The 223 Remington And Rifles With Long Barrels Part II

History is what we remember…

It was 1964. I had hair that often blew in the breeze on its own accord. I listened to Bob Dylan, but I had an eye on a night lights of Disco while in its early stages. I was a happy guy, punching holes in paper and varmints with a Model 722 and the 222 Remington. Unfortunately, Remington did what it often does, they introduced the 223 Remington to the civilian market and began the slow death of the 222 Remington. The predictable consequence of when one cartridge wins military designation over another and is produced in massive quantities and familiar to many people.

For quite some time, the 223 Remington didn’t take off. Its short neck and small powder capacity frustrated handloaders, the 5.56x45mm M193 military counterpart was not known for accuracy. Its exterior ballistics were mediocre at best and the 222 Remington just kept chugging away with wins in competitive shooting and hunting success for everything from varmints to medium size game.

The years passed, nearly a decade. The 223 Remington’s performance got sorted, low cost commercial ammunition readily available and ex-militarypersonnel brought an attachment to the military version of the cartridge. So, there I stood flared pants and open necked paisley shirt, frozen in a disco finger pose, reluctant to accept that both the 222 Remington and Disco were dead, and obviously both at the hands of the 223 Remington.

The short version; the 223 Remington was an experimental cartridge, partnered with the Armalite AR-15 to undergo testing by the military in 1957. In 1964 it was adopted by the Army as the 5.56mm ball cartridge M193 and the civilian 223 Remington was introduced.

The 223 Remington and the 5.56 NATO are not the same cartridge… well, maybe

You can get a lot of information from Wikipedia; a lot of information from a collaboration of unidentified authors who appear to be in disagreement from one “author” to the next. One passage dismisses the pressure differences; 55,000 PSI MAP 223 Remington to 62,000 (4300 BAR) Ptmax for the 5.56 NATO as different test methodology. In the next paragraph, another author states unconditionally, that the 5.56 NATO pressure is absolute and too high for shooting in a 223 Remington chamber.

I would agree that there is a difference between readings resulting from test methodology, but not at all near the degree indicated. Military ammo is tested with transducer inside the case, 25mm up from the case breech face. SAAMI tests with a conformal transducer that takes a reading from the side of a cartridge case, 20mm up from the case breech face. Expanding brass tends to dampen pressure until it expands against a chamber wall, but this difference is calibrated out when setting up for transducer testing.

I have read that when CIP measures pressure for the 5.56 NATO spec that they check at the case mouth and this explains the difference between the SAAMI 55,000 PSI spec and the NATO 62,000 PSI. Then someone would have to explain to me why the CIP 223 Remington spec is 62,000 PSI, same as the 5.56 NATO, and that measurement is taken as noted above, within 5mm on the case body of the SAAMI transducer method.

Commercial European 223 Remington ammo for use in sporting rifles, like those that are imported and sold into the U.S. is rated at 4300 BAR or 62,000 PSI, which is not all that high for a modern (post 1927) sporting cartridge, particularly when surrounded by so much barrel and receiver material and exerting such little bolt thrust. 5.56 NATO specifications are done on a cartridge type to cartridge type basis for varying missions and firearms, so there are numerous pressure ratings from 52,000 PSI to 62,000 PSI. CIP and SAAMI civilian arms specifications are one per cartridge. So you skip the cartridge specs and look at the chamber specs where the 5.56 NATO is constant.

Looking at chamber reamer dimensions from 223 Remington match, 223 Remington, hybrid 223 Wylde, 5.56 NATO the only difference of any consequence is the length of freebore, 0.025″ for the Remington and 0.599″  for the 5.56 NATO based on Pacific Tool & Gauge reamer drawings, and the throat angle, the angle of the leade that manages the transition from freebore to rifling land, is a steep 3.1° compared to a shallow 1.2° for the 5.56 NATO. The longer freebore and shallow leade angle reduces the initial pressure spike when the bullet hits rifling and accommodates today’s longer and heavier 0.224″ bullets. In working up handloads, the Ruger Hawkeye Varmint Target has a 223 Remington spec chamber. Subsequently, all bullets used were checked with a cartridge overall length gauge to make sure there was a safety clearance bullet – rifling which is reflected in listed COL dimensions.

Don’t shoot 5.56 NATO ammunition in a 223 Remington chambered rifle as they are not interchangeable.

Useful hunting bullets…

While occasionally shooting 80 grain 0.224″ bullets out of a quick twist 22-250 Rem rifle and 5.56 NATO and 223 Rem Wylde chambered AR-15s, I mostly do not exceed a 65 grain bullet weight in bolt action 223 Remington chambered rifles. Subsequently, my preference is to assemble and shoot varmint or medium size game loads. The first two bullets are strictly for small varmint; thin jackets and explosive expansion on contact. The other are suitable for up to medium size game.

