How about this? It has a lot of upgrades already. https://palmettostatearmory.com/psa...ht-m-lok-moe-ept-rifle-w-mbus-sight-set2.html
Then you're stuck with a pinned and welded flash hider that narrows your customization options for no reason other than to shorten the whole thing an inch or so and make it "compliant". That's the only thing I saw that was bad about the whole deal. Ever since I learned a good bit about the AR platform, I refuse to buy a whole gun as is. It's so much easier and cheaper just to build one. Not to mention you can customize literally every aspect of the gun to your needs and wants along the way. G82, if you want to just build one, I'm sure everyone here would be more than happy to weigh in on your options and budget and help you build a gun that's truly what you want. We can help with the assembly as well. There's not much to these rifles, but the options are endless when it comes to parts.
With the exception of one alexander arms upper, I have been buying the BCA uppers. They are good deals, but not the best. So far when things are wrong, they are easy to fix. The 7.62x39 guns from them are cheap in part due to cheap barrels. No chromium or nitride coating on the steel. Means no corrosion protection and these barrel can be shot out more quickly. 7.62x39 has lower pressure and so even the uncoated barrels should last a while provided the barrel has decent barrel steel in it. They offer some uppers stainless and some that are coated. For 5.56 I would want a chrome, nitride, or stainless barrel due to the higher pressure and velocity at which that cartridge operates are.Yep, PSA is a good start. I've been looking for an x39 upper 16 inch. A BCA sidecharger complete upper is cheaper than a PSA complete upper, go figure.
Types of AR-15 Barrel Steel https://www.80-lower.com/blogs/80-lower-blog/ar-15-barrels-explained-barrel-steel-types-coatings/
The types of steel used to make AR-15 barrels have also been argued and exhausted in forums and threads across the black rifle community. There are loads of misconceptions about what types of steel are even used to make barrels. Let's clear everything up. There are seven types of gun steel used to make AR-15 barrels, and they can be separated into carbon and stainless steel.
Types of Carbon Barrels: 4140 steel, 4150 steel, and Chromium-Molybdenum-Vanadium (CMV), also called 41V50.
Types of Stainless Barrels: 410 stainless, 416 stainless, 416R stainless, and 17-4 PH stainless.
"4150 CMV" and Mil-Spec Barrels Explained
4150 CMV is the most popular type of steel you'll find when shopping for an AR-15, only there's one problem: The name for this steel is redundant and creates confusion. Allow us to explain.
The phrase "4150 CMV" is a term firearm marketers came up with. Before the AR-15 became wildly popular, most civilian rifles had barrels made from 4140 steel, which is a softer barrel steel that's easy to manufacture. But military-issued Colt M4s and M16s have barrels made from CMV.
When the AR-15 market rapidly grew, shooters didn't want 4140 barrels anymore. They started wanting the same barrels the military used. Except someone in the civilian barrel market started saying that all 4150 gun steel was mil-spec. Now, 4150 barrels can be mil-spec, though not always. And real, mil-spec CMV is actually just a variation of mil-spec 4150 steel. It contains slightly less carbon, manganese, and sulfur, and it includes vanadium (the chart below illustrates this).
4150 CMV = 4150 + Vanadium = Mil-spec/CMV
So, to make customers happy, barrel makers started doing two things: One, they started buying 4150 steel and adding Vanadium to it,. Other manufacturers simply started buying CMV steel and making barrels. Except in either case, they were all calling all these units "4150 CMV barrels". Even though there are slight differences in what elements are contained in each alloy, the name stuck, and the rest is history. Officially, these barrels should be called "4150 Mod V" (which is mil-spec 4150 steel with vanadium added), or simply "CMV". Industry insiders also call it 41V50, which is the proper designation for this alloy.
So, if you want a real, "mil-spec" AR-15 barrel, you need to purchase a barrel or upper assembly labelled or described as "4150 CMV", "4150 V", "41V50" or "MIL B-11595".
MIL B-11595 Explained
This nomenclature, "MIL B-11595" is another misconception because it isn't a type of steel at all. In fact, MIL B-11595 is the military's specification document (click to download the full .PDF) that lists the manufacturing requirements, specifications, and metals and elements contained in mil-spec barrels: