colts are great ar's and the three ar's i have spent any real time behind are a colt, a stag and a noveske. the noveske had far and away the nicest trigger on it but being a 2000$ rifle ( cant remember which trigger was in it) it very well should. the colt did nothing the stag or noveske did not. and to be honest. the only ar i have ever seen jam was a colt. This is not to say it is not a great gun but to say its the only way is a bit of an overstatement i feel. I am not an AR aficionado buy any means, and hope i dont ruffle feathers with this post, but their are alot of options. I dont know the exact scoop but some colts have different size pins that limit what upper receiver you can mount to it. if this is not correct please correct me with the proper information. If you want to build your own i vote for that 100% you save alot of money and get exactly what you want. i have not built one yet but done a ton of research on the subject. lots of forums, books and videos to walk you through it if you run in to trouble but there doenst seem to be that much to it. The names that come up alot when building your own are delton dpms, bcm, and palmetto state armory. to me the PSA seems to be the best going. alot of people argue the bcm is but u will spend a few hundred more and the palmetto kis are good stuff. options for hammer forged and chrome lined barrels, and length gas tube you want,etc. and the barrels are made by FN and dan wilson depending on which one you get. all the parts are the same stuff in much higher end AR15s you would buy off the shelf. kits start around 550$ and go up but most are around 600-700