5.56 in the 223 Handi

[canon6]

I know and have read all of the "tho shalt not's",BUT what if a person was to run a 5.56 reamer into the Handi 223 chamber,what then?? I have a 223 that I use for my"shoot things gun" and being able to run 5.56 would be a plus.   Doug

[FPH]

I thought is was OK to shoot 5.56 i a .223......not the other way around.........the guys will know.

[Swampman]

Since all the external dim. of the two are the same it wouldn't make any difference.  Personally I wouldn't worry about it.

[RangeRat]

The only external difference between the .223 rem. and .556x45 NATO ( M193 or M855 ) chamber is in the leade, which is the distance between the mouth of the cartridge and where the bullet first contacts the rifling. It has been posted here before that the Handi in .223 has a rather long leade. Every gun is different so I would barrow a milspec round and mark the bullet all over with a black marker ( or what ever is at hand ) and carefully chamber and fully close the action. Carefully remove the round and look for any scratches left by rifling. IF none you should be safe to fire Millsurp ball ammo provided there are no other issues with the gun. Please be mindfull that milsurp ammo has a bit harder primer that standard .223 rem. ( possibly to resist the loose sliding firing pin in the M16/M4 platform ). A stronger hammer spring may be required such as one of the Wolf springs. Look in our "FAQ".

[RPRNY]

Pursuant to Range Rats excellent advice above, please note that provided you stick to 55 - 62 gr standard milsurp, there is no leade issue, especially given the Handi's tendency to a slightly longer 223 chamber. In any event, the longer 5.56 bullets - tracer, non-tox, and armor piercing in the main, will not stabilize in the Handi's later 1:9 twist and most certainly not in the earlier 1:12 twist. So, any 5.56 that would accurately shoot from a Handi barrel will fit comfortably in the 223 Handi chamber.

[cjclemens]

I've run 5.56 through my .223 handi with mixed results. Generally, with the harder primers, ya get a few misfires - the hammer spring on the handi isn't too stout. 5.56 also runs at slightly higher chamber pressures than .223. I had a few stuck cases - none too bad, but it happened often enough to be pretty annoying.  I don't tend to get too trigger happy with the handi, so I just hand load some .223 for it. Saves me a little trouble in the long run.