Never found an AR10/15 or variant that could hold its water against a Springfield. Tried alot of them (cannot say I tried them all) and they were just not reliable in my book.
They all had their little quirks. Be it magazine, picky on what kinda ammo, could not handle dirt, barrel sensitive to being touched against something, soft touched primers, etc.
The Springfields all shot and operated with the same amount of reliability as long as the person did not try to “customize” and go all Rambutt with it.
Sorry, the Alphabet Brigade just chose wrong and liked the color black.
And what is wrong with “Baby Cakes”? That is a pretty name.
Competition is a good gauge of overall performance but it's not perfect. There are other consideration when one is factoring in real life or death situations. When those in our military that are given the option of choosing their own rifles and literally live and die by their choice of equipment, they choose the AR.
Objectively, it appears that the AR is simply the superior platform.
I love the M1A, it's an iconic rifle. It has a character and presence that the AR simply can't match. That doesn't mean that the AR isn't simply superior. It's like classic cars. The '67 Shelby GT500 is one of my favorite cars, it has a brilliant combination of class and track heritage muscle that simply can't be matched by the 2014 Shelby GT500. That being said the 2014 Shelby GT500 is a superior car by every measure.