I was in the exact same boat, OP. I've been shooting nice 1911s for a while. I've shot a few Wilsons, however I am more in the Ed Brown camp. Though I'd love to have a Wilson Professional. Here's my take on things:
Unlike the 1911 world, there is really zero "hand fitting" of parts in an AR15. It's not like a gun smith is sitting there grinding and filing metal to make parts fit together perfectly. The receivers are either billet or forged. And that's the end of it. Paying $2k for a Wilson or Noveske... your rifle won't be much different in functionality or fit than many others. Very few companies "build" an AR15. They are merely "assembled," if that makes sense.
You're literally paying for the logo that's engraved on the lower. That said, the aesthetics of the rifle will be different. And the accessories that come with the rifle, stock, will be different (trigger, BCG, sights, rails, stock, grip, etc.). But all of those things can be changed after the fact. The core of the rifle that you're paying for is the receivers (billet vs forged) and the barrel.
Initially, I was like... damn I want a Wilson Combat AR. They look sick. But then I realized a few things. One, you are locked into a proprietary rail mounting system. And other than their barrels (which admittedly have a good reputation) and trigger, there's nothing different about a Wilson compared to... say... a Noveske. I decided to go with a Noveske. But again, nothing that different with one of those compared to many other ARs. But I liked the Keymod system and the sleek look of the receivers. Not gaudy. Hand guard flows nicely into the receiver. Good stainless barrel. Comes with decent sights. Good pistol grip. Good stock. And good customer service. I changed out the stock trigger for a Wilson TTU and called it a day. I'm a happy camper.
If you were to go with a Wilson, I'd go with one of their other calibers that you might not be able to get with any of the other AR companies out there at the moment. But you mentioned maybe a .308. I like the idea of that because you can hunt with it and it might be better at longer ranges. And maybe (?) more accuracy potential for target shooting? I'm not 100% sure on that one. And I'd go with their billet receivers. Because other than that, their standard AR model is no different from anybody else's when you get down to it. Because no AR is that different from any other AR. They are not custom-made, hand-fitted firearms like some 1911s. But if you like Wilson Combat, get one. It won't be any better or worse than other expensive ARs. It'll just have Wilson's name on the side is all.
Having said all that, and that I'm happy with my Noveske, if I did it all over again, I would 100% just build my own and go with Mega. I will be doing that with a Mega .308 Ma-Ten. After researching, once you have all the parts and tools, it shouldn't take more than a day to completely assemble an AR15.
Bookmarks