Olympic arms?
I've got a DPMS Panther Southpaw with a 20" superbull barrel. Thinking my next one may be an AR-10 or a .50 Beowulf varient.
Check ar15.com for where all the "ugly black rifle" geeks hang out.
The one I built had an Olympic Arms lower. Generic Stock and buffer tube (gun show). A Bushmaster upper and a Colt bolt assembly. The only problems I had was with the bolt. I had to swap out a couple of parts before it would work right.
Olympic Arms makes a super accurate blackened stainless steel broach cut barrel called the "Stainless Ultra Match" or "SUM". It is probably one of the best barrel options you can put on an AR, specially if you are after a target grade rifle.
Check out the Build It Yourself section at AR15.com. Lot of really good info there.
I own an Olympic M4 and the tolerances aren't as tight as other brands. I had to send mine back to the factory to get it to feed properly (which to their credit, they did free of charge)....But still.....
"Inexpensive" and "firearm" are two words that should not be used in the same sentence.
An AR-15 is a tool that can be utilized to defend your life, your Liberty, and your country. You should purchase only the best. Period.
First, I would recommend buying a copy of "Boston's Gun Bible" by Boston T. Party and "Principles of Personal Defense" by Jeff Cooper. The former is a comprehensive layman's guide to firearms. The latter is about how to fight.
As for the rifle, I'm a big fan of the AR-15 rifle. It is a useful tool to cover ranges out to 300 yards. To do it right costs money. I would recommend keeping it as small and light as possible, so avoid the heavy barrels or the 20" barrel.
As for specifics, start with the lower receiver, which you will need to purchase from either an FFL or a private citizen in your home state. I recommend Bushmaster since I've had good luck with their products and they stand behind their stuff. You can get a lower receiver from Eagle Firearms for $229. That is a good price.
For the upper receiver, I would recommend a 16" M4 barrel and upper receiver from Bushmaster, shown here. It's $545. Make sure you get the A3 version (without the carry handle), so that you'll have a rail to mount optics to. The 16" barrel will come threaded so you can use try different flash suppressors or muzzle breaks. I recommend the Phantom Flash suppressor. But the Vortex is good too.
For the basic optics, you'll want a rear flip-up sight. The ARMS #40 is one of the more popular sights among AR-15 shooters, and costs about $90.
For the "real" optics, go with an Aimpoint (get one of the new M3 models). The Aimpoint consists of a red dot, that has a diameter of either 4 MOA or 2 MOA. It is parallax free, meaning no matter how you look through the optic, the position of the dot will not change. Get a quick release mount for the Aimpoint from either Larue Tactical or ARMS. Everything will run you about $500.
For the buttstock, I would recommend a collapsible stock from VLTOR. It runs about $150 or so. Other companies make stocks to, so you might want to look at those also.
There are many grips available. I like the Tango Down battle grip, but this is purely subjective. If you're like me, you'll probably wind up buying several different grips just to try them out. They run about $30 each.
Don't forget a good 3-point sling with a quick release buckle. They run about $30 each.
Now you have a good fighting rifle. If you want, you can take it to the next level and free float the barrel. Not so much for accuracy (a good AR-15 is inherently accurate: about 1.5 MOA), but so that you can mount stuff on the rails (primarily a flashlight and your forward sling mount), without changing the point of impact. Larue Tactical and Daniel Defense are two FF rails that I would highly recommend. Each are around $250.
For a weapon light, go with a Surefire 6V light. There are a few different options available here. The light will run $300.
Don't forget the mags and ammo. Bushmaster is selling 30 round mags for $20 each. They are top quality.
That's a lot of money, and this can be a very addictive and expensive undertaking. So if you're like me, you'll wind up buying it in parts. But whatever you do, do *not* buy something just because it is cheap. It will break at the worse time, and you will be cursing yourself. Firearms is not the place to "save money".
Also, with many of the accessories, you'll be able to choose between a color of black, OD green, or coyote brown (tan). I would avoid black since it stands out in nature. OD green is good, but I'm really starting to like the coyote brown as my favorite color. It's not a big deal, though, since you can always paint them later with Krylon. I hope this has been helpful. You may want to check out ar15.com for more details.
Ping....
Bushmasters were everywhere at the last Tulsa Gun Show for 450$
Get a bushmaster to shoot or an different brand to work on and tinker with.........:o)
Albeit I'll trust Lurker , Mulder, Glock Rock's , Eaker etc if they have knowledge of the Rock River's or Armalites. I have used the Colt's , the Bushmasters but not the oly's , Armalites or the RR's.
Stay safe !!
if I were undertaking this project, I'd go with Bushmaster components.
oh, and stay away from Hesse.
if there is any component manufacturer with a worse rep than Hesse, I am unaware of it.