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.223 in 5.56 or 5.56 in .223?

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  • spongemonkey

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    I am pretty sure it has been asked and discussed many times before but I dont remember the answer. I have neither but am curious about the info. Which is correct, you can use .223 in 5.56 chambered firearms or use 5.56 in .223 chambered firearms? Which is it and what is the reasoning behind it? Thanks!
     

    JWlineman

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    223 in 556 is the short answer. It's a minuscule difference but comes down to pressure variables with 556 over 223. I don't typically buy any AR barrels or rifles with a 223 chambering. With that said, all of mine have 223 wylde chambering in the barrels and I shoot a plethora of varying ammo with no issues. Hope that helps...

    Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
     

    Snake-Eyes

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    A barrel rated for "5.56 NATO" will handle .223 Rem, as well.
    A barrel rated for ".308 Win" will handle 7.62 NATO, as well.

    The 5.56/.223 and .308/7.62 similarities outnumber the differences, but they are not the same cartridges. Get barrels marked 5.56 or .308, and you're covered.

    If you are scrounging for precision rigs, though, chamber for your ammo, or build ammo for your chamber.
     

    spongemonkey

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    Thanks for the info guys! I am not planning on owning one, I was just curious as to which was which and could not remember how it was supposed to be.
     

    SAWMAN

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    IMO it is more about the throat dimensions than the pressures generated in the chamber.
    I can quite easily load up my 223Rem brass to equal ANY 5.56X45 loadings.
    JJ and I had a good discussion about this last time that I was up his way. In the old days we both shot thousands of rounds of 5.56 milspec thru our 223Rem bbls. It was fairly accurate also. My particular guns were mostly Bushmaster,as them and Colt were about all there were making AR guns and parts for those guns. Mostly Bushmaster for parts availability.
    Here somewhere I posted a great pic of the difference between chambers and especially the throats of both. ---- SAWMAN
    Just Remembered . . So Added: During my time of shooting 5.56X45 in a 223Rem chamber,the ONLY ammo that I ever shot was the M193 55gr.
     
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    wildrider666

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    FWIW: Sometimes the caliber stamped onto AR receivers don't accurately reflect the true chamber size as marked on the barrel. Colt put out a lot of .223 receivers with both Colt and Bushmaster 5.56 chambered barrels.
     

    Mouser

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    Here ya go . . . . . ---- SAWMAN

    ^^^^^^ this. It is my understanding and practice that if you handload... 5.56 brass can be mixed with .223 brass when loading to .223 specs using .223 dies as the cases will be resized and trimmed and loaded to .223 specs
     

    SAWMAN

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    Mouser, this is my opinion also.
    Have done this X's several thousand.
    I did not obtain my first set of 5.56X45 dies until about 6 months ago. Been reloading 223 and 5.56 since about 1980.
    Of course . . . the reloader MUST default to a level of common sense. ---- SAWMAN
     
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    You also have to remember that there is two different .223 chambers. One being the .223 REM and the other being the .223 Wylde. 5.56 NATO spec ammo is safe to use in a .223 Wylde chambered barrel as well as a 5.56 NATO chambered barrel. It is not recommended to use 5.56 NATO spec ammo in a .223 REM chambered barrel due to the higher pressure of the 5.56 round and the tighter tolerances of the .223 REM chamber.
     
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