Anyone else not a fan of .223?

Buzznrose said:

It is a free country and you can like it or not like at your pleasure, but there is absolutely no denying the 5.56/.223 just has so much going for it.

- Cost per round is still way better than every other rifle cartridge. Maybe not $0.30 per round but everything else has gone up commensurate to the price rise on the .223

- It is plenty of cartridge for home defense. And properly outfitted, will be very effective past 300 yards.

- With the proper bullet and an accurate shooter, it is plenty of gun for deer and hogs. I’d not choose that round personally but there is no denying it works, regardless what your state laws require.

- It has a soft recoil and is accurate enough to help new rifle shooter learning to shoot center fire long guns. Maybe not sub MOA in most AR’s but most are capable of 2 MOA with a bullet the gun likes.

Again, like, dont like, no matter to me. But facts are facts…and some of the reasons stated against are largely misleading.

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This is pretty much on point.
I have MSR and bolt 5.56. I have gravitated to the 556 when I found how well the 77 smk bucks the wind with a lot less blast than bigger cartridges. 5.56 was just quiet enough it didn't wake my neighbor when I shot coyotes at night. My 22-250 and 260 did.

The .223 is a great cartridge! Light recoil, superb accuracy, inexpensive to shoot & plenty of components available. Just take a look at the available load data & bullet weights available. Highly popular. What's not to like?

I am pretty neutral on .223 / 5.56. It doesn’t impress me yet I have nothing really against it.
I have owned a few ARs, all in .223 / 5.56. I own one now. I have decided that I am going to give it a go hunting coyotes after I move this summer. If it works for me then perhaps my attitude on it will change. If not I will probably keep my AR just because it would be a good gun to have around. Then again, maybe I won’t. We’ll see. Like I said “neutral”.

Pat Riot said:

I am pretty neutral on .223 / 5.56. It doesn’t impress me yet I have nothing really against it.
I have owned a few ARs, all in .223 / 5.56. I own one now. I have decided that I am going to give it a go hunting coyotes after I move this summer. If it works for me then perhaps my attitude on it will change. If not I will probably keep my AR just because it would be a good gun to have around. Then again, maybe I won’t. We’ll see. Like I said “neutral”.

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It will work on coyotes. I've used 40, 45, 52, and 77 gr bullets with equal effect.
I really like the 52s. But varying wind made me switch to 77s.
The 52 Speer is pretty devastating inside 300 yards.

Depends on how you use it, it can be a good caliber but it has to be used within its limitation. I only use 75 grain bullets on my AR's because I like to plink at targets to 500 yards and further to test my wind reading capabilities . In a bolt action it is a different animal. You load a 80 or 90 grain bullet in a 22-250 it simply becomes a joy to shoot. I personally do not like AR's even though I retired from the Army, but one never knows what the future holds so this is how I level the field.

I like it for it’s popularity , different platforms , easy to find ammo and reloading components , cost and accuracy . There is a lot to like about it . I don’t think it is the best caliber for the military though and that would nullify most of the reasons that I like it if the military were to switch caliber.

I like the cartridge, and yes I own an ar style carbine. While the “ar” is a good defense platform, I prefer to shoot 223 in my Howa 1500 Varmint with 69 gr bthps.
To me it is a sweet cartridge in a bolt action varmint rifle.

d

Love the 223/5.56!
Got a couple defensive setups, also a rig set up for groundhog that gets a TON of use mid May through mid September. 223/5.56 is a perfect affordable & satisfactory bridge for me between my 22lr & the much larger calibers I usually take along for whistle pig slaying.

The 22lr gets 0 out to 125yds, the 223/5.56 gets 125-700yds & 308 for inside or beyond. Occasionally the 270 wsm, the 25-06 or some others come out to vaporize. Most outings though consist of the 223/-5.56 & 308- covers everything needed.

In fact, I just put a new Arken scope on my groundhog AR 5.56 for this year, can't wait to put it to work!

A lot of my experience is with kind of more obscure, older rounds like .30-06 for my Garand, 7.62x54r for my Mosins, 8mm for Mausers and .30-30 for my 1894. I've shot .308 and I used to have a .270 Winchester Model 70.
As far as .223/5.56, the main things I like are they are inexpensive, light weight and okay to shoot, not the most fun, a little wimpy but not terrible. I personally enjoy shooting 7.62x39 out of my AK a bit more but that round is becoming harder to
find and brass 7.62x39 is expensive and is even expensive to reload. If I lived in America instead of the Nanny State I live in and could have a can, I think I would like .300 Blackout but without a can, what's the point of it?

