No doubt the versatility of the AR will keep growing. With Uppers being unregulated and having an ever growing assortment of calibers you essentially have a platform for all future needs in a rifle. A magazine fed Semi auto T/C Contender.

--
Of the Troops & For the Troops

Never too interested in the cartridge. BUT, put it in a '98 Mauser and slap a low-buck tag on it and I'm yer huckleberry!

It's fun, cheap and, uhh, oh yeah, "for the grandkids!", yeah, that's right.

Hope you get your aches and troubles fixed up. It's no fun ailin'.

Tis not illegal, rude or moraly wrong, so why attempt to explain it to yourself. just enjoy it guilt free. It is not like you farted in church for Pete's sake.

If I had known I was going to buy the mini, I probably shouldn't have bought the Rossi. The Rossi is still a lot of fun though and in the burbs probably better for defense. Also justified it as my son's first deer rifle.

Up to its limits, of course, which are subject to 'debate'.

To stay on-topic, I would just say the .223 worked perfectly well for me as a varmint cartridge, but my hunting was mostly at short ranges (40 or 50 yards was a 'long' shot), and it was almost all fairly 'quick', offhand shooting.

The ~6-lb Colt Lightweight Sporter that I used was almost perfect for this, at least for a 'long' gun (it had a 16-inch barrel), so I'm all for hunting with the AR platform.

I also tried a 24-inch, heavy-barreled Colt AR, and although it was very accurate, it was really much too heavy and cumbersome for 'field' work, so I went back to the Lightweight.

Or a sixgun.

--