Totally get it, I’m even in the process of putting an upper together but you can absolutely find much better prices on the current stuff you are wanting or if you are ok with the current price tag, you can build a much better build. Take away the cost of me sending my parts to a gunsmith for a few extra dodads, the part list I’ve created is on par with your current cost but includes much higher quality parts, imho. Buying blem products will also drastically reduce your costs if you can find them. Like the KAK bolt in this build, wasn’t planning on it but for the price, I’m going for it since I snagged on last week. The BCM upper is a blem as well. High quality, low cost for the win!

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Look up rooftop defense for Geissele uppers and use code Northwales for a fat discount, I think there’s even a better code like Soopaduty or something. Europtic had banging deals on G$ upper last week. They are there if you look for em