Remington 700 in .223

I got a ride from a friend yesterday and he had somewhat of an interesting gun.
I first saw the .223 cartridges on his dash and started to make a joke about the scary guns and idiots but then I saw the Remington 700 on the seat next to me.
The Remington 700 action is a classic American bolt action design. You can get it in a host of different calibers. I've often wondered about the .223 for accurate shooting in a gun less expensive than the precision AR rifles, which basically start at $1,000.
I've shot a Mini-14 and really wish I had one of the newer ones. They are supposedly much more accurate than the older models which earned them a bad reputation.
However, the .223 in a 700 action always seemed like a good idea. High velocity and a light weight bullet so it doesn't go for five miles, it is stopped by trees but yet it has a pretty flat trajectory and transfers that high energy when you hit something. Meaning it would kill the small animal and not just blow chunks out of it like the bigger low velocity calibers. Good for coyotes and grey diggers and crows and thermite and when you line up old paint cans and starting fluid cans next to a bonfire and shoot them. Oh does it make a glorious ball of fire. (Not that I have, or ever would consider such a thing. I don't even have the gun. I just read about it.)
I've shot a .22-250 a little bit (model 700) and I'm amazed at the laser-like trajectory, but there is a lot of powder in the 250 cartridge.
I suppose i am pretty much telling my readers what they already know. I don't do a lot of shooting anymore and don't read any current gun magazines.
I once asked the guy at BiMart if he had anything in .22 Hornet and he laughed at me.
I suppose the .223 is no longer a good choice as the the order has been given to the party faithful to eliminate scary guns and the scary gun caliber and when the dear leader calls the apparatchik fall in line.