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1. Against the advice of the He-Man AR hater's club, decide that if it's good enough for the US Army, USMC and the IDF, it just might be good enough for you.
2. Register for a login at ar15.com
3. Decide on your ideal configuration:  A1 upper, 16" Bushmaster M4 contour 'Dissipator' barrel, collapsable stock.
4. Acquire stripped Colt A1 upper.
5. Acquire A1 sight parts and ejection port door.
6. Acquire Colt A1 upper with 20" gov't contour barrel.  "I can shoot that until I buy the 16" Bushmaster barrel, then sell the Colt barrel!"
7. Resell stripped Colt A1 upper and associated parts.
8. Acquire lower parts kit, spare bolt and other odds and ends for assembly of your stripped lower.
9. Find a great deal on a complete 'Dalphon' lower with a collapsable stock.
10. Resell lower parts kit and other doodads, thereby losing money on shipping.
11. Attempt to assemble Colt A1 upper onto new lower.
12. It don't fit!
13. Research the 'small pin / large pin' Colt receiver conundrum.
14. Curse Colt.
15. Curse Colt again.
16. Re-read Patrick Sweeney in Gunsmithing: Rifles, discover that a normal sized pin in a 1/4" bronze bushing can substitute for large hole pin.
17. Go to hardware store, spend $1.32, buy a bronze bushing.
18. It's the wrong $#&*ing size.
19. Go back to hardware store, buy a different $1.32 bronze bushing.
20. It's the Right size, needs to be trimmed to fit. 
21. Dig out dremel tool.
22. Grind, grind grind!
23. Check fit.  Almost there!
24. File file file!
25. It fits!
26. Attempt to assemble upper onto lower, again.
27. It don't fit.  Kinda.  Well, if you really hammer on the rear pin, it'll go together, but you can see daylight between the receivers.
28. Different upper colors looks like ass, too.
29. And got bronze filings everydamnwhere.
30. Go to range, test fire.
31. Bolt over base jam on 1/3rd of rounds fired.  However, prints a nice 2" group at 100 yards! 
32. Go back to arf.com, ask questions.
33. Discover that Pat Sweeney is a liar, and the bushing needs to be eccentric!
34. Order eccentric bushing from model1sales.com, along with $40 in spare parts.
35. Install upper on lower with eccentric bushing.
36. Huh.
37. Daylight gap between receivers still exists.  Rear pin is still a bitch to press in.
38. Grumble.
39. Put AR and parts in a box, and try to think happy thoughts for a few weeks.
40. Acquire stripped Bushmaster 'small hole' A1 receiver.
41. Acquire barrel wrench and action block.
42. Disassemble upper.  Spend 30 minutes figuring out how to remove handguards.
43. Disassemble upper.  Spend 30 seconds pounding out gas tube pin, 20 minutes removing gas tube.
44. Disassemble upper.  Attempt to unscrew A1 rear sight drum.  It won't budge.
45. Get bigger screwdriver.
46. *snap*!  Oh, wait, it's pinned.
47. Remove remains of pin, disassemble A1 sight.
48. Lose flippy rear sight leaf spring thing.
49. Order replacement sight pin and spring, an A2 flippy aperture thingey and a forward assist assembly.
50. Chuck Colt upper into action block, place into vise.
51. Place wrench onto barrel nut.
52. Gird loins.
53. Double check direction of planned wrench turning.  Righty tighty, lefty loosey, right?  But is that if I'm standing in front or behind the nut?
54. Drum fingers on desk.
55. Grab a bottle of Dew from the fridge, unscrew cap.  Screw cap back on, unscrew cap.  Screw cap back on, unscrew cap.  Got it.  I think.
56. Okay, here we go!
57. Hnnnnnnnnnnnnnaaaargh!  *pant pant*
58. Hnnnnnnnnnnnnnaaaargh! 
59. *poit*!
60. Unscrew nut assembly, remove barrel.
61. Remove Colt upper from receiver block, give it a dirty look, toss in "FOR SALE" pile.
62. Place Bushmaster upper in reciever block, place barrel in receiver, screw on nut. 
63. Check alignment of barrel nut, notched ring thingey, and gas tube.
64. Hm.
65. Brace for a mighty tug, and give the wrench another go!
66. Hnnnnnnnnnnnnnaaaargh! 
67. Re-check alignment of barrel nut, notched ring thingey, and gas tube.
68. Hm.
69. Repeat.
70. Damnit, that stupid notched ring thingey keeps moving!!
71. Drink the rest of the Dew.
72. Grab tiny screwdriver and hammer.
73. Tap notched ring thingey into alignment.
74. Check with drill bit.
75. Attempt to install gas tube.  It's pointing to 1 o'clock.
76. Damnit.  Hm.
77. Put barrel wrench on one more time, and give it a mighty tweak!
78. Hnnnnnnnnnnnnnaaaargh! 
79. Attempt to install gas tube.  Bingo!
80. Pin gas tube.
81. Install rear sight bits.
82. A2 aperture is floppy.
83. Remove sight aperture, flip leaf spring thingey over and reinstall.
84. Bingo!
85. Install forward assist.
86. Install ejection port door.
87. Resell Colt A1 upper with the retarded big pin holes.
88. Remove sight drum pin, spin screw until aperture is in the middle of the channel, repin.
89. Spend 10 minutes reinstalling handguards.
90. Moment of truth!  Place upper on lower, push pins in.
91. It fits!
92. Load some fired brass into a magazine, hand cycle brass through action. 
93. It works!
94. Tingle with anticipation for two weeks.
95. Take to range, sight in.
96. The gun is on paper at 25 yards!!
97. Spend 21 rounds tweaking sight settings.
98. Spend 179 rounds trying to make it break.
99. It works!
100. Perform happy dance.
101. Blog it.

I wanted an A1 upper because A2 sights are gay.  They're too easily adjusted and overly fiddly.  Once I get my sights tweaked in, I want them set in stone.  I don't anticipate having to make elevation changes in the middle of a rifle fight; that's DCM stuff.

I wanted to go with a 16" barrel to save weight and make the gun handy, but you just don't turn down 2" @ 100 yards in an AR.  It looks goofy with a 20" barrel and a CAR stock, but I can live with it.  The Colt barrel is at least a reasonable contour, and chrome lined, too.

Also, it lets me mount a bayonet.  Because ammo don't last forever, and ARs make lousy impact weapons.

For a gun that was cobbled together with no two major parts from the same supplier, the results are outstanding.  Maybe the design isn't as flawed as we're all led to believe?  Maybe I should run out and buy a lottery ticket?

I'd like to run it in a few matches and a rifle class and see if it still holds up.  I need more ammo!

Missing from this pic is the generic M16 'silent sling' that it's now wearing.  I also have my eyes on the IDF sling, but I'm willing to entertain other suggestions.