Before I buy a 20" RRA NM free float stainless upper with the intent of tearing it up for a conversion, will the front sight post be a problem? I'm planning on having the smith remove it, and put a Larue 13.2" FF handguard in its place. I will then put a folding front sight on the Larue.  I don't know what kind of a gas block the smith will use in its place, but I don't want a barrel that looks like it's been manhandled or obviously been altered with visual screw hole taps, discoloration, or scratches, where the RRA front sight once was.

Will the new gas block and Larue FF hanguard nicely go into place and cover everything just nice and pertee as can be? The concern is that I don't want a $3,000 1/2" MOA tactical/target rifle that looks like crap.

Your input and thoughts welcome.

   

Start from scratch,  its simple to do yourself (or have your 'smith do).   your going to be stuck with alot of leftover parts if you buy the rra NM upper.  

Quoted: Start from scratch,  its simple to do yourself (or have your 'smith do).   your going to be stuck with alot of leftover parts if you buy the rra NM upper.

Very true.  You'll have at least: rifle length handguards, service rifle float tube, NM front sight assembly.  That's probably close to $200 in parts.  You could sell these parts but why buy them in the first place if you don't need them?  Hopefully you aren't planning on using an A2 NM rear aperture, that thing is so tiny it's VERY difficult to see through when it's dark.  
You could get a White Oak service rifle barrel that doesn't have a front sight base so that way you wouldn't have the possibility of seeing ugly holes where the pins were.  Highly unlikely you'll scratch the stainless barrel, just make sure you put a good coat of lube on the barrel when the FSB comes off, if you decide to do that.  
By starting from scratch you'd probably be spending about $439 ($95 for the receiver, $225 for the barrel, $119 for the bolt group and charging handle) for the complete upper half minus of course the Larue and gas block.  To buy a RRA NM upper, it'd cost you $590 from Adco.  MJD

This is a photo of munyguru's rifle. It is pretty much the configuration I would want.

I want the rifle to look like a gem, and shoot dream 1/2- 5/8" groups, yet retain tactical/sniper aspects.

Therefore, it is nothing I will attempt to build myself. (especially not desiring to learn on it considering what it will cost)

I know and trust the RRA NM match rifle, and thought it would be a good base to start from. I didn't want to leave it up to a smith to have to order a whole slew of individual parts and trust him to order stuff and build it the way I expected it to be. I was worried about stuff getting scratched up in the process, or not fitting properly, etc.  

There are some names of smiths mentioned here on ARFCOM. A lot of folks says how "great" a rifle it is that they build. But what does "great" mean? To me, the rifle has to look perfect, as well as work "great" I'm not sure if some guys would even care to work with fussier customers like myself.

You can tell that munyguru is a fussy guy just by the way his rifle looks, and the way it is displayed. I know I can get a very nice stock RRA NM rifle out of the factory box, finished in a nice smooth surface, an even color, tight upper to lower, and  no exposed machine marks. I'd simply want it no different with a custom job. That's why I thought I might start with an RRA. A lot of the accurate, tight, and nicely finished parts are already there in the box. But, I think you have pointed out to me that there's going to have to be a lot of work anyway, as well as needless waste. So as much as I'm hesitant about finding a smith, I guess I better start at least talking to them, and finding one.

Now that I hear your requirements what you can do is call up Adco firearms and tell them what you want done.  You can find them in the Industry forum.  They will build you a custom upper/rifle that meets your needs.  They use top-quality parts (mostly RRA) and are what I would call experts in the AR business.  They're not hack smiths by a long shot.  They've made a lot of really precision rigs for our troops overseas and us couch commandos here at home.  

By the way, I'm not sure that an Wilson NM barrel will get you that magical 1/2" group you're looking for without handloading.  I've used Black Hills 68 gr. and 75 gr. and the best I can do is 11/16" off a rest.  I'm still working on a good handload but have yet to find that "pet load".  MJD

I kind of assumed you would be handloading.   If you plan on shooting 100yards only i would look at 52 or 53gr matchkings,  not 68,75,77,80 bullets,  there is no need for them at 100yds.

Yes, Gentlemen. I will be reloading.

This is a photo of the kind of groups that inspire me!!

It's from a fellow ARFCOMer's photo, but I can't locate the thread that also had a picture of the rifle. His rifle had an A2 stock and did not look like an extra ordinary DCM rifle, and so I am encouraged that I should be able to have an RRA rifle built  to duplicate the same results. The only difference is, that I want it to look more like munyguru's rifle of a tactical fashion.

VaniB,
Not to rain on your parade, but if you check the specs on the rifle you will see that it has a Krieger Broach cut custom barrel, and sub MOA groups are on the norm with this barrel.  With a button cut production cut barrel, MOA groups are the norm.