Good for the price but not perfect. - Spikes Tactical M4 Flat Top Upper

I’m building a 300 blackout and was looking for a true slick side upper (no forward assist or brass deflector in particular) and was down to a handful of options that were $100 or less. The reviews for this upper seem to indicate it functions fine and I cannot attest to that as I literally just unwrapped it and am writing this review based on the appearance out of the package and test fit on my lower. I purchased a PSA lower on sale and picked this upper because PSA’s slick side upper seems to be perpetually “out of stock” so I went with the spikes over the Anderson based on reviews and my thinking was if I spend a little more than the Anderson I’ll stand a better chance of having the colors match. Unfortunately the spikes upper and PSA lower do not match well color wise which is what you get when you buy parts from different sources but I’d at least hoped the match would be a little better. I’m also docking it a couple stars because I noticed the following cosmetic issues: 1) there’s some small pitting in the anodize near the charging handle but it’s not super noticeable 2) there’s a couple spots on the bottom of the reciever that look like the anodize didn’t adhere to or was scratched off. Also, not a big deal because you can’t see it when the receivers are mated 3) at the very end of the threading for the barrel nur the threading is really bad. This is my biggest issue as it looks like if this portion of threading was anywhere other than where I happened to be lucky enough for it to have occurred it’d either be really hard to thread the nut onto or you’d trash the threads trying. Fortunately for me the bad threading is the last turn of the thread where shims will go should I have to shim the barrel nut so I don’t think it’ll be much of an issue but it is definitely worth mentioning because I would’ve evaluated other options. 4) the holes for the take down pins are extremely tight. I’m probably going to have to either heavily lube up or ream out those holes a little because it was difficult to say the least trying to get the pins in and even harder to get them out but I was also in my kitchen with no tools or lube so that’s more than likely on me and not the receiver but having said that I’ve never had this problem before and I have multiple ar15s. In my opinion this is a nice upper for a truck, hunting, or gun that isn’t going to be your Prized Gucci build. With the receiver in my hand and the above issues mentioned I’d probably have gone a different route and spent a little more but I also HAVE NOT shot this gun yet. I’m only evaluating it based on the cosmetic flaws I noticed immediately.