Good luck in your search. FWIW, the two gen 1 barrels in 223 that I owned were not tackdrivers. Mine were tapered 21" with one forend lug. I sent the nicer looking one to Mike Bellm and had another lug installed with no change in accuracy. May have been me, but my 357 Max barrel shoots great, as do my two 30-30 barrels. The 223 barrels went down the road. The good news is that everybody that posts here shoots way better than I do, so your experience will prolly be better!