Have you fired .22 Hornet bullets in a .223?

[Dave R]

I was reviewing some reloading gear I inherited. There were some old Hornet bullets in there. .223 diameter. Modern .223 ammo is .224 diameter.

If I shoot these up, am I going to get keyholes and shotgun patterns? Or will they work fine?

There are only 23 of 'em, so it wouldn't break my heart to toss 'em.

OTOH, I have a .223 AK, and they'll probably group as well in that as Wolf .223 does.

So, have you ever tried it?

 

[748]

I shoot all bullets in my 223 rifle and fiveseven pistol.
"218BEE", "22 Hornet", .223" and .224", they don't care.
They all have a bore around .218" so if you fire .223" or .224" bullets that's plenty of metal to fill the groves. The rifling groves are around .224" for most guns.

 

[asknight]

748 is generally correct, at least as far as my experiments have carried me. The only problem I had was with a certain Sierra .223" FMJ that had a hard and thick jacket. Apparently it wouldn't fill the bore completely on that rough Rem 700 barrel and it left the worst copper fouling (blow by?)I've ever had the pleasure of cleaning. The other .223" (mostly Hornady) shot just as well as .224" loads.