I have a 1976 200th Year of Liberty Mini 14, and it is NO tack driver. We have done lots of tweakin with this rifle and it just won't shoot groups, more like patterns. It is 100 percent reliable though. We aren't very religious on cleaning firearms and we have put thousands of rounds through this gun and it has not had a hiccup yet.

Like the others said, if you want a nice, compact, semi auto 223 look into the ARs with a flat top and bull barrels.