Rechambering a .222 to .223

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Chris-bob

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I don't recall the make and model, but a friend of mine has a .222 bolt action they will give me. It is chambered in .222, and I was thinking of rechambering it to .223. Anything I should be worried about? I would think the receiver should handle the .223 without any problems. I'll try to get the make and model listed asap.
 
Twist rate. The .222 barrels are generally a slow twist for light varmint bullets and don't do well with heavier pills. They tend to be very accurate guns, but .222 is a little tough to find at times. Do you reload?
 
.222 Remington used to be an awesome benchrest cartridge. It and the rifles it was chambered in tend to be very accurate. As said, the barrels are slow-twist for lighter (shorter) bullets, so not compatible with some of the bullets that have become common for .223/5.56 in recent times.

It would probably make a lot more sense to load some great .222 Rem. cartridges and enjoy that rifle as-is than to alter it to be a .223. Lot of work and cost for no clear gain.

You might save a little (well, back in the day you could have...not these days) in using surplus 5.56mm or common .223 Rem. ammo, but it may or may not work in that barrel anyway.

A vintage .222 Rem. tackdriver is a proud addition to any rifle collection!
 
Things to worry about:

Twist (already mentioned)
Collectablity of the rifle (since we don't know the make it's hard to say how important this is)

One disadvantage:

These days 223 ammo is harder to find than 222. :rolleyes:
 
Sell the .222 if it's of any quality and buy a .223.
I've never taken more than 1 day to sell a quality .222 to a bench rest type and it'll take less time to find and purchase a .223 afterwards.
 
I have rechambered a few 222's into 223's.
It is only a little bit of metal that gets removed and the 223 reamer completely cleans out the 222 neck and throat.
I was even able to do a couple of them by hand with the barrels still on the action.
 
The FIRST thing to do is to try a .223 in the magazine.
Some of the early rifles are just long enough for .222.
The next thing to do is think about value. A reamed out Sako is not worth as much as stock. Most Remingtons, who cares?
 
As mentioned by others, there is little to be gained in rechambering unless you have a quantity of milspec m193 55gr 223 ammo that will work in the 1in14" twist. 223 ammo is a bit hard to find now at reasonable prices.
No rifle model listed, but it might be a budget Savage single lug bolt model, and hardly worth the effort, even if the 223 ammo fit the magazine. Those old Savages work great in the lower pressure 222 Remington.



NCsmitty
 
Westernfield SB712 .222REM

So it is a Westernfield SB712. Not sure if it has any value right now. I was hoping to rechamber to .223 because I already reload .223 and have only a handful of .222 brass.

Numrich does have .223 barrels for $62 and .223 magazines for $38...
 
Chris-bob said:
So it is a Westernfield SB712. Not sure if it has any value right now. I was hoping to rechamber to .223 because I already reload .223 and have only a handful of .222 brass.

Numrich does have .223 barrels for $62 and .223 magazines for $38...
Click to expand...
If you can buy another barrel that's already chambered in 223, that is going to be the cheaper route...
 
Well, part of the reason I was going to rechamber it, was because I also picked up a Savage 24V series .222 over 20ga under rifle. Was thinking if I got the chamber ream for .223, I could just do both rifles.
 
Chris-bob said:
So it is a Westernfield SB712. Not sure if it has any value right now. I was hoping to rechamber to .223 because I already reload .223 and have only a handful of .222 brass.

Numrich does have .223 barrels for $62 and .223 magazines for $38...
Click to expand...
That's a Savage 840 in drag. Don't worry about collector value.
 
Actually, there is a nascent collector marker for those. Not big, but it is growing. Unless the OP is going to stick to light bullets, I think he's going to be disappointed in the results of any re-chambering.
 
I'd change the barrel on the bolt and get reloading dies for the double and source a bit of brass over time for that one. You are not going to be shooting a large amount of rifle ammo out of that 24V I am willing to bet.:) You will also have the same twist rate problems with it to be accurate with heavy 223 ammo.
 
.222 has been the ONLY small caliber centerfire ammo available in my area for a few months now. Rechambering to something that is non existent seems a bit counter-productive, especially for little to no gain in ballistics. I would just pick up dies for the .222, get a little brass, and revel in being a little different than everyone else. If they are GIVING you the rifle, then the investment in a little brass and some dies is still going to be cheaper than rechambering or rebarreling the gun.
 
Years ago I ended up with a Remington 725 in .222. I built a .223 on the action but retained the nice original walnut stock and the .222 pencil barrel so anytime I want it goes back to being a nice Remington 725 in .222.

Came out interesting with the heavy stainless barrel on the blue 725 action.

725%203.png

Ron
 
Guess it can't hurt to have 2 rifles in .222REM. Won't take much to reload them as I already reload .223, and since I won't shoot the .222 much, I won't have to reload much. Thanks for the input.
 
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