First AR, I want a Grendel

[LordBlackout]

Hello,
I have been dreaming of owning an AR 15 for years, and now that I live in USA, I wanna finally do it!
I need advice to make an affordable, yet reliable and possibly mil spec build.
I would like an all around rifle, lightweight and with a 16 max 18 inch barrell.
I am leaning toward Aero Precision, how their Grendel upper is?
Ideally I wouldn't like to spend more than 750, since I am going to buy a scope too.
Thanks in advance to whoever responds,
Good evening,
LB

[BCHunter]

Welcome, light weight is a relative term,

The 6 ar's between myself and my brother, for reference, with optics.
12.7" group buy grendel 7.34 lbs
16" ballistic advantage hanson grendel 7.98 lbs
18" RRA ATH BULL .223 8.25LBS
18" ballistic advantage hanson 223 9.28 lbs
18" Odin works bull 6.5 9.52 lbs
20"RRA HBAR .223 10.51 LBS

My experience is barrel profile and optics choice is were most weight will be gained or lost .

Oh and 4 out of 6 have aero precision upper, lowers and handguard. So I would recommend but I may be biased.

[Drillboss]

What do you want to do with the rifle?

I just spent ones of minutes on Aero's site but didn't see any Grendel complete uppers. Looks like you want to buy an upper as opposed to building your own. I've got no complaints with the 16" barrel I bought from Alexander Arms. Looks like they have some uppers that meet your price point. https://www.shopalexanderarms.com/6_...el-Uppers.html

Best of luck with your choice and welcome to the forum.

[Rangerofthenorth]

Granite Ridge Outfitters has Aero Precision 18" Grendel uppers in stock in black for $519 and fde for $539.They come with the lightweight hand-friendly s-one handguard which I have multiples of!

[Texas]

Welcome to the forum LordBlackout. Where do you hail from?

[LordBlackout]

Thanks to everybody for the replies.
I am from Italy.
So, I know the perfect do-it-all gun doesn't exist, but I am trying to get close to it.
Would be awesome to have a rifle small enough to clear a building, but capable of reaching targets precisely at medium distance (500 yards?) and easy to carry.
I will be probably using it at the range most of the time and for home defense, but I might hunt too.
I am pretty crafty but still a little bit intimidated about the idea of building an AR from scratch, so I was thinking about buying partially assembled parts since it is my first gun.

[Londerko]

I got a complete Aero Precision upper assembly for under $500 with BCG (barrel is made by Ballistic Advantage) and it shoots lights out. I would buy on again
The Larue uppers/build kits are supposed to be super nice too. Just a little more $

[Lastrites]

The Larue upper kit's are a solid deal if you are building from the ground up and can use the other parts that come with the kit.