.223 is easy and inexpensive to reload and I have components to do it for quite a while. I like ARs too, they aren't my number one favorite rifle (that would be my Garand!) but they are fun to build and mod and are "In Common Use", which will likely be of
importance as the current administration does their damndest to try to find more ways to disarm us.

2ndtimer said:

I agree to disagree. Less for you means more for me! I love the .223, and have ever since my Savage 110 GV introduced me to the cartridge back in 1989.
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I believe that was the same as my Savage. I measured the twist at 14".

I don't own a .223.

I prefer 22-250 for .224 caliber.A fast twist barrel shooting 80 grainers lays out a coyote right now

Nope. No use for it.

my 2 favorite AR has to shoot my Avatar photo. .50 Beowolf and .458 Socom.

I load these bad boys HOTT! best range toy and great to share with range people. Get the best conversation over them.

It's a pretty good versatile round. Wouldn't be most people's first pick for medium game but it can certainly be pressed into service for that purpose while also being an excellent target/defensive rifle cartridge that is easy to shoot accurately, especially for newer or inexperienced shooters.

I think alot of people who discount it as not being good for "urban defense" because of "overpenetration" drastically overestimate the potential for barrier penetration. Just take a look at what happens to a 55gr .223 in 5/8" drywall it ain't headed over to the neighbors house or into the kids room like you would think....

Other than 22LR.I rarely shoot anything smaller than 30 cal.

223, Back when I killed things I can say it is just fine for dealing with stuff up to the size of ground hogs or coyote, can work with more heavy bullets if you get the correct twist, so you can send them a good ways and still hit what you want.

Now in my days of ding steel and using bullets for a hole punch, the other poster that said, yes, not so much recoil to bring you off target for a quick ding ding. Or see your little holes close together.

Generally I shoot a CZ bolt gun in 223 and enjoy it a great deal, it shoots everything well. I still have boxes of steel case and I can ding with enough to make it a bore.

Just last weekend I dug out my AR, And yes I can still hit what I can see....but seeing it is getting more and more difficult. I think I painted the targets 3 times that day....bright orange is still the best color, yellow....silver I thought would be good, but NOPE.

I still can't fall back in love with the AR, and that love falls farther away with some plastic magazine under the thing. My good ole' metal surplus are what I ran and left that huge plastic thing at the house. It just did not light my fire. It is not an automatic thing, as I also shot a model 8, and an automatic 22.

Back when I bought that AR in the 80's it was something special, As it has been said about a great many things....it is not the AR that I dislike, it is its fan club.

I am totally in love with it, and the rifles that normally fire it (AR type). I also have a bolt 223 (Moss MVP Thunder Ranch, suppressed) that has given me excellent performance.

slowr1der said:

I just can't warm up to .223 Remington. I can't really find anything that it does that another caliber doesn't do better.

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I find it a little too powerful for me.
That's why I recently bought a Savage in .222 Rem.

slowr1der said:

I'm sure this will be an unpopular opinion, and I'm ready. I have my flame suit on. It's not that I haven't tried to like it. I've shot tons of it over the years. I just can't warm up to .223 Remington. I can't really find anything that it does that another caliber doesn't do better. The one and only benefit I'd found to it in the past was the cost. That's the main reason I've shot it. I knew I was sacrificing performance but at 1/3 the cost it was worth it. Now that it's a much smaller gap and it seems to be in the 60cpr range instead of 25-30cpr, I don't really find the sacrifice in performance worth it. Does anyone else feel the same way? If not, what do you like about the caliber?

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It's just another 22 to me, and I already have one of those for plinking/practice.

I really like my AR's but I only have two in 223/556. I have much more fun with my AR's in other cartridges. Currently in addition to two 223/556 AR's I have 22LR, 300 BO, 30 Remington AR, and 450 Bushmaster. I enjoy 223/556 for shooting 2-gun/3-gun competition but for casual shooting and hunting I like other caliber better. So I don't dislike 223/55 but its also far from my favorite rifle cartridges.

I used to be a 223 hater.
Lack of education as I had been around too many people that were of the mindset that "anything that isn't 30cal sucks".