I have seven AR15/M16/M4 variants in the gun safe and after a while they grow on you.
That is an accomplishment for me as back in my competitve shooting days I shot an M14 in Ntional Match competition and an M1 Carbine in light rifle tactical matches (usually beating the uber cool compensated and highly modified AR-15 carbine variants of the day, much to their chagrin.) I also shot a 1911 in both tactical and Bullseye matches, so I have a lot of affection for that gun and only carried a 9mm under protest.
As an aside, I hate the M9 with a passion. It fits my hand poorly, is overly fragile, overly large for the caliber, is not overly accurate and can be dissembled with the slide totally removed in one slick movement if someone knows how. Not cool if it is your gun that is now slideless.
The AR-15 is exceptionally accurate in varmint weight configurations, in short barrelled configurations and in match tuned configuiration. My last couple years of NM copmetition I used an AR-15 and my rapid fire scores were just enough better to offset the loss in points at 600 yards - and that was before the cirrent crop of really slick wind bucking heavy weight 68 and 75 grain bullets were available. Sad to day, but the truth is that a well tuned AR-15 is superior to a match grade M14 for national match shooting.
I recently started tactical competition again with a 1911 in .45 ACP of course - and with a near XM-177E2 clone. I am using a 12" heavy barrel for a 16" OAL barrel and better accuracy) The handling is superb and the weapon is much more reliable than anything I was ever issued by uncle sam - as in totally flawless reliability.
The low cost and easy reloability of .223/5.56mm is a real plus and if you don't have to stop more than paper or steel plates, it is ideal and allows you to shoot a whole lot moe than if you used a .308/7.62x51mm round.
I am getting 1/2 MOA accuracy with 55 grain M193 clone ammunition in the varmit weight barrels and 3/4 to 1.25 MOA accuracy in everything else - including 1.25 MOA accuracy with an original M16A1 upper on a partial fence SP-1 lower.
My favorite 7.62mm rifles are:
For overall appeal and handling: a mint conditon wood stocked Australian L1A1 built on a metric Imbel lower.
For accuracy: An SAR-8 HK-91/G3 clone with G3 furniture and a scope. (it is a sub MOA rifle with the right load - but is very hard on cases - forget about reloading them)
For portabiliy: The SAR-8 with a telescoping G3 stock.
For economics: A Romanian PSL (a Draganunoz looking rifle built on an RPK receiver and operating system, designed as a designatied marksman rifle rather than as a designated sniper rifle like the dragunov. It is consequently only a 1 MOA rifle with the right load rather than a 1/2 MOA rifle like a dragunov.) Surplus 7.62X54R ammunition is comparatively cheap and the light ball (150 grain) ammunition used by the PSL is reasonably accurate from most sources.
I am also still a fan of the M1 Carbine, but it is no no longer all that cheap to shoot as surplus ammunition is not dirt cheap like it used to be, commerical ammunition is als not cheap and surplus bullets for reloading are now in short supply as all the CMP M1 Carbines have created substantial demand.
The bad news is that I have now moved to a metropolitan area where shooting opportunities are severely limited, so the formerly shootable collection has been relegated to an investment left in storage.
