5.56 MM in .223 Rifles

[bsteve]

It was brought to my attention that it is not recommended to fire military 5.56 mm ammo in rifles chambered for 223 Rem. The reason is that the over all length of the military ammo is longer than commercial 223 ammo. The throat on the military rifles is longer to accomodate the ammo.When the ammo is used in commercial rifles the bulletmight bejammed into the rifling causing high pressure when fired. Has anyone had a problem with this?

[Rammer]

I've shot thousands of 5.56 rounds thru my 223 chambered rifles with no problems. The cases are usually just a touch thicker (inside dimensions) on the NATO rounds, which means less case capacity when reloading, and maybe slightly higher pressures.

So fire away, you won't ever have any problems!

[stubblejumper]

According to the rifle manufacturers, the 5.56 ammunition is loaded to higher pressure than the .223.

[Zeak]

I know that NEF has a big warning about shooting 5.56 ammo in thier 223, don't know about other companys. Zeak

[260rem]

I have fired lots of military 5.56 NATO through both a Ruger KM77 VT and Styer scout including Tracer rounds and I have never had a problem

[crimedog]

SAMMI started this, and I'll explain.

223 Remis a SAMMI controled round, 5.56 is not.

5.56 is loaded to 60,000 Cup and SAMMI has 223 Rem restrictedat50,000 Cup, thus your higher preasure answer.

5.56 has a max case length of 1.77 and 223 Rem 1.76.

Bang away with military ammo all you want, any reloader will tell you to get the best accuracy out of a gun the bullet must be set further out than SAMMI standards recomend's andcloser to the lands and groves, and if it fits in the magizine it will work most of the time. Furthermore if the bullet is too long the bolt with not close right.

[JLmoore1956]

Being in the military, the last thing I would fire through a commercial rifel is 5.56mm. Just the quality is not the best IMHO. With all the commercial .223 avaiable and better, I would use it! [8D]

[Briman]

It doesn't matter in a bolt gun, a bolt gun will handle the extra pressure of the 5.56 with no problems. For ARs, just get it chambered in 5.56 and you can shoot anything through it.