Plenty of barrel options with the AR platform. CHF, cut-rifled, button-rifled, chromoly, stainless, chrome-lined, nitrided, etc. Then there are choices for barrel length, gas system length, chamber-type, twist-rate, etc.
As RL mentioned, the AR is like Lincoln Logs (or Legos) for men. There are seemingly infinite combinations and configurations possible.

ARs are broken down into two main sub-components: The upper receiver and the lower receiver (which come apart in 5 seconds via two take-down pins). So, you can buy a complete AR in any flavor, then buy different uppers down the road in other calibers, barrel lengths, etc. You can switch from .223/5.56 to .22LR, to .300BLK, to 6.8SPC, etc. by simply purchasing the additional upper receivers to use with your original lower receiver.
Then of course there is a myriad of accessories/options available. Grips, rails, stocks, triggers, sights, optics, muzzle devices, etc.

If you want something of quality (materials, tolerances, finish, QC, etc.) then I would probably stick with Colt, LMT, Knights, Noveske, BCM, etc. ;)

Punch, hammer and a good lockring tool. 1 beer and watch the youtube video. If you can rebuild a carb or drop an engine, cook a meal you are smart enough to build one. If you don't want record of owning one and can use a router look at building an 80% paperweight into an AR.

I saw a previous thread on the 80% thing. That sounds cool, but I'm in an apt, and I'm certain the missus would be grumpy about me using a router in the apt. Maybe when we get back into a home and I have a garage/workplace.

Right, legos, that's the problem. There are the lego kits to build a Porsche 911 that you can get for $20 and lego kits that you can get for $300.

+1

AR's are extremely modifiable from mild to wild. I made (misnomer as you just put it together) a 20" chf 5.56 upper. Very quality barrel and 1 moa accuracy. only parts that need to be special are the barrel/BCG (which are often rebrands), and trigger if you desire something special.

That said I like the akm platform. Personal preference after shooting an A2.

and again... I know what I would do ;)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1591194165.jpg

I know those are very functional, but my God, do they ever look awful to me. Give me some nice English walnut, a nicely polished blued finish, some hand cut checkering, and maybe a shadow line cheek piece. Now we're talking...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1591203609.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1591203896.jpg

there is a butt for every seat.

if you dont like the AR platform..i get it. but a bolt action rifle or even one of your sweet ass Ruger #1 is a vastly different conversation.

I actually like the AR platform. I just wish there were a "pretty" version of it available. Nice wood, polished blued steel. I think that would be really cool. Would there even be a market for such a thing? Life is too short to shoot ugly rifles... ;)

Agreed, very nice looking spoons. I don't find the black spoons aesthetically pleasing at all. That's the reason that I like the idea of the mini-14 since it's like a love child of the two.

I don't really think this is exactly what you're looking for, but clearly you're not the only person with the idea.

http://woohp.org/pictures/misc/guns/ar15_wood.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/e1/33/6f/e...129571cf95.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/34/f9...bb8144222a.jpg

EDIT: Steve beat me to it.

Now we're talking, Steve. Add some nicely polished and blued metalwork, and we could actually have a really pretty AR. The second one, with the matte finish, is one step away from that.

Teeny-tiny magazines....

yeah those made my eyes hurt....:rolleyes:

Yuo can polish alumium and then maybe a Blue anodizing? Or maybe a polish and then a dark blue cerakote?

Wood vs plastic is a different stroke for different folk. I love walnut stocks, especially a fullstock bavarian carbine. Beauty. However lugging it around damp/wet, moist, humid forests would destroy the stock in no time. I opt for the plastic polymer stuff for roughing the woods. I'll bring out the nice sako when i'm truck hunting.

https://www.cerakote.com/project-gallery?tab=color&htids=Midnight%20Blue%20H-238

Imagine this

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/e1/33/6f/e...129571cf95.jpg

With this coloring

https://images.nicindustries.com/cer...01118&size=650

If aluminum I would go with the anodizing, or some other sort of electro/nitride/phosphate platingcoating. I keep some ammonium nitrate on hand just to coat parts when I get bored.
The cerakote in my experience wears quilty as it's just paint. Nick it, or holster wear.

Yes, something like that. I think a good polishing and then a deep blue anodizing.

I have hunted both our Washington coastal rain forests and the coastal rain forests of Southeast Alaska. I've been stuck living in a wall tent for a couple of weeks of non-stop rain on more than one occasion. Never really drying out, in a salt air environment to boot. I have exactly one composite stocked hunting rifle, a Model 70 Classic (controlled round feed, ala pre-'64) purchased in the early '90s', in .375 H&H. I brought it along on a few of those hunts, but otherwise everything else I used had a wood stock. An old M98 Mauser, a Ruger #1 (both in .375 H&H as well), a Marlin 1895 in .45-70, and some other stuff I'm sure. Not a single one of those wood stocks suffered. Whatever modern wood finishes are used on those stocks, they certainly seem to do the trick. That, and every wood stocked rifle I own has been taken apart so I can seal up the insides, in the inletting, which the factories never do.

That said, my M1A, with its traditional oil finished stock, starts to turn white and look like a piece of driftwood after a single day of use in the rain. It's those traditional oil finishes that give wood such a bad rap. I know it's approaching sacrilege, but I'm about ready to rub some Tru Oil into that damn thing. It's what I use on all of my muzzle loader builds, authenticity be damned. I hunt with them, often in the rain. Knocking the gloss off with some steel wool makes them look "authentic" enough for me. The M1A's day is coming...