Benchrest accuracy has absolutely nothing to do with warfare, it can rarely be achieved in a combat situation. It doesn't matter if your AR can shoot half inch groups, what good will that do you in a firefight? If you're refering to sniping, at what, 100 yards? 200? 600? A match grade M14 is easily capable of MOA, and even if it was 2 MOA it will still out shoot a 223 past 100 yards. Try shooting a target at 600 yards with 223 and a 20mph crosswind and tell me how lucky you are. Even if you are lucky enough to hit anything(with high wind), what is that 22 cal. bullet going to do when it hits your target at 600 yards with 250ft lbs of energy? You may as well send the taliban an FTD pick-me-up-bouquet. This whole "combat rifle benchrest accuracy" thing is killing me. Every time this conversation surfaces the AR deciples have no place to go so they fall back on the old "Well the AR will shoot groups half inch smaller than the M14." The 223 will never be an adequate long range sniping round, so half inch groups have nothing to do with anything, pounding people without body armor in the chest from a few feet away while clearing buildings or making perfect head shots out to 200 yards(with calm conditions) would probably be the extent of it's usefulness. The 7.62 kills better, period. A 223 has never been and never will be a better cartridge for war, period. A match grade M14 can make reliable kills at 800 yards, period. A match grade M16 will never, ever, ever, ever be able to make reliable kills at 800 yards, period. And the guys in the middle east aren't shooting paper targets. If the AR is so great, why have we been constantly trying to improve it by going to heavier bullets? Because it's a varmint cartridge being used on people, who would have ever thought that it wouldn't pan out? It doesn't matter how heavy you go, cause at the end of the day, all you have is a slower 22 caliber bullet. these are the facts. I'm not making them up, I'm just writing them down.