I am new to AR-15's, in fact I have been avoiding this type of firearm completely for some years now. My passion is for turn bolt center fire rifles and equipment tuned to place several bullet holes into a penny without breaking the rim.  Lately I feel the need to obtain some type of AR-15 rifle and cannot give my desire for a sub MOA weapon.

Is the Les Baer AR-223 worth the extra money as compared with Bushmaster?

IMO, no. A Les Baer 1911, yes.

Any of the "better" ARs (Colt, BM) should be capable of fine shooting **if** they have damn good ammo.

My Colt 6601 can **almost** do your penny trick with mil-surp ammo now.

You can always get a decent lower & then add some sort of super NM upper to it. I'd check the Camp Perry boys & see what they use, most importantly, see what wins!  

Personally, I'd get a matched upper and lower if I could get all the preban features. Maybe after '04?
I'd only do this if I planned on building from the ground up. I wouldn't buy an already built Les Baer ar-15. I'd pick up their bolt and carrier while I was at it. Their parts aren't really that much more then other manufacturers.
Put whatever barrel you want in the rig. Decide on what fire control system you want. Pop on whatever stock. Pick your rails, mount your optics.
If you did get a rDIAS, you could essentially make a preban styled Les Baer M-16! [}:D]
You'd die with a permanantly etched shit eating grin on your face!
Send the monster to Bearcoat to get finished just like Les Baer.
-Steve

That's incredible performance for military surplus ammo.

BobCole,
Glad to hear about the accuracy of the 6601.
I'm picking up that same model very soon, maybe tomarrow. It's practically brand new and cost me 1200.
It's gotta be that Match h-bar...
Good shootin'
-Steve

"Almost" being the operative word there.  >gg<

That's too much for a 6601 ...going rate is $850-$900.