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And, as Phil noted, the effective range of a .223/5.56 mm is about what I noted. Some competent experts put it much less for defensive use.
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I guess this would depend on the definition of effective. SD distances are not the same as varmint distances. I probably wouldn't shoot anything alive at 500 yards with a .223 but 400 yards I'd definitely take a shot at a coyote. Again the place I shoot 500 yards has some serious wind and I manage to get rounds on target. I use heavy bullets (75gr) to combat the wind and I spend some time learning how to read the wind. And I'm not using an AR. That's a big reason I can shoot accurate at that distance. I've shot AR's at that distance and they just won't do what a 26" barrel, bolt action rifle designed for long range shooting will do (LRPV = Long Range Precision Varmint). As far as the effective range on the battlefield goes that's beyond my knowledge. My experience is in target shooting and varmint shooting. But just so you know at 300 yards I can shoot very close to 1" groups pretty much all the time and that's with the wind blowing straight in on me which I find to be the hardest type of wind to shoot in.
I do have this target I shot with my LRPV. This is pretty typical for that rifle. It was shot at 125 yards. It was the last 4 shots I took when I was checking the zero on the rifle. Once I got it dialed in (I hadn't shot it for over a year) this is what it did. I really don't have any place to shoot long range anymore since they closed the 500 yard range at the gun club. A friend says he has a spot to shoot 600 yards but right now I live about 120 miles away from him so I haven't made it there yet.
I also looked up some videos on rifles very similar to mine. The first one has a 30" barrel and a different stock (not a better stock) but most of the shooters I've talked to prefer the 26" barrel because it balances better. Anyway the first video shows a .223 shooting 1000 yards.
This video shows the same rifle as mine shooting 450 yards. This is typical for how my rifle shoots.
Again the same rifle as mine this time at 500 yards. First shot was high. My guess is they did some Kentucky windage adjustments for the second shot.
One more. A very similar Savage .223 at 1000 meters.