5.56 with iron sights out of a 20” barrel is good to 600 yards in the hands of an experienced shooter. 1,000 yards requires a 90 grain bullet in a 24” barrel to stay supersonic - and just barely at that. The elevation is something like 50’ above target and a moderate crosswind will put you 25’ right or left.
M4 62 grain - anything beyond 200 yards is luck.
Agreed. I fired the M16A1 with standard 55gr ball in basic. During our downrange feedback drills, I was hitting the 300 target regularly, though my groups were very scattered. I’d consider myself a good, but not great shooter. A couple years ago, I tried hitting the 300m target at a nearby range with my 16” barreled AR15. Conditions were good, but the results were not.
“... 1,000 yards requires a 90 grain bullet in a 24” barrel to stay supersonic - and just barely at that. The elevation is something like 50’ above target and a moderate crosswind will put you 25’ right or left.”
Sounds a lot like shooting the old black powder .45-70 at long ranges. But with the .45-70, you at least had a 300-500 grain bullet hitting the target down range, not 90 grains.