Why did you choose .223?

[Browning]

Accurate
Low recoil
Holds lots of boolits
It's pretty much THE most popular center fire rifle caliber in the US.
Ammunition is low cost.
It's powerful enough to kill medium sized game in the South with.

If I need to use it in defense it's light, quick handling, I can identify targets easily enough since mine are all equipped with lights, some of the platforms are modular enough where they can be anything from a pistol to a precision longer distance rifle, I can zap pretty much anything from 0 to 400 yards with mine without really trying all that hard (farther if it'll hold still for a second), holds a decent amount of rds and I'm good with it.

 

[Mosin Bubba]

It's an AR cartridge for me. I never owned a 223 before I bought an AR, and those two EBRs are still the only 223s that I own.

 

[lightman]

1) Brass is free.
2) Bullets are cheap.
3) 24 grains of powder will get you 3000 fps.
4) Good 300 yd range toy.
5) Lots of rifles chambered for it.
6) Easy to load.
7) Good varmint cartridge.
8) Low recoil

It's Americas favorite CF rifle cartridge like baseball and apple pie.

Yup, that just about sums it up. When I built my first AR the 223/5.56 was then about the only cartridge that they were chambered in. So, that was a natural choice. Since then I started getting more serious about varmint hunting.

Here are a few observations;

My 22-250AI shoots flatter than the 223. And its impressive on a small target like a Prairie Dog! But a busy afternoon on a large Dog Town will just about make toast out of an expensive custom barrel. It don't really do a 223 barrel any favors either but the 223 barrel takes longer to get hot.

My custom 243 also shoots flatter and is less affected by the wind. But the same thing holds true about barrel heat.

My custom 6.5-284 does everything that the above will do, and more. If I was trying to make the 1000 or 1500 yard club on Prairie Dogs this would be what I would shoot! Lets not even talk about barrel heat! Or barrel life!

The 223 shoots flat enough for the range that most of my shooting is done at. Usually inside of 300 yards although I have hit a few at 600 yards. It will explode a Prairie Dog and it kills Coyote size critters reliably. And while I have gotten it so hot that you can't touch the barrel, it takes a while loner than faster cartridges. Barrel life is fairly long.

And if ya wanted to you could choose a tougher bullet and hunt deer size game. Its just a good all-round cartridge. If I want to impress my friends with group size I can buy Lapua or Norma brass and load Sierra Match Kings. If I'm shooting in an area where I expect to loose some brass I shoot the lesser known headstamps and don't worry about it. It was free, right? There is a vast array of bullet choices at affordable prices. A pound of ball powder will load a lot of rounds and meters well through a measure.

Don't get me wrong, I still Deer hunt with a 30 caliber. But the 223 is just a good all around cartridge for plinking, target shooting, Varmint hunting and defense.

 

[cfullgraf]

I originally got into Service Rifle competition to qualify to buy a Garand from the CMP. I liked the game and after competing with the Garand for a while, I bought the rifle of choice, a competition prepped AR-15, which was chambered for 223 Remington.

So, using 223 Remington was a by-product of buying a particular rifle.

Besides, the prepped AR-15 was a cheap option when compared to accurizing the Garand.

 

[BigSteve57]

I originally got into Service Rifle competition to qualify to buy a Garand from the CMP. I liked the game and after competing with the Garand for a while, I bought the rifle of choice, a competition prepped AR-15, which was chambered for 223 Remington.

So, using 223 Remington was a by-product of buying a particular rifle.

Besides, the prepped AR-15 was a cheap option when compared to accurizing the Garand.

Interesting. I always like to hear how other folks got started hunting, competing etc...
I got started in service rifle matches with a Garand I bought at a gun show. I then shot a few CMP matches with it which enabled me to buy from the CMP but the only thing I ever bought was a couple of bayonets. I then went to a M1A NM for competitions. Then to AR .223/5.56.

 

[Frostbite]

Premium ammunition and cheap ammunition are both available.

