I have been trying to get a superlight upper for a while now. I am trying to build an AR that is light as can be. (Don't worry fellas, as it gets closer to completion, a full pictorial of the build and finished product complete with prices will be posted here.) But as of right now, I am trying to acquire a superligh upper for this build. At first fundage was a problem. Its hard to save up $350 to buy a complete upper when your a full time college student  starting with $0.00. Gotta spend some money on the booze, babes, and other extracurricular activities. I find that I save a nice chunk and then it gets widdled away before I can get enough to get the upper. So I think I solved my problem! The solution has been staring me in the face the whole time, "Build your own upper!" I buy a stripped upper, buy an upper parts kit, and a barrel and put it all together. I can buy the parts when I get the money, I save money buy doing it myself, and learn more about the functioning and operating of my AR! Great 1st half of the problem conquered! Now acquiring a barrel is the second. Superlight barrels seem far and few between. So, I got to thinking, I am a college educated man after all, buy a "ban" 16" Bushmaster HBAR barrel, since they are relatively cheap now, and have it sent off to get turned down to a superlight profile! Plus, I can get it threaded and have a flash-hider installed! I really don't desire a bayonet lug on this weapon so this seems the most perfect option! What do you guys think?

Slow down, post gave me a hadock.

Building your own sounds good to me.  But why not just get the Bushmaster Superlight Barrel to start with, as opposed to getting an HBAR and having it turned?  ADCO charges $59 to turn the barrel just under the handguards.  Not that this is a bad price, but they may charge extra to do the whole thing, and then you gotta pay shipping too.  Or just go ahead and buy a RRA from ADCO and have them do it before shipping.  No need to pay to ship the barrel to you, from you to ADCO etc, from them back...


Good luck, have fun!

-Hershey

i did something similar to this a few weeks ago
i already had the A1 upper that i bought off the EE , then bought a pre ban 16" lw barrel from bushmaster, i've got about  $300 in the upper

Quoted: i did something similar to this a few weeks ago i already had the A1 upper that i bought off the EE , then bought a pre ban 16" lw barrel from bushmaster, i've got about  $300 in the upper

Which is what you would normally pay.

I ran some numbers when I got back to my projects desk. I figured with the cost to buy tools and assemble the upper, after adding on the cost of having the barrel customed, was just not worth it. Maybe if I buy a used SL barrel and an upper, but still then cost of tools...

Personally, I would just save up and buy a no-ban Bushmaster SuperLight upper, complete with bolt and carrier and be done with it.  Unless you are willing to plunk the money on a couple of relatively AR-specialized tools, it'll be cheaper for you right now to just buy it outright.  Plus, the SL upper is really nice and light