5.56 NATO and .223 Remington weapon/ammo confusion..

[alsaqr]

223/5.56 six of one, half dozen of the other...........

Bingo!!

My first .223 was a .222 Sako that i had re-chambered in 1968. i still have that gun, its been through a few barrels and has fired at least 20,000 rounds of M193 5.56mm ball ammo. My other .223 rifles routinely fire 5.56mm ammo. i would not fire 5.56mm ammo in a tight match chamber.

NEF had this nasty habit of re-grinding their chambering reamers. Some of their guns have huge sloppy chambers and some have tight chambers: Some give pressure signs with factory .223 ammo.

SAAMI: Where are the kabooms?

 

[madcratebuilder]

If there actually is a .223-chambered rifle which is UNSAFE with 5.56 NATO rounds, I've never seen it. Has anyone? Can anyone identify even one rifle in .223 that should not be fed 5.56 because it might blow up?

Yup!

The only real significant difference between to two is the amount of leade. On paper, it's possible a longer, heavier bullet in a 5.56 could theoretically be jammed into the leade on a .223 chamber. Theoretically this could cause a over pressure... theoretically. I've never heard of this happening and people have been shooting 5.56 in .223 barrels for a long time.

 

[awgrizzly]

Yup!

The only real significant difference between to two is the amount of leade. On paper, it's possible a longer, heavier bullet in a 5.56 could theoretically be jammed into the leade on a .223 chamber. Theoretically this could cause a over pressure... theoretically. I've never heard of this happening and people have been shooting 5.56 in .223 barrels for a long time.

The longer heavier bullet would only be jammed further into the case. And a .223 can be loaded with the same size long and heavy bullet. Both the 5.56 and the .223 must not exceed 2.260 inches in overall length because that would be over spec. and not fit in the magazine. So the bullet jamming is a myth. The 5.56 may have a hotter load, but IMHO the real issue is liability. It doesn't matter if it's safe or not, no company is going to tell you it's OK to to shoot a 5.56 in their .223 chamber. And I suspect damned few companies make a true .223 chamber, except for special match SAMMI chambers.

 

[tundraotto]

the pressure of one is measured in CUP and the other one in PSI....same difference.

 

[HKGuns]

Same round, different name. The military calls it 5.56, loads their mil spec rounds a little hotter and uses a generous chamber to improve relaibility. Some folks seem to think that this justifies separating them into different chamberings. Some gun and ammo companies in an effort to cover their butt even make statements that 5.56 should not be used in 223 rifles.

Show me two 30-06 cartridges with different case dimension please? With 556 and 223 there are not only chamber differences, but cartridge dimension differences. Therefore your argument with the 30-06 is completely invalid. As a general rule of thumb, no matter what the peanut gallery says, 556 will shoot 223 and not the other way around.

You can argue the fringes to death but safety should be a primary concern. You'll never find a reloader sizing 30-06 to the incorrect case dimensions. Why? Because it is unsafe.

 

[303tom]

.223/5.56 six of one, half dozen of the other...........

Same with the 7.62x51/.308 Win................

 

[alsaqr]

With 556 and 223 there are not only chamber differences, but cartridge dimension differences.

Show me. Where are the 5.56mm reloading die sets?

 

[303tom]

Show me. Where are the 5.56mm reloading die sets?

Where are the 7.62x51 NATO reloading die sets ?????????............Its all a bunch of hog wash.