ACCURACY 223 rem ammo in 5.56 chamber

[soditide]

Did you notice a degradation of accuracy when you shooting 223 rem ammo in your 5.56 rifle. Did you compared same brand & bullets during your test.

 

[Blackbird Pilot]

Nope. W/W .223 groups about as good as UMC and PMC Bronze. All 55gr pills from a bog standard DPMS Oracle. All around 1.25"@100yds for me. The only stuff that grouped like crap for me was Norinco.

 

[soditide]

the UMC & PMC ammo are they in 5.56? I read on internet that the chamber of a 5.56 rifle is slighly larger for the 223rem ammo that cause a degradation of accuracy. The chamber in 5.56 it' a bit to large tp proper fit the 223rem ammo.

 

[AMET]

the UMC & PMC ammo are they in 5.56? I read on internet that the chamber of a 5.56 rifle is slighly larger for the 223rem ammo that cause a degradation of accuracy. The chamber in 5.56 it' a bit to large tp proper fit the 223rem ammo.

Is doesn't matter if the chamber is bigger or not. The barrel is what makes it accurate. Both 223 and 556 use a .224 bullet.

 

[propliner]

My 5.56 barrel is far more accurate shooting .223 ammo. Mind you, the .223 ammo is handloadsed and the 5.56 are not.

 

[Recce21]

Is doesn't matter if the chamber is bigger or not. The barrel is what makes it accurate. Both 223 and 556 use a .224 bullet.

Not true. The chamber very much plays into accuracy. Freebore and the amount of jump of your projectile impacts accuracy due to the way it enters the lands. Does it matter in a gas gun level of accuracy? Depends on what you consider acceptable I guess.

 

[redshooter]

Nope...

Ok, so that group is Cherry Picked bigtime...best group to come out of that tube and is in reality a fluke. The Rifle is capable of shooting consistent groups around 0.75" with the right ammo though. According to the stamp it's 5.56 NATO, but it seems to be a fairly tight one. I resize my brass with the shoulder slightly further out than spec, just a hair though. I only have to trim my brass once, or twice unless it's at max, and then just a few thou over 5-6 firings, at that point the pockets are starting to loosen up, and then it's scrap. It's not too tight though as the only feeding problems I have is after the chamber get's really dirty, no problem as long as you're not a Pansy with the Charging Handle. Since it's a "Match" Barrel the chamber may be a bit tighter, more like a Wylde, regardless it's outstanding for a Factory Tube.

As for .223 vs. 5.56, I know a crowd of Nanny's have really confused this but it's the same dim...exactly if I'm not mistaken. As others have said the difference is in the Chamber, and I'd put money on it that they are ALL slightly different. All you have to worry about is the throat, and considering where you are asking it's a safe bet that your shooting a 1 in 9 or faster twist gas gun, I'd bet my shooting eye that as far as your Rifle can tell there's no difference, and functionally there is none. The long throat may not help with accuracy, but as you can see from the pic with the right diet a NATO Chamber can perform well.

 

[njohnson]

Nope...
The long throat may not help with accuracy, but as you can see from the pic with the right diet a NATO Chamber can perform well.

^^^^ This ^^^^^

With good ammunition I haven’t seen a huge difference in accuracy between a NATO chambered Colt HBAR barrel and a custom stainless match barrel with a Wylde spec chamber using magazine length loads ( ie both jumping a decent distance) If you decide to go all in and start loading custom 80 grain single load rounds for long range then perhaps the Wylde chamber has an greater advantage, and it may digest various lots of military issue ammunition better as well (which is the origins of that chamber design ). But you can still load or purchase quality ammunition that a NATO chambered quality factory barrel will print a respectable target:

Colt HBAR barrel, 100 yards with 4x ACOG, floated barrel and mixed magazine length loads of both 77 grain boat tails and a 52 grain flat base load:


White Oak Armament stainless barrel, Wylde Chamber, floated barrel with iron sights and same 77 grain magazine length loads:


The Wylde chambered custom barrel would likely print a little smaller with an optical sight, and I had one lucky group on the right side but that’s 5 shot groups as well which often give an occasional freakish good group, ten shots are more reliable I think.

Buy or load good ammunition and I think you can control the accuracy to a great extent, that and consider floating the barrel if isn’t already. Don’t sweat the chamber until you are taking a deep dive into the search for accuracy.

Just my 2 cents FWIW...