So I went over to Howell Gun Works tonight to see what they had. He took out about 6 AR's for me to hold and look over that were around 1200 or less. This is what my choices were:
IWI Zion 15
Sig M400 Tread
Stag Arms Tactical 15
AndroCorp AC-15
Colt M4 Carbine
Rock Island RRage 15
I didn't care for the Sig because it was the Snakebite version with the FDE furniture. The Andro was the cheapest one and considered an entry-level AR so I passed on that one. The colt was the most expensive of the bunch at around $1300 so I passed on that one too. That left me with the IWI, the Stag and the Rock Island. After much drooling over the 3, I ended up going with the Stag Arms Tactical and bought a set of Magpul MBUS flip up iron sights for it. My plan is eventually to put a red dot on it but I'm not prepared to drop another 250+ on an optic right now. Also picked up 200 rounds of .223 to practice with at the range. NICS should hopefully be back by Saturday so hoping to pick it up by then. Hope I made a wise choice!