First off, hello from the heart of the Pacific North-“wet”. I’ve been lurking here for almost a year, joined several months ago, but didn’t feel right posting until I finally had an operational M4 to call my own.
That being said, I’ve been into firearms ever since I could keep both ends off the ground, and have been an amatuer gunsmith for about 10 years. This has been my first venture into the world of the M16/AR15/M4 platform, and I wanted it to be “my own” so I bought a stripped lower and set out to collect parts and assemble it myself. I have to admit that I got impatient / lazy when it came to finding the barrel I wanted in stock someplace, so I cheated and started playing the “complete upper lottery” at Bravo Co. :rolleyes: Well, I finally hit a winner, and was a proud owner (in waiting) of a 16" Daniel Defense upper, complete with BCG, Omega X 12.0 rails, and the DD BUIS. After almost a week of staring out the window, waiting for UPSanta to arrive in his big brown truck, my package arrived! YAY 
After lovingly mounting my new upper onto the lower I’ve had built for over 2 months, I sat down to browse the forums here, and of course, on of the first threads I read is one started by rob_s…“go shoot the gun”.
After hearing him chastising all of us newcomers about putting frills on a firearm before we even take it to the range, I sat and looked at my new best friend, and almost felt guilty that I didn’t hold out for a basic carbine upper with standard plastic handguards:o Well, I thought it would be long before I said this, but…DAMN YOU, rob_s ! I am NOT going to feel guilty the I have a well turned out new weapon, and now… I AM GONNA GO SHOOT THE GUN !!! 