Everyone! 223 is not the same as 5.56!
- Thread starter robone111
- Start date
- Status
X-Rap
Member
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2006
- Messages
- 6,657
Been shooting either one in a bunch of AR's and Bolt's plus a Contender for years and reload all my brass with the same powder charge for all 50 & 55 gr. bullets 24.5gr.H335. Haven't been able to blow one up yet so I just have to grin at these discussions. I am not the only one I know who commits these crimes against humanity but trust me when I blow myself up I will repent of my sins.
hadmanysons
Member
Done and done!
gga357
Member
Sarcasm on 
Since all my guns are milspec I am able to use all NATO rounds in the same gun. Makes things a lot easier.
Since all my guns are milspec I am able to use all NATO rounds in the same gun. Makes things a lot easier.madcratebuilder
Member
Quote:
There are an unbelievable amount of folks out there who do not get it.
No kidding!
Everyone is going on and on about the the ammo. It's the chambers than are different.
There are an unbelievable amount of folks out there who do not get it.
No kidding!
Everyone is going on and on about the the ammo. It's the chambers than are different.
DocBoCook
Member
mine is chambered in .223 Rem (aka 5.56x45), and that's what I will feed her. Now she just needs a name
My simple laymans explanation that I use for our customers.
Can you shoot a 5.56 in a .223 and vice versa? Well, in short yeah you can. Are there issues with it, well maybe so..... Will it blow your gun aparts and send pieces of the gun thru your brain housine group, probably not. But lets take a look at what the issues are for reals.
First of all there are three major types of AR chambers. The .223 SAMMI, the .223 Wylde and the 5.56 NATO. It's all so crazy and convolutted that we will skip right to the point of it all and look at it in laymans terms.
The real issues are the case neck, freebore length, throat angle and headspace. Now what do they each mean?
Case neck- Thats where the bullet sits in the case.
Freebore length- Thats the length between cases end and where the lands and groove start. This is where the bullet is actually free in the bore when it leaves the case. This affects the pressure of the round as the lands and grooves cause pressure to build behind the bullet.
Throat angle- This is the angle of slope where the freebore ends and transitions into the lands and grooves.
Headspace- This is the depth of the chamber
Now the headspace on all chambers is the same at 1.4636, so that is a non issue. The throat angle is significantly different though, 3 degrees for the SAMMI and 1.25 degrees for the other two. How does this affect you? It makes the pressure in the SAMMI start quicker as pressure is appled more abruptly.
Freebore length is a big issue in the three. The freebore for the SAMMI is a mear .025, the Wylde is .062 and the 5.56 NATO is .057. What does that mean? It means that the SAMMI builds pressure a lot faster than the Wylde or NATO chambers. Add this to the fact that NATO rounds are already a few hundred feet per second faster and as much as 5,000 PSI higher in oressure and you have an issue building rapidly. As is the pressure.
Does this mean that your gun is going to explode by using NATO ammo in your .223, probably not. They are massively over engineered and generally pretty safe for these kinds of things. They are designed to take pressure spikes, however I DO NOT RECOMMEND IT. It simply is not safe. You WILL probably start to see primers popped out of the cases or swollen.
So what do we do about it all? Well, we try to order all of our AR's in the 5.56 chambers. That allows you to shoot whatever you want to in the gun. The next thing you can do is shoot .223 ammo in your guns. Milsurp is not as cheap as it used to be, so there is not much advantage to go that route anymore. But if you do find a deal having a 5.56 chamber is going to make life more comfortable for you. But if you dont have a 5.56 chamber, just dont shoot milsurp ammo.
Can you shoot a 5.56 in a .223 and vice versa? Well, in short yeah you can. Are there issues with it, well maybe so..... Will it blow your gun aparts and send pieces of the gun thru your brain housine group, probably not. But lets take a look at what the issues are for reals.
First of all there are three major types of AR chambers. The .223 SAMMI, the .223 Wylde and the 5.56 NATO. It's all so crazy and convolutted that we will skip right to the point of it all and look at it in laymans terms.
The real issues are the case neck, freebore length, throat angle and headspace. Now what do they each mean?
Case neck- Thats where the bullet sits in the case.
Freebore length- Thats the length between cases end and where the lands and groove start. This is where the bullet is actually free in the bore when it leaves the case. This affects the pressure of the round as the lands and grooves cause pressure to build behind the bullet.
Throat angle- This is the angle of slope where the freebore ends and transitions into the lands and grooves.
Headspace- This is the depth of the chamber
Now the headspace on all chambers is the same at 1.4636, so that is a non issue. The throat angle is significantly different though, 3 degrees for the SAMMI and 1.25 degrees for the other two. How does this affect you? It makes the pressure in the SAMMI start quicker as pressure is appled more abruptly.
Freebore length is a big issue in the three. The freebore for the SAMMI is a mear .025, the Wylde is .062 and the 5.56 NATO is .057. What does that mean? It means that the SAMMI builds pressure a lot faster than the Wylde or NATO chambers. Add this to the fact that NATO rounds are already a few hundred feet per second faster and as much as 5,000 PSI higher in oressure and you have an issue building rapidly. As is the pressure.
Does this mean that your gun is going to explode by using NATO ammo in your .223, probably not. They are massively over engineered and generally pretty safe for these kinds of things. They are designed to take pressure spikes, however I DO NOT RECOMMEND IT. It simply is not safe. You WILL probably start to see primers popped out of the cases or swollen.
So what do we do about it all? Well, we try to order all of our AR's in the 5.56 chambers. That allows you to shoot whatever you want to in the gun. The next thing you can do is shoot .223 ammo in your guns. Milsurp is not as cheap as it used to be, so there is not much advantage to go that route anymore. But if you do find a deal having a 5.56 chamber is going to make life more comfortable for you. But if you dont have a 5.56 chamber, just dont shoot milsurp ammo.
- Status
