When people talk about 223/5.56.. Savage question

[Kitchen_Duty]

So, when people talk about you can't shoot 5.56 in a .223 gun they always talk about over pressuring your gun. Ok, I'm fine with that, but what part of the gun are they talking about?

I have a savage 11f coming. The action on that gun is able to swap out with many other different barrels and bolts. So, if the action is what limits the gun, would it be safe to say that my action is rated up to a higher pressure. If it is the barrel, then all I have to do is switch barrels right?

The savage 11f is chambered in all of these: 223 Rem, 22-250 Rem, 243 Win, 7mm-08 Rem, 308 Win Here's the source!.

So, what I've read on the interweb is: if the 5.56 will chamber in my rifle, will I be ok to plink with military surplus. Excluding: hard primers, crap accuracy, the almighty one striking me down.

 

[Werewolf]

5.56 will chamber in your .223 Rifle.

That said: shooting 5.56 NATO out of a Rem .223 chamber isn't a good idea.

5.56 NATO chambers are speced to nominal pressures of 60K PSI. .223 is speced to nominal pressures of 54K PSI or there abouts.

Lead on the 5.56 NATO round is about .016 to .020" (may be .080 - I don't remember the exact number) longer than lead on the .223. Put a 5.56 NATO round in a .223 chamber and the potential exists for jambing the bullet up into the rifling instead of just behind the rifling as intended. This can lead to a pretty drastic increase in chamber pressure (IIRC chamber pressures of 70K PSI have been seen in testing).

Modern chambers are speced for one thing and usually overbuilt. That's why all the guys that are gonna get on here and tell you they've been firing 5.56 out of .223 chambers and never had a problem believe what they say. Driving on retreads wont get you hurt either - usually.

Google SAAMI - sporting arms and ammunition manufacturing institute of America. Once there check out their list of no-no cartridge substitutions. You'll find that it is OK to fire .223 REM out of a 5.56 chamber but not the reverse. I choose to believe them over the good ole boys that say it ain't a problem - been doin' it for years donchya know. They're free to risk having a chamber blow up in their faces if they want - no law in America about being stupid.

 

[FPrice]

I just called Savage Arms and asked them the question. Their answer:

"No. We don't recommend it."

From the horse's mouth.

 

[skinewmexico]

See, it's not totally a pressure issue, it's a cartridge that causes a pressure issue. Any barrel (depending on caliber) you swap onto that Savage probably won't have the possiblity of an almost identical military cartridge available, so you'll be fine. Of course, you could always have ER Shaw or someone make you a Savage barrel chambered in 5.56, and shoot either 5.56 or 223.