.223 never interested me,

[svtruth]

but a recent gun rag had a review of a .223 pistol. Has anyone had any experience with such a beast?
Thanks in advance.

[GigaBuist]

Are you talking about the single shot ones like Thompson/Center make or the semi-automatic pistols based on the AR-15?

[Plink]

I've fired a Savage Striker in .223. It's quite mild actually. I also shoot 2 Remington XP-100 center grip pistols in .308. They're a bit more of a handful, but controllable. To me, rifle caliber handguns are more a novelty than anything else, but I did do well using the XP-100's for silhuette competition and hunting.

[MrBorland]

I'm curious - how's the muzzle blast on these? Wouldn't a pistol shooting rifle cartridges be, um, just a teensy LOUD? Never actually heard one shot myself. I'm guessing the noise would wake the dead!

[rkh]

My dad recently purchased a Kel-tec 223 pistol. I don't think he's chronographed it yet, but he says it's bulky, makes a huge fireball, and is deafeningly loud.
He's trying to develop a specialized load for it, but I'm not holding out hope that he'll be successful.

Although I love the .223 chambering, I think it needs at least 14 inches of barrel to be practical for any sort real-world application.

[kirkcdl]

I had a Magnum Research Lone Eagle in .223,it was actually too mild,so I sold it...

[Plink]

Loud they are! Very loud, with a rather large fireball too. Also, factory ammo is optimized for longer barrels, so for the best performance you really need to handload.

[M2 Carbine]

I've got three. A Busmaster Carbon 15 and two Kel Tec PLR-16 pistols.

The PLR is very accurate, grouping 2.5 inches, or less, at 100 yards.
The PLR has a 9 inch barrel which gives 2,550+ fps muzzle velocity. That's enough speed for the 55 grain bullets to go through 1/4 inch steel plate.
It's a powerful pistol.

The gun isn't "a beast". Without a flash hider there's a large flash and VERY loud blast but the recoil is quite mild.

Without a doubt the .223 pistols are the most interesting, fun to shoot guns that I've bought in a long time.:)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v135/Bell406_206B/PLRCarbinesling.jpg

Without a flash hider.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v135/Bell406_206B/PLRwithoutflashhider.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v135/Bell406_206B/PLRscope.jpg

[Ranger61]

I have a Lone eagle in .223 with the muzzle break. It has a 14" barrel and it is loud but the recoil is very mild (near 22LR). Accuracy is just under 1 inch at 100 yards with a 7X burris scope on it. They are fun guns to shoot but they are loud:what:

[W Turner]

Could you not work up a special load using handgun powder that would be more suitable for one of these?

It makes sense to me that you start off by getting the load data for a handgun case similar in capacity to the .223 rifle round and work it up from there. Only problem I see is the load data for the pistol would account for much heavier bullets, but there has to be a way to account for this.

Or am I missing something?

W

[Smith357]

I have a T/C Contender with 14" and 21" .223 barrels, the short barrel is very loud even with handloads it is quite an attention getter at the range.

[MachIVshooter]

Although I love the .223 chambering, I think it needs at least 14 inches of barrel to be practical for any sort real-world application.

Go play with your dad's PLR and get back to us. I think your opinion will change.;)

[M2 Carbine]

W Turner
Could you not work up a special load using handgun powder that would be more suitable for one of these?

The short answer is No.
Pistol powder burns too fast and to try and get .223 (2,600+ FPS) performance would cause bad high pressure problems.

I do shoot a 1,000 FPS plinking load using a 55gr FMJBT bullet and pistol powder.


I think the answer is to use a fast burning rifle powder so as to get the best velocity from the short barrel .223 pistols.

Without having the proper testing equipment a hand loader is venturing into dangerous territory when he exceeds carefully tested published loads.

Personally what I'm going to do first, when I have time is check out the published loads that are using the fastest burning .223 powders to see how they do in the 7-9 inch pistol barrels. Then go from there.

[W Turner]

M2- Knew there had to be a reason it wouldn't be that easy.

Thanks,
W

[Still 2 Many Choices!?]

10 1/2" barreled .223 AR-15 Pistol owner... Built it up on Rock River receiver with a Model 1 Sales kit. No problems after Model 1 got me all the correct pieces to assemble it. I did have to do a little fitting on the pieces since I think Rock River's receivers run a smidge on the tight side.

Shoots very accurately at 25 yards with irons. I plan to one day SBR my 14.5 Bushmaster, so I can use the short upper on it too:neener:! Then comes the suppressor:evil: ...

Still 2 Many Choices!?

[OLD DOMENION]

I'm 68 years old and I think the .223 is under powered.
18 years ago my wife gave me a Ruger MK-II [HANDY-DANDY] Ultra Lite in .223 to quit smoking.
After several years of 3 1/2 inch groups I found that a 1 in 12 twist would shoot a 55 grain bullet. I then downsized the load to 2600 feet per second [.22 Hornet velocity]. The gun shoots a dime 5 shot group at the slower velocity.
I still think the .223 is under powered, as a millitary weapon!