Handloads*

Warning: Bullet selections are specific, and loads are not valid with substitutions of different bullets of the same weight. Variations in bullet length will alter net case capacity,  pressure and velocity. Primer selection is specific and primer types are not interchangeable. These are maximum loads in my firearms and may be excessive in others. All loads should be reduced by 5% as a starting point for development where cartridges have greater than 40 grains in capacity and 10% for cartridges with less than 40 grain capacity following safe handloading practices as represented in established mainstream reloading manuals. Presentation of these loads does not constitute a solicitation for their use, nor a recommendation.

Yes in deed… God knows how many scope I’ve installed over the years but, apparently, I am still in need of a preflight check list to make sure I don’t miss anything. I was taking the rifle down to put it in its box, grabbed the rear ring clamp fastener and it was barely finger tight, while the front was tight. Torqued it down, grabbed a bunch of ammo and reshot the groups. Not a huge difference, but certainly a measurable difference. My apologies.

Left to right, as they appear on the table, top to bottom – Do not email regarding the condition of the reloaded brass. It is clean through brushing and vibratory cleaner, but it has not been chemical tanked because that tends to strip out the zinc from the alloy and shorten case life.

Compressed loads generally means seating bullet compressed powder to some degree. Here, compressed means a once fired case full where the bullet pushed in when seated and the powder charge attempts to push it back out. As is industry standard, net capacity referenced in grains of distilled water as a common denominator to illustrate assembled cartridge combustion chamber volume. Powder volume varies with type of powder.

Accuracy… that’s precision in NRA speak

The Ruger Hawkeye Varmint Target is accurate. Other than small holes making group sizes look larger, it did not take too much sorting of charges and bullets to get all sub MOA performance just shooting over a couple of shot bags. For folks who like to point out “Snort… you missed the bullseye”, I don’t spend time zeroing, just shooting to the same point of aim for group size. Otherwise, I would spend all day zeroing every time I changed bullet and/or charge and shifted point of impact and I would probably double ammo consumption.

Why I like this rifle…

Turned on Internet TV for background and now totally absorbed in “Nazis at the Center of the Earth”. Dominique Swain… Jake Busey… and they say there is nothing good on TV. Anyway, the Ruger is of course a modern and very precise assembly; materials, process, precision machining and assembly. Still, I picked it up and put the broad forearm on a shotbag rest, cranked the scope up to 30x and for just a moment it was 1968, I was lying prone in a South Dakota field, glassing with a pair of binoculars in hopes of finding small furry mammals to explode.

The stock is so comfortable, the weight recoil cancelling and the trigger on the VT is incredible with light pull, no creep and no discernible overtravel. Shooting wasn’t a line item on the schedule I had to work through. It was a pleasurable afternoon, competing against myself and never once thinking I exercised all of the potential of the rifle. I did not give the rifle a break, shooting sometimes twenty rounds in relatively rapid succession without letting the rifle cool down; five bullet types in varying charges in sets of four.

I did monitor barrel temp with an infra red thermometer to make sure I wasn’t cooking anything. With a 78°F ambient, the highest the temperature rose was 86°F at the union of barrel and receiver, 88°F just ahead of the throat location at the end of the chamber and 80°F at the muzzle. No mirages dancing in front of the high magnification optics, not even any hot cases on ejection. Try that with an AR!…!!

While the stock is a laminate, a sandwich of hardwood layers of contrasting color, bonded with marine grade epoxy, it still feels organic; no hollow plastic drum, no cold plastic against the face. It is two hands full and it fully supports the cheek, when looking through a scope, with its high, straight comb. Shooting from a rest, the flat forearm all but eliminates cant and rotation under fire, the weight allows trigger hand on the rifle and free arm under the buttstock to regulate bunny bag height.

I do not know which caliber I would select in a personal Ruger Hawkeye Varmint Target. The 204 Ruger offers higher velocity, but it puts the rife in a smaller game and varmint role. The 22-250 Remington chamber would be an easy choice, but the relatively slow, traditional 1:14″ would keep bullet selection light. At the elevated velocity generating lots of revolutions per second, a 1:10″ twist would be a good compromise to bump up bullet weight and range over the 223 Remington. The 308 Winchester would have outstanding range and, no don’t, accuracy, but outside of competitive shooting, that is a lot of rifle to carry around for hunting 308 Winchester worthy game. The 6.5 Creedmoor would be tempting for target and up to medium size game… deer and antelope in the right kind of hunting environment, particularly with a 28″ barrel. All of these chambers are an option with the Ruger Hawkeye Varmint Target.

I hope Ruger keeps on producing these types of bolt action rifles for a long time to come. They are evidence that current shooters do have an interest in shooting and hunting that goes deeper than how large of a magazine or trend of the week handguard. They have done a heck of a job keeping prices down with the American line, assuring lots of folks on a tight budget that they can still participate in shooting sports. The Hawkeye is just a bit more for folks who can appreciation what more it has to offer.