Savage Axis and 5.56

[kBob]

A friend claims his .223 Savage Axis will not close on a 5.56mm cartridge, he also claims 5.56mm will not function in his friends Mini-14.

Meanwhile I have shot a lot of PMC 193 Ball 5.56 in a Ranch rifle myself and before that in a Stainless Mini-14 with zero issues.

Now I have heard and read allsorts of things about differences in pressures on .223 and 5.56, but does anyone else have difficulty physically chambering 5.56 in a .223 marked rifle?

Could it be that tolerances on more modern rifle chambers as such that the minor Saami deference in .223 vs/ 5.56 is such that this is making the difference?

I shot the Axis a bit a few weeks ago with some .223 ammo and I was impressed BTW. If I was looking for a new bolt gun in .223 it would be high on my list. A bit concerned though as a bit of my storage ammo (since this latest .22RF shortage no one makes fun of me for having ammo in storage)is 5.56 marked.

-kBob

 

[ford8nr]

Physically 223 and 5.56 should be interchangeable. There is sooo much debate on the firing of such. My thought is if a mfg meant for either to be shot they'd mark the gun 5.56. You can get an Axis you can have the chamber throat cut to shoot 5.56 If you choose to shoot 556 in a 223 marked gun and have one of the few unfortunate incidents I might say "told you so"

 

[rule303]

Mini-14's have always had a 5.56x45 chamber, except the target model. I'm sure the Axis has a true .223 Rem chamber, but should still chamber a 5.56 round. Whether or not it is a good idea to shoot it is a whole other can of worms.

 

[Reloadron]

Factory fresh 5.56 X 45 and 223 Remington are identical cases and the cases should be interchangeable. All of the 5.56 and 223 I have laying around here are identical right down to the cartridge shoulder datum point to base. So while the two cartridges do have pressure and chamber leade differences they are dimensionally the same. Again, we are looking at factory fresh quality ammunition.

Short of the mini 14 being the target version as rule303 points out, they have a 5.56 chamber and should easily chamber either round.

So why your friends Savage Axis will not chamber a 223 round is beyond me.

Ron

 

[sappyg]

I've not only chambered 5.56 in the Axis but have fired the round in the rifle with no issues. Then again, there Is enough free bore in that Axis to not cause any concern.

 

[Bezoar]

the casings will fit. probably fires fine. accuracy would vary with each gun.

however

1. the barrel is marked .223 remington. thats what you use in it.

2. the savageshooters forum says you can pay any competent gunsmith to ream the chamber to 5.56x45

3. many people have commented on that they called Savage up, and have gotten the answer of "only use the ammunition caliber marked on the gun"

 

[kBob]

It occurs to me that the problem they describe, chambering but then failing to lock sounds amazingly like what happens when someone tries to single load directly into the chamber without using the magazine on a bolt gun with controlled feed.

Does the Axis have controlled feed?

-kBob

 

[Bezoar]

the manual will say something very close to the following:

"to load a single cartridge by hand, depress the cartridges in the magazine with the other hand while guiding the cartridge into the chamber"

 

[jim243]

Not sure why the 5.56 does not fit your 223 other than the shoulder angles are different, but while you can fire 223 in a 5.56 chambered rifle you should not use a 5.56 round in a 223 chambered rifle because of pressure differences.

Jim

 

[Willie Sutton]

So while the two cartridges do have pressure and chamber leade differences


They have *specification tolerance differences*.

They are *actually* identical in most cases.


Willie

.

 

[dprice3844444]

factory or reloaded ammo?