I am looking at building a tool that fits the purpose of the second amendment, and of course some fun times at the range and out on the desert. Thank you for replying. It sounds like .556 fills the bill. Of course the lobbying by some random .556 fan on FR for years helps.
I have built about a dozen AR15 variants over the last 15 years. Many are ‘tactical’, light weight (since I’m of small build myself), shortest barrels I can get without going SBR, and they are all accurate for 100 yards or less tactical work. That’s the fun stuff anyway😀
I have a few with heavier and longer barrels for accuracy at distance, but there are so many small variations in the chamber cuts between SAAMI 223, 556 NATO, Wylde, etc, and there are different specs for 556 Ammo, it’s really hard for an AR15 to compete with a dedicated precision rifle consistently in the ‘accuracy’ category. By consistent I mean sub MOA every time. If all I need to do is hit a body size target, the AR15 is good out to about 300 yards, arguably stretching to be effective beyond that. That’s the barrel, not the optic or the shooters skill.
Any serious long range precision shooting I do is 308 or bigger. My performance bar is set at 1” groups at 300 yards in these calibers, 1/3 MOA. If I’m not getting that then I know I’m not doing something right.