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Q. Which should I be looking for in an AR15, a 5.56 NATO or .223 Remington chamber? This is really a matter of the role for which you plan to use your AR. .223 Remington chambers will give you slightly better accuracy, which is important for a match or varmint rifle. Any loss of feeding and cycling reliability and the restriction against shooting military ammo isn't as important as the accuracy gains for a rifle used in these roles, because for these rifles, accuracy is everything. People who just want to plink or who plan to shoot military ammo (such as most of the cheap surplus ammo available), and especially those who may use their AR as a weapon, should choose 5.56 chambers. |
Ok, that's good and everything, however...
The
big reason .223 is more accurate is due to the tighter chamber and limited leade. This statement would apply essentially only to commercial/military loaded ammunition.
However, I plan to primarily shoot reloads. What this would allow me to do is reload the shells so they fit tight into the chamber. Basically, fire the shell once, and neck-only resize from that point on. Case capacity should increase because the shell should fire-form to the 5.56 chamber.
So, given this, wouldn't that make 5.56 indistinguishable in accuracy vs .223?
Also, wouldn't the higher case capacity and higher pressure tolerances give me the capability to load higher velocities, in order to achieve longer distances?
And, if wanted, I could still shoot mil-spec ammo just fine.
I plan to get an E.R. Shaw 24" SS Varmint barrel in either .223 or 5.56mm and I would appreciate feedback on my 'theories'.
Thank You.
edit// If this is in the wrong section please feel free to move it.
Also, it occured to me that only neck sizing semi-automatic brass isn't going to be good, I guess I'd have to have special dies to reload specifically for the 5.56mm chamber.