Keith, I have had an 8 twist .223 for 4 years. It is a Browning White Gold Medallion. Not the cheapest model but I managed to get it at a substantial discount through a family connection. Nothing has been done to upgrade it but it shows a lot of promise. Nowadays I have trouble telling how much any poor groups are my fault as my eyes are not what they used to be. Often I get 4 shots into respectable groups with a fifth shot outlier. One of my more reliable bullets is the 70 grain Speer which seems to shoot into 3/4" groups. I have not tried other heavy bullets. Surprisingly the Hornady 40 grain V-Max bullets also shoot very well.
Poor health over the last couple of years has kept me from doing the quantity of shooting I used to do. Don't know if you are looking for a low cost rifle or not but if you check the catalogue you may find that Browning has a model that meets your needs.
Jim
