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OP: I understand your want to keep the price to a minimum, however there are certain things you should just never cheap out on. The way I look at it is life is too short to deal with crappy stuff.
If money is tight for you I feel your pain completely, however its best to practice patience, save your money and keep your eyes peeled for deals, discounts, and sales. I personally have been piecing together a carbine for some time now, I started researching it over a year ago, bought the first part back in the spring, and have just recently finished the lower. I'm hoping to have the upper completed minus optics by the end of April.
But for the love that is all that is holy, stay away from UTG, a friend of mine's uncle owns the company back in China and he works for their LA location, trust me, its garbage. He has access to their entire product line for free, what does he use? not UTG, thats for sure.
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To the OP. Please don't think we are being hard on you. But, all too often we have people who did ZERO research show up to the site, present a list of trash and then ask what we think.
You may not want to hear what we are saying, in which case you can ignore it. Building an AR is not like slapping together Legos as some uninformed people would have you believe. You need to have the right tools and know what you are doing. Or you will end up trying to convert your carbine into a midlength improperly and the weapon won't work or worse.
Not only will this ensure that you have a safe and reliable weapon, it will also prevent you from spending and wasting money.
Everyone wants to jump on the AR bandwagon. Don't buy an AR or try to assemble an AR unless you have enough money to do it right and you are able to feed it with ammunition and magazines.
All I can say is sell everything except for the lower receiver. Spend some time here reading around and look in the equipment exchange. Slowly pick up stuff like a BCG, and even an upper receiver and decent quaility stock.
Failing that buy a decent handgun or shotgun.
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Go with what Iraqgunz said. Sell everything but the lower and start over.
I don't know where you are in MD, but if you are close to DC, there is a gun shop in Winchester, VA (northern virginia) called Frederick County Firearms. There is a guy named Harlan that works there. He knows his shit. He helped me out with my first build.
Talk to him about building one on a budget, but with enough quality for self defense. He will hook you up with everything you need and no crap that you don't. And yes, you will have to buy it piece by piece and save up in between.
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You're not in terrible shape. There's nothing wrong with Rainier Arms uppers or barrels.
I don't know if you intentionally got a Stainless Steel barrel or not, but that's what you have. The Rainier is 416R with 3 groove polygonal rifling. This type of barrel is generally intended for a precision rifle where accuracy is the main concern. It will not be quite as durable as a chrome lined barrel but will serve you well in a variety of applications. If cost is a big concern, there is absolutely no reason that you have to sell your barrel and take a hit on your wallet. That barrel will be fine for everything but sustained full auto fire. Those barrels are exceptionally accurate, as well. You will be hard pressed to find a more accurate stainless barrel at that price point.
Now, you've gotten your answer on the gas system earlier in this thread. This is a relatively easy fix. My reccomendation? Sell the stuff you can't use on the Equipment Exchange, then take that money and put it towards what you need. You're not going to be too far behind on price.
Like others have said, AR's are not lego sets. There's a lot you can mess up. But if you take your time from here on out and do your research, you can salvage your build and have a great learning experience.
Despite all the BS over on ARFCOM, there are some great tutorials over there that will break down what tools you need to finish your build, as well as step by step instructions with pictures.
Most importantly, don't quit on what you're doing. Owning and shooting an AR-15 is a great thing. Keep saving up, the reward is well worth it. But they key thing here is to make no more mistakes so you don't waste any more money on stuff you can't use.