you be talking to the wrong guy...
i own two ar10s...one a target and one a br rifle.
i own 9 ar15's....everything on your list and more. i have 2 dedicated br ar15's, a three gun, a long range( 26" bbl krieger , 1/7 twist)
and ohh you cannot buy an m14...but with the proper paper work i can buy a full auto ar15( i got no use for one)
free floated fore ends and heavy bbls are quite common. as are optics...why shoot iron sights when optics are much better( even the mil has figured that out)
why do you think we moved to the m16 ? lighter, cheaper, easier to shoot..better, more ammo per man.
an m14 shooter in nam carried 4 mags and one in the gun....total round count by the bean counters...100 in real life 95 or less. a nam era m16 came with 7 20 round mags...140 rounds, same story some carried less than the 140....133/126...but still significanly more rounds than an m14 shooter.
m14's are still used today, but more and more are being replaced with ar10's/sr25's...cause they work better longer and are cheaper to make and maintain.
you dont have to BUILD a rifle for camp perry.....you can shoot local cmp/dcm /nra matches...oh and buy the match ready rifle of the rack...at a discount for match shooters!
if your average guy does not get to shoot past 300 , as you say, then what do you need a 500 yd m14 for ??? see someone mixing apples and oranges ??
i never said an m14 was no good, what i did say was an ar10 is better....no sense comparing an ar15 to an m14..........thats apples and oranges again.
why does the mil shoot ar15/m16 at perry ??? cause they saw the light. they were getting thier colective butts beat by civilans shooting ar's over thier m14's.
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mike in co