i'm building a little one up a slightly different direction than most but maybe will give you ideas?
Howa barreled action (order from prophet river)
Mdt Lss or Lss xl chassis (made in bc, order direct)
Put the whole thing together yourself at home, pretty slick, removes gunsmithing to get good accuracy.
The one i'm building is in 6.5 grendel for the kids so it can grow with them. I went with the lightest barreled action, the 20" #1 contour. Using talley rings and lightweight ar buttstock and grip.
This is a decent budget way to go and by all accounts throwing these howa actions into these chassis sounds like 1/2 moa is the norm.
Ours will be used for calling predators so needs to be maneuverable on sticks or bipods(read not too heavy) and will also do some big game work etc. so needs to be lighter than typical precision builds. It's 6.5 lbs without scope, putting a vx5 2-10x42 duplex cds with lumina flips on it and it comes in at 1 lb 2.5 oz additional. That's very light for a chassis build.
I think if looking for more horsepower the 6.5 creedmoor howa barreled action in the mdt lss xl would be a great build. Good luck with your choice.
i just saw you said possibly .223 size, well that is what the howa mini-action is, the 6.5 grendel is that 'size' so to speak in terms of same action length, but at least with the grendel you can hunt big game too, and much better long range than the .223....the 6.5 grendel actually mirrors .308 win performance in terms of range/trajectory but 50-60% less recoil. If you're curious to know more head to the 6.5 grendel forum but think of it as the 6.5 creedmoor short
