Palmetto State Armory has complete rifle kits for $399 with Magpul furniture. They say all their uppers are fire tested. The reputation is that they are solid budget guns.
If you want a complete store bought rifle, I would try S&W or Windham. Rock River is excellent if you can find one at your price point. Rock River generally has good resale value down the road also.
My EBR lower/LPK with Magpul furniture came from Palmetto State, late 2012. Aside from a mistake I made with a couple of springs, necessitating removal and replacement of both, it went together fine.
Complete Yankee Hill Manufacturing upper (16" diamond-fluted barrel, which is quite aesthetically pleasing, flat-top currently mounted with pop-up sights - I plan to put a red-dot on there... hey, I can afford to now!) purchased from Midway literally immediately after the shooting at Newtown. I'm pretty sure my order was filled with the very last of that particular style YHM upper at the time, and just before prices went up. It was still pretty pricy, honestly - I think I've actually got a thousand into the whole rifle as-is, without any optics. That does include the mags I bought when we had that APS run, around that time.
Need to get out and shoot it one of these days. I've still never actually fired it.
