I waited for Paul to respond, because I knew he'd be a lot more eloquent.
I ran some cost numbers for an upper a couple months ago. Assuming you spend $150 on a handguard, you'll be spending another $325 or so to finish out your upper. This is based on prices from Midway USA. So, you'll have a total of about $670 into it. That's awfully close to the price point Alexander Arms has on a complete upper. I personally get a kick out of building my own, but there's not a lot of money to be saved.
And with AA, you'll get SAAMI and the right bolt. Precision Firearms has good stuff too.
I ran some cost numbers for an upper a couple months ago. Assuming you spend $150 on a handguard, you'll be spending another $325 or so to finish out your upper. This is based on prices from Midway USA. So, you'll have a total of about $670 into it. That's awfully close to the price point Alexander Arms has on a complete upper. I personally get a kick out of building my own, but there's not a lot of money to be saved.
And with AA, you'll get SAAMI and the right bolt. Precision Firearms has good stuff too.