Problems shooting 5.56 Military ball ammo in 223 Sporters

W

Why not?

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This is an often discussed subject, that has been around the block dozens of times, however I have a single, simple, question to ask.

I am aware that there is a difference in chamber throats and leades, very slight difference in headspace, accuracy may not be as good as your tuned handloads, etc., etc.

Have read statements such as "high pressure signs on the brass and primers, extraction failures and cycling problems may be seen when firing hot 5.56 ammo in .223-chambered rifles", but have never seen it in any rifle I have shot or any that anyone I know has used.

What I am wondering is, does anyone know first hand, or has read a first hand account of any serious problem that occurred as a result of shooting 5.56 Ball ammo in a 223 chambered sporting rifle? Something that ruined a rifle, such as lug setback or a blown up rifle? :shock:

We have dozens of guys on this board, no doubt thousands around the world who regularly shoot this stuff in their sporters, and I have never heard of a serious problem. using it.

I am not saying it has not happened, but I have never heard of any verified, first hand accounts. Anyone here know of any?

Thanks,
Ted
 
I did a little digging here is a list of dangerous combinations for SAMMI

http://www.saami.org/unsafe3.htm

Yes at one point I owned a 223 I did fire 5.56 and no I still have my head. To make a long story short I sold the 223 to a buddy and when he traded it in for a 22-250 the guy at the gun store said he could see damage down the barrel from millitary ammo, sounded like BS to me since I had only fired 200 ish of mill ammo through it, maybe it was not BS.

And the big question is why bother there is plenty of cheap 223 ammo out there and that cheap 223 ammo will very likely out shoot it anyway.
 
To be honest fellahs I think here the issue is if you rifle is in proof or whatever you have over there, then military ammo of 556 or 7.62 should be fine in a 223 or a 308. The biggest problem encountered with mil ammo is defective ammo in a close to fail state or even not quite perfect rifle. I have seen milsurp 762 destroy factory 762 rifles but without any real injury as the bolt stayed on board but the breech disintegrated. We had this L42 checked and the ammo batch and the ammo was loaded with an incorrect powder. It is difficult to double charge rifle cases with powder but military contract ammo is made by the cheapest bidder and sometimes that is why it is surplus. A good rifle in working order should digest both mil and civvie ammo provided the bullet weights are compatible to the barrel twist (which is accuraccy only and more for the 223 than 308). The ammo is made to tolerances in the same way that rifles are made to tolerances. In the UK we proof test our rifles to pressure levels now for 308 of 20 tons per square inch. That will cope with correctly assembled military ammo. The NRA here had a thing about trying to force reproofing of oldder Lee Enfield actions that were only proofed to 18.5 tons but gave up and issued advice only. Basically you cannot stop someone blowing up a firearm with handloads so after trying to ban handloads they relented with various woolly discalaimers. They also tried to ban ammo made by necking out, suchas 7.5 french from 6.5 swede brass. Its a liability thing hence those southerners wont say yes you can shoot what you want! remember the land of litigation lies south of you! We handloders had to sign disclaimers for a while or submit ammo for testing at our expense, yeah right like I'll let someone else benefit commercially from my hard work!
To be honest, most "gunsmiths" profess to know an awful lot about guns that maybe they dont eh? If you know and trust your smith and trust your rifle and ammo supplierthen you should be ok. By the way we sued the 7.62 ammo importer through our club insurance and recievd compensation at a fair level, replacement rifle, ammo and underwear!
 
jennis said:
Its all the same as 87 octane gasoline from shell and 87 octane gasoline esso :roll:
Click to expand...
no it ain't - the gas from shell has fish oil in it- watch the commercials
 
I believe I have a book at home that states you can use 223 in a barrel chamber for 5.56 but not to try the other way around. I'll look tonight and post where it was.
 
Probably a book by "Hunter S Thompson" :roll: This is such a stupid debate I cant believe people actually are 'researching' this 223=5.56 and 308=7.62 It is all the same..............
 
Precisely why I started the thread!

Again, I am not talking about something you have heard or read could possibly happen. There is all kinds of that out there.

What I am asking is, if anyone knows of any verified, first hand accounts of serious damage actually being sustained by firing 5.56 ball ammo in a 223 sporter chamber?

There have been 36 gazillion rounds of it fired in 223 chambers, so surely there must be at least one verified incident, if it is really a problem. One broken extractor is hardly a KABOOM! :wink:

Anyone?

Ted
 
I've never heard of it being a problem or heard of anyone blowing up their gun. The only difference is the longer throat in 5.56 chambered guns, cartridge dimensions are the same, pressure levels are virtually the same. I think the concern is the same as when you are loading your own and are at a max charge, you don't want to seat the bullet into the rifle as you could create unsafe pressures. The FMJ's of military ammo are a bit longer than commercial hunting ammo so I guess the potential is there for the bullet touching the rifling in a match chambered .223. Any off the shelf Remchestersavikka will have a long enough throat it won't be a concern.
 
Ruger Mini 14.
All sorts of ammo, no records kept, but VERY likely some MilSurp stuff.
No blow-ups.

You have to remember that SAAMI is covering their ass, so are very conservative. If the danger was real, the manufacturers would simply chamber in 5.56 NATO, and all would be good again. Of course, that is pure speculation on my part. The Ruger info is solid, though.
 
isn't SAAMI an association of manufacturers who have an interest in people not buying milsurp ammo as it would cut into their bottom line?
 
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