.222 and .223,whats the difference?

kenneth carlson

kenneth carlson

Regular
Rating - 100%
103   0   0
Location
thunder bay on
ok i just recieved a gun in trade its a bsa bolt action rewally nice rifle,but myqeustion is it says .222 on the barrel but it is registered as a .223, and the guy i got it from said its .223. i will bring it to the local gun shop and find out for sure but just for curiosity purposes what is the difference between a .222 and .223?and pictures of loaded and unloaded shells would also help thank you in advance.



ken:confused:
 
ok i just googled it and i see the difference so now my qeustion is would you be able to make a .222 into a .223 buy exteding the barrel out further then normal. why i am asking is that it looks like the barrel has been unscrewed outwards a little bit.
 
no no no i wasnt doing it,i said it looks as if it was cause i can see some threads of the barrel and it does look like its been twisted a little i'll take a few pics right away to show you's what i meen.
 
shoot i can't seem to post pics lol.but sure enough the position where the sight is supposed t be has been turned to the right.so the barrel has been turned outwards.how many turns i don't know but i can see a lot of area where it hasn't been blued.the guy i got it from has shot it with .223 and had no problems.so that the only thing i could think of.the original stamp for barrel caliber is sitting straght upwards thats also another indicator as they are mostly on the side of the barrel.
 
ok so again with my qeustion it looks like a home made job to turn it into a .223 right? as all they did was unscrew the barrel out further to fit a .223 into the gun? and yes i will be bringing it to my local gun shop and have it bput back to original and properly ream out the barrel. no cheepo jobs for my guns.
 
One thing to keep in mind is that the .222 Rem has a rep for very - very - good accuracy. The .223 is less so. That doesn't mean it's bad, but the .222 seems to have a slight edge in accuracy. Power is effectively the same. I wouldn't be in too much hurry to rechamber.
 
kenneth carlson said:
ok i just googled it and i see the difference so now my qeustion is would you be able to make a .222 into a .223 buy exteding the barrel out further then normal. why i am asking is that it looks like the barrel has been unscrewed outwards a little bit.
Click to expand...

According to Cartridges of the World, the OAL of the .222 case is 1.700", the .223, 1.760". The diameter of the .223 case at the shoulder is .0003" smaller for the .223, but this would chamber OK and fireform out. The case length to the shoulder is 1.387" (.222) and 1.557" (.223). The .222 also has a slightly longer neck, although the OAL is less.

Screwing out the barrel would put the face of the bolt further away from the chamber, which would allow the longer case to chamber at the expense of having a bit of the rim sticking out. I'd bet if you dropped a .222 case in, it would sit flush, but a .223 would sit slightly proud, probably just slightly deeper than the rim.

I'd guess this must have been a "home gunsmith" conversion. Are there any telltale marks on the barrel to indicate that a proper barrel vise may not have been used? If so it's a bit "quick and nasty" but it might be perfectly safe. If so, there's no reason to change it back, but if it were mine, having the sight dovetail canted to one side would bug me and I'd get a gunsmith to turn it back to the original place. There's nothing wrong with the .222 unless you feel you need the bit of extra range the .223 gives you. There's only about 100 fps. difference in velocity between them.

:) Stuart
 
no i can't seem to find any marks on the barrel. and yes the way the sight is on the side does bother me, unless i try shooting it out the window sideways like pistols in movies lol(joking). i might get the gunsmith to put it back in appropiate spot,and double check everything out, and go to ct and buy a few boxes of .222 cal shells to test it out maybe this weekend, i am going their first thing in the morning.


and that brings me up to my next qeustion, (yeah you saw it coming) how is availabilty of ammunition for the.222? and what is the cost of it,and how much or less of cost is it compared to .223 for reloading? thanks in advance.
 
kenneth carlson said:
...go to ct and buy a few boxes of .222 cal shells...
Click to expand...

I'd be surprised if CT will have .222 ammunition, although they'll almost certainly have .223. But brass for the .222 is available, (make sure you get .222 Rem and not .222 Rem. Magnum) and the cost of reloading once you have brass is pretty much the same as the .223, which takes a grain or two more powder. If you neck-size only you'll get better brass life.

:) Stuart
 
Post a picture or two.

You cannot just attach them and post. They have to be stored somewhere on a hosting site, such as Photobucket.

Adjustable chamber length? That sounds a step beyond what Bubba would do.

Cheers
Trev
 
I am going to suggest that unscrewing a .222 barrel so that .223 would chamber would be a mind numbingly stupid thing to do.
Get the rifle to a competent gunsmith and find out exactly what you have before you even consider shooting it.
 
can tire has 3 boxes of winchester .222 ammo in stock(i work at ct) and they have absolutely no .223 and will not carry it as it can also be used in assault rifles, this stores policy. and yes i am leaving my house right away to go to the gunshop.



thanks ken.
 
kenneth carlson said:
can tire has 3 boxes of winchester .222 ammo in stock(i work at ct) and they have absolutely no .223 and will not carry it as it can also be used in assault rifles, this stores policy. and yes i am leaving my house right away to go to the gunshop.
thanks ken.
Click to expand...

That is absolutely ridiculous. If they only stocked ammunition that could not be chambered in military style rifles, they wouldn't have much on the shelf. I bet they can't even define what an assault rifle is.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom