.223/5.56 question

[Macchina]

The irony is that there are no pictures of a 5.56 exploding a 223 chamber as far as I'm compared.

A better example would be to show a Toyota airbag crash when we're taking about motorcycle accidents...

 

[fpgt72]

Um...sorry. All apologies for my not so clever ruse. It is clear to all who spotted the blatant red herring that the idea of loading a rifle with something not designed for it could be dangerous.

Next I’ll be showing pictures of people in a Toyota killed by Takata airbags while warning you about your Chevy airbags. Carry on.

That is pretty funny,

However I do have the feeling when you posted the pic your thought was a bit different from a "clever ruse". Once outed you fell back on this statement.

We did not learn anything here we knew anyone can post anything on the internet, and everyone is an expert on anything they want to be.....differences between people are one will learn from the mistake and go....wow I really thought that photo had something to do with what we are talking about, others will take a jab back.

Bet this will get deleted.

 

[wanderinwalker]

That's not what he asked; he asked whether the bolt guns in .223 would handle 5.56, and the NEF; I can speak to both of them. I have fired 5.56mm M855 in 2 bolt action Savage Axes, (The correct plural form) and an NEF Handi-Rifle. There were signs of high pressures in all of them. Flattened primers and rough extraction, and sometimes no extraction from the NEF. Convinced me enough to stop firing it in .223's. When the ammo incapacitates a single-shot rifle, time to stick to the correct ammo.

Sorry, not to pick, but stopping a single-shot rifle with poor primary extraction with a high-pressure rimless cartridge isn't the best example. T/Cs and the NEF/H&R guns are notorious for leaving rimless cartridges in the chamber from time to time.

Anyway, personally, I'd avoid shooting true 5.56 spec ammo in a tight .223 chamber. I wouldn't expect catastrophic failure but it's not an ideal situation either. It would be easy enough to have a .223 chamber opened up to .223 Wylde or given a 5.56 throat, or to buy a rifle with the chamber to want. Or to just use .223-spec ammo.

I have a C527FS marked .223 Remington, which CZ states is safe to use with 5.56mm ammo, a Colt 6920 marked 5.56x45mm and an Armalite M15NM with a .223 Wylde chambered barrel. This was partially deliberate, so I can use the same ammo in any of them with out worry.

 

[stevekozak]

I didn't mean to cause a commotion with my question, I was just wondering about certain rifles. I will look into some of the ones mentioned here. That CZ might be a bit more than I was thinking about, but sounds like it might also be the best fit for what I was thinking. Thanks for al the replies, they have been very helpful!

 

[tubeshooter]

I've been watching this thread with interest. The topic comes up from time to time.

I didn't care about it until I got a .223 bolt gun. I have largely decided that I am willing to take my chances. I don't recall ever hearing about anybody having an actual KB, or really anything more than maybe some "signs of high pressure". Not trying to change anybody's mind or anything, just a personal decision.

Still - every time I read one of these threads and hear both sides of the argument, there is a small part of me that considers just getting that chamber reamed already.



This is actually kind of why I own a couple of lower-end ARs I don't even really give a flip about. In order to make this a non-issue.

 

[CoalTrain49]

I don't see a problem shooting 5.56 in a .223 chamber as long as you stay away from any ammo loaded with heavy long bullets. There is plenty of 5.56 ammo out there in the 55-62 gr where the COL would be the same as .223 thus eliminating any lead conflicts. As others have said the pressure isn't an issue unless it comes from long bullets and short leads.

The Hornady manual stops loads at 60 gr for .223 and that's the reason. The chamber specs for .223 are not comparable with heavier bullets like 70-80 gr. All one needs to do to shoot 5.56 in a .223 chamber is check the COL of your ammo. If it doesn't exceed 2.20 you should be GTG. The cases are the same dimension, only the bullet changes the COL.

I have both 5.56 and .223 rifles. I load at 2.20 COL for both to avoid running longer bullets in my .223.