5.56 mm and .223 interchangeable?

And how would we feel about the .303 British?
It started life as a Black Powder cartridge in 1888.
It then changed to being loaded with Cordite, then Nitrocellulose (basically modern powder). It has been loaded in ?perhaps? a hundred different countries in the last 118 years, both military and commercial. Yet I dont see a quarter of the "Can I use?" questions. How come?

DOES ANYONE OUT THERE HAVE ACTUAL PROOF OF A .223 RIFLE BLOWING UP WITH 5.56MM ROUNDS? Please post photos.
 
But the 303 was DESIGNED as a smokeless round, and was jus loaded with blackpowder as production of smokeless was behind.

Nevertheless I'm absolutely certain that the 5.56/.223 differences are more legal ass-covering more than really dangerous. Nevertheless, firing 5.56 in a 223 chamber IS beyond design specs.
 
Yes it does it is the same reason that 5.56mm cannot be used in 223 rifles the amount of Leade that is cut into the chambers but remember military brass has a heavier wall so it handle the extra pressures that are sometimes found in-various manufactures munitions
 
Rohann said:
Okay, so what I take from this is:
7.62Nato in a .308=OK
.308 in a 7.62Nato=Not OK.
Am I right?

-Rohann
Click to expand...
Nearly, not quite, if you are subject to proof laws and your rifle is proofed to 20 tons in 7.62 then it is ok to fire all commercial .308W. Hence the disclaimer on ammo packs from the US about having your rifle checked by a competent gunsmith. I dont know if there are proof laws in Canada, there certainly arent any in the US hence the disclaimers on everything and the existance of SAAMI which acts as a self governing and non enforceable body to establish standards amongst weapon and ammo manufacturors. If you create a wildcat then SAAMI certainly wont list it until it is proposed for chambering by a manufacturor. In the UK you cant even shoot on a range unless the rifle is in proof. The proof house will require 10 rounds of your ammo and your rifle. They tip out the powder, overload 5 rounds and underload 5 rounds. They then fire the ammo to check for pressure and stamp a big mark on the pressure bearing parts. The only exception is if you own your own range! 308 win is the commercial designation of the T56 round that Winchester helped the US govt develop, hence them being allowed to give it a civvy Winchester suffix. The same thing happened with 5.56 and Remington. The differences have come where the civvy or military ammo has developed seperately requiring longer throats for bigger bullets. Eventually each side catches up, claims the R&D and markets barrels chambered and rifled to take the new round by its designation M whatever or Mk X. basically each of these slightly altered chamberings has to be capable of taking the original round/bullet weight and even if it wont stabilise the round as well as the one that the caombo was developed for it wont be unsafe which is the guiding principal of the proof acts. Many years ago I was told that the 220 gn sierra matchking handloads I had for my 7.62 barreled Enfield would not stabilise as the twist rate was incorrect. Well enough powder and the round seemd stable enough, V Bulls at 1000 yards seemed to prove my case. Opinions are great and lots of people can print theirs on the internet and it becomes gospel, the proof act does away with the need for false beliefs.
 
TimC,
What you don't mention is that .308 caliber rifles that Canadian and American shooters take to the UK for Bisley Comp. do not have to be sent to the Proof House. The NRA(UK) armourer simply shoves a dummy round in and closes the bolt, if the bullet is marked up when round is ejected you fail the inspection and don't get a sticker for your rifle. The range officer will not allow you to shoot unless you have a sticker.
This inspection will only check that the chamber is not too short, causing the bullet to jam the lands with the RG 7.62 ammo in their .308 Win chambered rifles.
 
Pretty much ok, if you dont sell it here then in theory it should be exempt the proof acts, it is an offence to sell an arm out of proof!
 
Kind of Like :

87 octane gasoline from Esso

87 octane gasoline from Chevron

Same ####

I have shot both and will continue to do so despite 'expert claims'
 
I have shot 160 rds of 7.62 surplus ammo from Portugal in my Rem. 7600 (308 win). The first round was a b*tch to extract, it was like someone had welded the action closed. Not knowing any better, since the rifle was almost new, I continued shooting. After 10 rounds the action was way smoother and I did'nt think much more about it...until now. If the gun did'nt fall in pieces or blow up, does that mean that everything is cool ? Should I stop using this kind of ammo with this rifle? Are there any unseen damages that could of happened from this?
 
The military surplus ball in 7.62 could have stuck for many reasons. The factories that chuck out lots of Good enough for the Govt ammo will be making something that a self loading military rifle will be able to handle or at least clear the stoppage effectively. If all military ammo was perfect they wouldnt need as many stoppage drills. Yes the brass tends to be thicker but this is to account for rougher handling. The .308Win that you buy in a pack of 20 from the hunters supplies hasnt been in a belt of 1 in 5 haning out of a GPMG or rattling around having its powder vibrayted in the ammo can on top of an APC. These are all the reasons that mil ammo is a tougher cookie than federal soft point. Mil ammo is never always perfect, thats why we proof test arms military and civilian to proove that they can take the pressure. SAAMI is the US equivalent. I hand load and the bit about the leade is very apt. A barrel chambered to SAAMI .223 rem may not easily close the bolt on ammo loaded to get the best from a long lead. I cursed a friend who set up my dies for my 223 as his measurements were for his 90 gn vlds and I was shooting standard 55 gn sp in my ruger factory. The V max rounds chambered ok, a bit stiff but wouldnt go in the mag. Luckily I always shoot of abot 20 v max loading singly on each farm trip before filling the mag with normal softies. A good mate always listens, just sometimes he doesnt always hear right!
I'd continue with the factory mil surp ball in both as long as they are standard camberings there should be less potential problems than handloads.
Then again some mil ball down the range to warm up and sight in helps before you start on the precious handloads!
 
Hi, I'm new to these forums, so Hello....this thread has me caught up.
I gave my son a Mini 14 Govmt. model some years ago, the serial number prefix #181.
He doesn't get to the range much, and I have no idea where the manual for the gun could be....Is he going to blow up.....!
Great gift from Dad if so.....
I hope not.
Thanks, and the info I have seen on your forums so far is not short of fantastic.
 
Shouldnt be a problem, most Ruger bolt action rifles handle factory 55 grain ok and mil surp ball. I guess that the mini 14 should be ok provided it was in good order. I sadly cant really comment on the mini 14 as here we can only have manually operated bolt versions. The one I used ate up all 556 ball milsurp and civvie 223 sp.the issue becomes accuracy!
 
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