer fee for the lower was around $1,040.  Not too shabby but before I began my AR research on here my budget started out at $800.  Note to NOOBs like me - if you want to build an AR and start reading all the posts on here and you see everyone elses awesome builds then expect your original budget to get shot to hell.  

Here she is...
http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z342/nhurl/MyAR.jpg

This is the "Cosmetic Blem" Lower that saved me about $90 over the standard BCM Lower.  The only blemish I could find was this microscopic scratch next to the roll stamp.  I'm sure I'll do twice as much cosmetic damage on my first trip to the range.
http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z342/nhurl/BlemLower.jpg

I'm planning on sticking with iron sights until I get somewhat proficient which should give me PLENTY of time to save up for some optics.  I've bought several brands of ammo (Federal, Fiocchi, Winchester, Hornady, etc.) that I plan on shooting to figure out what my gun likes and then I'll start buying bulk.  My one question for those out there that have similar BCM Uppers is what budget ammo (under $0.40/round) does your AR like? I know the standard reply is "each gun likes different ammo so just shoot everything under the sun until you find the one your gun likes" but I'm not crapping out hundred dollar bills so I'd like to narrow my ammo list down to ammo that others with similar ARs have had success with.  

Very nice!! I plan on building a very similar AR soon. Very wise of you to become proficient with your irons before buying an optic. Congrats. Youll love it.

Nice!

But sub $.40 / round.... Tula, wolf, brown bear. Other than that, handload or get a .22 conversion.

Welcome to the disease! You may not realize you have one yet, but your post title is correct "my 1ST AR build", more are now inevitable.

Thats a sweet looking rig!

Looks good! Enjoy it!!

Clean and simple.


I love it.

Very clean stick man, enjoy

Welcome to the clan, Hurt...looks like someone got it right the first time.

Mastering the irons is also a smart move...you'll have plenty of time for optics, later.

As for ARs being picky about ammo, not so much IMO...if you're purely target shooting/bench resting then yes, you'll have to find that load that your rifle likes.  As long as you're shooting a bullet weight that is nominal for your twist you should be G2G.  For a battle rifle, buy a case of something decent (like IMI or Federal surplus) from Aim, Widner's or Copes and shoot away.

Very nice.

Disease is right!  Hi, my name is Hurl... I am an AR addict.  I've already been thinking about what my next project will be.  The .50 Beowulf upper looks pretty tempting

Looks awesome.  Excellent selections.  

UPDATE:
First trip to the range: Got a chance to take my new AR out to the range this weekend with great success.  The Troy Folding Rear Battle Sight was a breeze to sight in.  I was worried I wouldn't even hit paper on the first shot but to my surprise the point of impact of the first four shots was only a couple inches to the right.  This was easily corrected with a few clicks of the windage.  The elevation was a little low at 50 yards but shouldn't the trajectory be a little low at that distance since the bullet is still rising? Guess it really doesn't matter considering 99% of the inaccuracy probably came from operator error.  After running through about 80 rounds I aimed for the head on the silhouete with my last 20 rounds and this is what I got:

http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z342/nhurl/firsttarget.jpg

Don't think I'll be winning any shooting competitions anytime soon but I was pretty pleased considering it was with irons and it was my first time shooting this gun.  Plus this target had an unusually small head

Well done.

Now practice, practice, practice!

THINK SAFETY! Nice target :)

Nice rifle and shooting

Very nice!

Good choice

Sweet looking stick.

I like it. Simple but effective.

That's a good, solid build! You did a great job on your first build!