Do You Shoot .223 Or 5.56 Or Both And Why?

I use them interchangeably and always have. My AR's and one of my bolt guns are marked 5.56 anyway and the other bolt gun which is marked 223 shoots 5.56 just fine. There are many other factors that will effect zero far more than the difference between 5.56 and 223 as long as the bullet weights are the same. You could see a greater difference in zero between 2 different brands of 223 ammo with the same bullet weight than between 223 and 5.56 in the same bullet weight. Or not, every rifle is an individual.

In the "real world" the difference between the 2 is largely academic anyway. 5.56 CAN be loaded to slightly higher pressure than 223, but the odds of actually finding any 5.56 that is over 223 pressures is slim. It is entirely possible, even probable, that a lot of 223 factory ammo is actually loaded to higher pressure than a lot of ammo marked 5.56. Other than hand loaders no ammo manufacturers are going to load anything right up to the maximum allowable pressure. And if you do get some the worst thing that will likely happen is that a 223 chambered semi auto won't function reliably with hotter 5.56 ammo. When was the last time you saw a semi with a 223 chamber?

This is one of those things some guys worry about way too much. In reality you are far more likely to run into problems with over pressure ammo with rifles chambered in 30-06 than the difference between 223 and 5.56. And no one worries about that.

I dislike 5.56 brass cases because the dang primers are crimped. It is a big pain to remove the crimp from the primer pocket. However for hoarding, er stockpiling, I prefer 5.56 due to the primers being sealed and crimped and the bullet being sealed. I am on the process of shooting up 5.56 that is 25 +/- years old and it is performing perfectly.

So for general range use I prefer .223 for the ease of reloading.

Doesn't matter to me. My AR is 5.56, so either works just fine.

Not mine but stored in my safe is a BCM marked for both. As a gift to its owners, my son and grand daughter, I purchased 1000 rounds of Winchester 5.56. Price seems better for 5.56 than .223.

I reload so I have boxes of 223 "tailored" for the bolt rifle. Those loads,with appropriate bullets for the task, are proven accurate in that rifle and separate from the FMJ reloads that the AR likes.

The word anal comes to mind.....

I shoot both indiscriminately and then reload them to .223 specs. The 5.56 cases do have the military crimp which is a hassle but I have a little RCBS tool that sits on the end of an old power drill that makes short work of them. When reloading I usually sort the brass so that I am using the same type of brass for any given load.

I use both in either an AR or a Bolt Action rifle.

Varies based on cost/availability. I run 64 for everything (more or less), and I try to keep everything reasonably ballistically matched. This seems doable, as listed MV can be basically the same between the two, despite the official status of .223 being (slightly) lower pressure.

In other words, I check the bullet weight and velocity, do not worry whether it's labelled 5.56 vs .223.

My AR is still searching for the most accurate factory fmj.
Armscor 55sp is my ammo right now.
My 223 gets hand loads.

peeplwtchr said:

at any given moment I am zeroed for one or the other.

Click to expand...

At any given moment, assuming a rifle has been zeroed at all, all rifles are only zeroed for one load, regardless of cartridge designation.

You’re not zeroed for 223 or 5.56, you’re zeroed for your particular load used to zero. Even within the same .mil designation, it’s pretty common for 5.56 loads from different manufacturers to have different zeroes. Start talking about different brands and models of different bullet weights among 223 and 5.56, you could be all over the map.

Don’t overthink it. One brand, one load, one lot, one zero. Every step-change away from that specific combination of parameters is a potential shift in POI.

I don't search for tiny groups from an AR. So I don't worry about it, I buy whatever is cheapest and pop it in there and let them rip. If you're shooting for precision I would think the 223 has an edge. I only shoot about 1000 rounds per year from my AR to stay proficient then toss that thing back in the safe and shoot something more enjoyable.

One of my ARs groups at least four 62gr handloads (SP, HP, FMJ) including Federal and Turkish XM855 to the same POI at 50 yards. Are they considered to be 223 or 556? I don't really care. I shoot the same handloads in my Remington 700 Tactical.

M

For non-benchrest shooting, the differences are likely moot. Even if one has a POI off by an inch or more I doubt it would register with most shooters until range stretched out past 300 yards or more, and definitely would not matter for close-in work.

