Hi I have not got a chance to take my ar into the feild yet. But have heard lots of good things about them for this purpose.It has the range for just about any shot ,and is very cheap to shoot! As far as getting one for under $500 ,I would say your going to spend an easy $600 to $700 dollors .Olympic arms makes a model called the "plinker" with a 16" barrel that is nice for about $550. I prefer the 20" my self The pcr 4 model .But as any gun nut knows $500 is just a start I 've had mine for 5 months now and have well over $1500 in it all ready.Good luck my freind and happy hunting