The dragunov is cool, but it's for collectors. It's not super accurate (1-2moa), but a real russian one will cost upwards of $3000 when you can find one, so a very limited market there.. And it is semi auto.

Somehow I missed the first page so I didn't realize what this thread was about, but now I know, so my .02.

I have a buddy with a rock river varmint ar-15. It is very accurate, with a big thick barrel. Weight is a little funky with too much towards the muzzle, but other than that not bad. I think they guarantee that it will be capable of .25" groups at 100 yards straight out of the box.

Recoil, an ar-15 does not have it. It does, but it is super light, and you can shoot all day without a problem. I learned to shoot competitions with an ar-15 and you actually use the recoil to bounce you back into position for the next shot.

I am not a fan of the .223 round though. My target rifle is (was) in .223, and it just doesn't do well. I shoot a competition every month out to 500 yards. I can do very well in calm conditions, but as soon as the wind picks up that little bullet gets blown all over the place. It also has no power behind it. Shooting the steel plate at 500 yards barely wiggles it, where even the 308 was knocking it around. With only about 500fpe at that range, it''s barely even hitting it.

Personally, however, I really don't like the ar-15 platform. Don't care for semi-auto, and I just don't think they are accurate enough. This is my personal baby that I shoot competitions with.

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And a nice 3 shot group from it at 500 yards.

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