As several have mentioned, building your own is a good option. It also means that you become very familiar with the workings of your AR, as you put it all together.
I built my AR several months ago, over the period of a few months. This help spread out the cost, which was the only way I could justify the expense with my wife. I chronicled the build on my blog:
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http://therealnecessities.blogspot.com/ ... stall.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://therealnecessities.blogspot.com/ ... rrier.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://therealnecessities.blogspot.com/ ... guard.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://therealnecessities.blogspot.com/ ... etion.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
My build ended up costing something like $1100 in all, as I ordered some non-standard parts to set up the gun like I wanted. I started out with a CMMG stripped lower purchased for $100. Everything else was ordered from Rock River Arms, with the exception of the rear sight.
I priced out the cost of a standard A2-spec 20" rifle build from RRA parts, starting with a $100 stripped lower, and the cost came out to $893.25. RRA will also sell you an assembled rifle to the same spec for $980. They also have customized carbine stuff on sale for $1000 even, if you wanted to go that route. They do not charge shipping (or at least didn't for me during my build), and they're out of state, so no tax.
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