5.56 nato rounds in my stevens 2oo?

...Newbie here!

You have to forgive me, until recently (THANKS CGN!), I thought 7.62Nato and .308Win were the same...Not so true! (again, search n' learn!) Physically/dimensionally...similar. Chamber pressure, not the same!

...idiot me has lived the last 25+ years thinking the very same thing about .223 and 5.56Nato!

Seriously, how many of us are lucky to still have eyes and, faces?

(PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE someone re-assure me that the 8mm I cram into my rifle is actually 7.92!)
 
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Using 5.56 mm NATO mil-spec cartridges (such as the M855) in a .223 Remington chambered rifle can lead to excessive wear and stress on the rifle and even be unsafe, and the SAAMI recommends against the practice.
 
Say you are a lawyer for a firearms manufacturer. You see the potential for a customer to chamber and fire a 5.56 round in your employer's .223 rifle. You know that there is a pressure difference between the two rounds. What advice would you give to the manufacturer ? Keep in mind the liability laws of various sport shooting nations, the general availability of surplus military ammo and the literacy / comprehension level of some of the manufacturer's customers.

Just askin'.


Sharptail
 
Why not? said:
Literally scores of thousands of rounds of 5.56 have are fired in 223 sporting rifles every year with no problem.

Ted
Click to expand...

It's not like it will blow up if you shoot one or two through it. But, as mentioned above, the rifles were not built to withstand the higher pressures from the 5.56. This is because the brass is thicker in 5.56 NATO cartridges than .223 Remington (less case capacity + same amount of powder = higher pressures). I'm sure you'll be fine if you shoot a box or two of 5.56 through your rifle, but I'd recommend only shooting .223 through a .223 marked rifle.
 
How come when I bought reloading dies they say .308 and the reloading manual's only give one type of info?
Same with .223 die's.
The only mention is about the crimped in primer's and the thicker case wall's.
I use my LEE .223 to load ammo for BRNO mauser, with 55 gr. bullet's it's super accurate.
If I go to 62 gr. I can't hit the backstop at 100m.
Shoot away and enjoy :sniper:
 
I did...alot! The bolt doesn't roll over quite a smoothly as it did when I chambered proper .223 Rem rounds as the 5.56 Nato neck (aka "leade") is longer and the shoulder angle is steeper. I was only shooting Milsurp to get fire formed brass. Some rifles won't even chamber it. It all depends on your chambers tolerances.

Fire away if your rifle will cycle it!
 
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