DPMS has been making AR's for a long time, for the most part they just stick to the basics. They work and seem to be reliable.
They are no one's first choice for a top end high level AR but as said they make a good base to build off of. If you plan to do a lot of mods you may be better to just spend a little more money and buy what you want from the beginning or just buy parts and build one.
I used to own a DPMS AR-10 with 24 inch heavy stainless barrel and that thing was a laser gun. Easy sub moa with more than one type of ammo. Don't expect this from a standard 16 inch carbine but they do make decent stuff.
Other options for a quality AR in the $1000 price range would be Core and Windham Weaponry (run by ex Bushmaster employees).
I would suggest that if you haven't had a chance to shoot a few different rifles of different lengths and with different furniture you figure out a way to do that first. There is no point buying one just to immediately start taking parts off and replacing them with others as it will drive up your price to the point you could have just bought a better rifle that was more set up to your liking from the start. The reason I say shoot a few first is because until you do you won't really know what
YOU like until you have some time with some. I can tell you what I like and how I like my rifles set up but that doesn't mean you would be happy with it for long.
In the big picture it doesn't really matter much which one you start with though since you will end up owning multiple AR's, they are addictive and that addiction grows exponentially when you start building them. I was up to 6 AR's not long ago but am back down to 3 lowers and 4 uppers. I can't stop buying parts and putting rifles together
