I am new to this forum and to AR15's. I have read most of the posts and think this site is awesome. I am looking into building a ar15 myself.

Let me see if I have this correct:

I need to buy a stripped lower receiver and a lower parts kit.

I also need to buy a complete upper.

Is this correct. Will the above include grip stock, and everything needed to have a complete rifle.

It seems most people are buying the complete upper from J&t and the lowers from different sources.

I am confused now on the different types of ar 15's, a4, carbine etc.. I will try and read on to get more info on these different models.

If anyone could enlighten me more I would appreciate it.

Sorry for the newbie questions.

[blue]Or get a complete lower which comes assembled, either way, you still have to go through a FFL dealer to get one[/blue]



[blue]Or just get the parts one at a time and put that together yourself.  But you will have the additional cost of the tools, but once you have them, you have them.[/blue]



[blue]If you purchase a "kit", that is a complete upper with all of the rest of the parts to assemble a rifle, minus the stripped lower.[/blue]



[blue]Whomever, shop around.[/blue]



[blue]Kinda like a car: do you want a convertable, a sports car, a SUV ... What floats your boat, makes your putter flutter....[/blue]

I was in the same boat a couple of months ago, but this site provided a 'hyper-education' in "Advanced Black Rifle Philosophy"....you're definitely in the right place. Your build scenario is basically correct. Can be approached a couple different ways. Simplest way is to get a stripped lower, and purchase a 'Rifle Kit' from any one of several distributors. The kits include assembled uppers, guts for the lower, and your buttstock. Slap it together and you're rockin'. Or you can hand pick all the components piece meal, and build from scratch (best if doing this to buy the upper assembled and headspaced). I'm sure you'll get some more informed feedback from others on this board. Good luck and have fun.

Actually, the headspace is set by the barrel extension with comes on most barrels that you would purchase from an AR distributor/dealer.  Of course, you can purchase a “specialty” barrel and add the barrel extension yourself.