I load and shoot both. I don't see any difference if the case says 5.56 or .223. Everything I load gets loaded using .223 data and a max bullet weight of 62 grs. My bolt rifle is .223 and my coming-over-the-wall rifle is 5.56. If I were to build an AR it would have a Wylde chamber.

A couple of my ARs have a Wylde chamber and they shoot both .223 real good and 5.56 as well as any 5.56 AR.

I'm not saying I agree with this; however, it is a decent explanation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.223_Wylde_chamber

This has pictures.. https://www.pewpewtactical.com/223-vs-556/

I have three ARs, two with 5.56 chambers and one with a 223 Wylde chamber. I shoot both 223 Rem and 5.56x45 with all of them. It often comes down to what I can get the best deal on, or what happens to have the particular projectile that I want. I do not reload, at least as yet, so crimped primers are not a concern.

As JMR 40 said, commercial 5.56 ammunition is often loaded no hotter than the same variety of ammo sold by the same maker and labelled 223 Remington. I have found a number of varieties of 223 Rem ammo that shoot more accurately than similar 5.56 ammo. When it comes to garden variety 55 grain FMJ ammo, 223 Rem is often a bit cheaper than 5.56 and performs just as well.

My Delton likes American Eagle 223, and shoots it so well that I don't see a reason to change its diet.

M193 5.56 and 55 grain 223 are interchangeable to me - I got a great deal on a few hundred Federal M193s at PSA, and put those through my AR without seeing any real change. But when I'm out shopping for ammo, AE 223 is the first thing I look for. I don't have any use for M855 5.56.

I've got a 5.56, .223 and .223 Wylde chambers.

Each rifle get's it's own load or 2. The 5.56 gets a 5.56 load based on MV and a bullet chosen for SD. I use Lake City brass for it, just to keep it identifiable.

The .223 has a precision scope and has multiple loads developed depending on the intended use. It's zero'd for it's varmint load, but I've captured the offsets for it's target loads, so it's just a question of clicking in when switching ammo.

The Wylde chambered rifle also has it's 2 loads. A varmint load that it's zero'd for and a 3Gun FMJ load. Before a match I simply click in the offset for the FMJ load.

I do not and never have even considered it.

I choose based upon projectile and/or ultimate cartridge performance and never give the .223/5.56 debate a moment's thought in considering loading.

Todd.

I use Federal XM193 5.56 almost exclusively, for two reasons.

First...

Varminterror said:

...One brand, one load, one lot, one zero. Every step-change away from that specific combination of parameters is a potential shift in POI.

Click to expand...

Second, I find Federal XM193 5.56 to be more readily available for consistently reasonable prices than any other 5.56/223 ammo.

223 spec ammo isn't really loaded to lower pressures than 5.56 spec ammo. It's loaded to make full pressure in a 223 SAAMI spec chamber, which has a shorter throat.

There is a third reason, one that it's based on a personal quirk, not fact. I grew up shooting in a time when Roy Weatherby was the Howard Hughes of the gun world, P.O. Ackley wrote the book on wildcatting and any rifle caliber that couldn't make 3,000 fps was obsolete. I'm more mature now, but I still feel the siren call of Mistress Velocity.

Obturation said:

I don't search for tiny groups from an AR. So I don't worry about it, I buy whatever is cheapest and pop it in there and let them rip. If you're shooting for precision I would think the 223 has an edge. I only shoot about 1000 rounds per year from my AR to stay proficient then toss that thing back in the safe and shoot something more enjoyable.

Click to expand...

This. If I want precision, it’s a bolt gun. My AR is for the zombie apocalypse.

I load and shoot Lake City brass. I have never found a need for commercial .223 brass because I purchased 5000 swaged Lake City back in the day and sorted them by weight.

Velocity is irelivant for me, I load for accuracy and consistency in my Rem 700 bolt gun.

MikeInOr said:

I load and shoot Lake City brass. I have never found a need for commercial .223 brass because I purchased 5000 swaged Lake City back in the day and sorted them by weight.

Velocity is irelivant for me, I load for accuracy and consistency in my Rem 700 bolt gun.

Click to expand...

Good point. Velocity doesn’t win matches. Consistency of load and loading techniques, combined with bag handling and conditions (ie, read the damn flags!) are the recipe for tiny groups. Velocity is only good for the internet chat rooms.