I finally got all the details nailed down on the J&T kit and by the time they get it set up the way I want it (flat top, milled front sight, chrome-lined barrel, Tac brake), the price of the kit is around $635.  Using the Armalite upper that I'm looking at (set up similarly - see my other post - I'm not too crazy about the looks of their brake, though) would run me $590 (includes lower parts kit and LE stock).  I'm not including any shipping costs in my figures.  Which is the best deal?

J&T kit:  $635
Armalite upper, DPMS lower parts, RRA LE stock: $590

I know you guys have lots of opinions on what you prefer, so let me have 'em.

Thanks again for the help,
CR

If you can get an Armalite upper, DPMS parts kit and a RRA stock for less than the J&T kit then it's a no brainer...Armalite/DPMS/RRA is the way to go.  I'm not knocking J&T at all but Armalite is top of the ladder in quality and I recently built a lower with a DPMS parts kit and it was possibly the nicest parts kit I've used so far.

I don't really have an opinion on an ArmaLite upper versus J&T kit.  I've built four J&T and they seem pretty good.  My Armalites (except my AR180) seem pretty good too.

But I can complicate things a bit.  If you decide to go with the J&T kit, CS223 has put together limited[url=http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=4&t=155574&w=searchPop]"group buys"[/url] and get it for you for 5% off list price plus free shipping.  I got my four kits that way and everything went very smoothly.

Thanks for the input - I'm thinking I'll go with the Armalite then - also by going that route I can spread it out a little more - since I can buy the stock, parts kit, and upper separately (easier on the budget that way).
CR

One more thing: since you are planning on purchasing the parts kit and stock separately you may want to consider buying a RRA parts kit.  That way you could order it at the same time as the stock and possibly save on shipping.  I know Pete @ Legal Transfers had a kick-butt deal on 6 position collapsible stocks a while back because I bought one.