.223 Remington
During the mid-1950's, three .224" caliber
cartridges were in contention to succeed the 7.62mm NATO as our primary military
cartridge. They were the .222 Winchester, .224 Springfield, and.222 Special,
the latter developed by Gene Stoner of Armalite. All were stretched versions
of the .222
Remington cartridge. The .222 Special won out over the other two and
soon became known as the .223 Remington.
According to a popularity chart published by
RCBS, based on reloading die sales, the
.223 Remington is our most popular .224" caliber centerfire, ranks second
only to the .30-06 among all rifle cartridges, and twelfth among all handgun
and rifle cartridges. The reason for such popularity becomes quite obvious
when one works with the .223 Remington. The .223 shoots flat enough for 300
yard varmint shooting and yet its relatively small appetite for powder is
easy on rifle barrels, on the shoulder, on the budget, and muzzle blast is
comparatively mild. Neither is the .223 choosy about the diet it is fed,
a number of powders produce top performance and superb accuracy, including
H335, H4895,
BL-C(2),
IMR-3031,
IMR-4895, and
W-748.
Match grade, hollow point bullets are fine for target shooting with the .223
but they often don't open quick enough for the explosive expansion needed
for varmints such as groundhogs humanely at the longer ranges. Best bet for
shooting varmints with this cartridge are the Speer TNT,
Nosler Expander,
Hornady Super Explosive (SX), and
Sierra Blitz bullets, with their
soft lead cores and extremely thin jackets. For competitive shooting, the
Hornady 68 grain and the
Sierra 69 grain hollow point
bullets are excellent wind buckers but require a rifling twist rate of 1-7
to 1-8 inches for stabilization. Most sporting rifles have rifling pitch
rates of 1-12 or 1-14 inches.
Source: Hodgdon Data Manual, 26th Edition
Historical Notes:
The 223 Remington first appeared in 1957 as an experimental military cartridge
for the Armalite AR-15 assault rifle. In 1964, it was officially adopted
by the U.S. Army as the 5.6mm Ball cartridge M193. It is used in the selective
fire M16 rifle which is based on the original AR15 design. The cartridge
was the work of Robert Hutton, who was technical editor for Guns &
Ammo magazine and had a rifle range in Topanga Canyon California. One
of the requirements for the cartridge was for the projectile have a
retained velocity in excess the speed of sound (about 1080 fps at sea level)
at 500 yards, something you could not achieve with the 222 Remington. Working
with Gene Stoner of Armalite, Bob Hutton designed a case slightly longer
than the 222 and had Sierra make a 55 grain boattail bullet. This combination
met the design requirements. All this was documented in the 1971 issue of
Guns & Ammo Annual.
Originally an alternate military cartridge, the 223 (5.6 x 45mm) is now the
official U.S. and NATO military round. It should also be noted that NATO
forces, including the U.S., have standardized a new 5.56 x 45mm round with
a heavy bullet and the M193 is no longer standard.
Shortly after the military adopted the cartridge, Remington brought out the
sporting version, which has largely replaced the
222 Remington
and 222 Remington
Magnum in popularity. Practically every manufacturer of bolt action rifles
has at least one model chambered for the 223. In addition, there are a large
number of military type semi-auto rifles available in this caliber. At one
time the Remington Model 760 slide action was available in the 223.
General Comments:
The 223 Remington is nearly identical to the
222 Remington
Magnum, the only difference is the 223 has a slightly shorter case. The
two are not interchangeable although the 223 will chamber in the
222 Remington
Magnum rifle. The result, though, is to create a gross headspace problem,
and the 223 case will rupture in the
222 Remington
Magnum chamber.
The 223 Remington has proven to be an effective military cartridge for fighting
in the jungle or forested areas and for close-in fire support, and has been
improved lately by NATO with heavier (SS109 designed by FN of Belgium) bullets
fired through a fast twist (1 in 7 inch) barrels. As a sporting round, it
is just as accurate as any other long range, centerfire, 22's. Military brass
cases are usually heavier than commercial cases so maximum loads should be
reduced by at least 10% and approached cautiously. That is because the reduced
case capacity results in a higher loading density and increased pressure
with the same powder charge. The 223 Remington can be classed as an excellent
medium range varmint cartridge at ranges out to 250 yards.
** In 1979, SAAMI cautioned shooters that the 5.56x45mm military chambers
and throats differ from the 223 Remington sporting rifle chambers. Therefore
military ball ammo may produce high chamber pressures in sporting rifles.
Source: Cartridges of the World
| 223 Remington Reloading Components & Accessories | |
New Unprimed PMC Brass
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Hornady Shell Holder #16
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| 22 Caliber (.223, .224) Bullets |
RCBS Case Trimmer Pilot, 22 Caliber
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