I went on gunbroker.com and found what I was looking for - An Olympic Arms K3B M4 Carbine, chambered in 5.56 (so I can also shoot 223 Rem in it), 16 inch barrel, under 7 lbs. And it has a written life-time warranty.
The first time I tried to buy one I did the bidding thing and before I knew it, the gun I was bidding on was at 1250.00 - I stopped bidding long before that. The next time I didn't fool around with bidding - I used the "Buy Now" option.
Here's the details:
I paid $900 for my AR, $20 for shipping, $25 to my smithy for the FFL transfer - $945 was the grand total I paid.
I mailed the US Postal Money Order on Friday (1/30/09), received the AR the next Thursday (2/5/09) - I thought "Pretty fast turn around time."
BTW, I looked at the ARs at my local gun shop, but didn't see anything I was attracted to - that was under $1000.00 (I did see one I kinda liked for $1045.00, but it was a flat top and I wanted a carry handle on the AR, like the M16 I used in the 82d back in the early 70's. I didn't want to have to add a carry handle, I wanted it "built-in".
I'm glad I used gunbroker, saved some $$$$.
Take Care
Hack