Those who reload might tend to forget it, but some cartridges, for the non reloader, are only available in a very reduced number of flavors when compared to .223 Remington and .308 Winchester, for example.

Premium ammunition lets me enjoy the maximum 200 yards of the range where I shoot. Cheap ammunition lets me enjoy the range where I shoot more often, even if I have to shoot at closer targets!

The recoil of the .223 Remington is so mild I can shoot more than fifty rounds and still perform adequately. There is just enough of it to help me perceive my technical mistakes (perhaps a tad more would still not be too much, but I still have to get into reloading), which the .22 LR makes more difficult at minus twenty degrees, due in part to my heavy coat and light gloves, and in part to my cold induced numbness.

 

[C-grunt]

Ive been carrying a M16/AR-15 professionally since 2002. Ive used it in crap holes on the other side of the planet and Ive used it in crap holes here in the US. I have literally shot 10s of thousands of rounds of 5.56/223 and know the cartridge well. It has low recoil, flat trajectory, light weight, and decent terminal ballistics.

 

[Bbear]

As a kid, one of the first rifles I hunted with was a .222. For the little Texas doe around here, it was enough. My Dad borrowed it from a friend for me to shoot that year. When I got older and was buying my own firearms, ammo and reloading supplies, I wanted something with more punch than a 22 LR had to use at the range while I let the barrel cool on whatever else I was shooting. I went through several AR's until my current Daniel Defense model and a couple of different bolt rifles. Now, when I take a couple of rifles to the range for practice or load development, I have something I can play with out to the 300-500 yard range and work on my shooting skills.
Cheap ammo, relatively easy to reload for, doesn't take much powder and accurate out to the 500 (at least, accurate enough for me) and light recoil all work to help improve my skills.

 

[jmorris]

For a long time that’s the only caliber you could get in an AR 15. That’s where the cheap ammo and popularity comes from.

Before that the 222 was the bees’ knees.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

I picked "other" . Bought a Savage in the Predator version a few years back.
I wanted to try the caliber in a bolt action and it fit the parameters, cost and configuration, that I was looking for.
With my reloads it has proven to be a handy and accurate rifle

 

[illinoisburt]

Cost, plain and simple. Always been a high volume plinker and prefer to buy ammo in cases. If it's a centerfire under $200/1000 of steel ammo, *chances are* I have a gun for it

 

[md7]

I can remember when the lever action 30-30 was THE quintessential general purpose rifle. An AR in 5.56/.223 is kind of like that now.

AR’s are nearly as common as rimfire rifles, and that’s a good thing.

 

[Nuclear]

Hmm, well as I remember, the Dems were talking about banning "Assault Rifles", and an acquaintance commented "why would you want one, they aren't as accurate as a bolt action anyways". So I bought an AR to have one, just in case they did get banned, and I set it up to be as accurate as a bolt gun, to prove a point. It just cost me about twice as much as the bolt gun would have. At the time, ARs were all chambered in .223/5.56.

 

[SharpDog]

Picked up several .223's over the years and replaced most of the uppers with 6.5G or 7.62x39.

 

[Bfh_auto]

Understanding that people have many reasons for choosing one caliber over another, what was your criteria for choosing this caliber?

I have always been a .30 caliber kind of guy. I've hunted and practiced with 30-06, 30-30, .308 over the years and it has become kind of an automatic choice with me. I've owned rifles in other calibers (including .223) over the years but have always "come back home" to .30.

I'm not trying to start a war or disparage the venerable .223 in anyway but given the obvious popularity of this round why did you choose it?

.40

It will be a good stepping stone for my son. 22-250 had a lot more muzzle blast and I'm not fond of lever actions as a kid gun.

 

[kimberkid]

1) Brass is free.
2) Bullets are cheap.
3) 24 grains of powder will get you 3000 fps.
4) Good 300 yd range toy.
5) Lots of rifles chambered for it.
6) Easy to load.
7) Good varmint cartridge.
8) Low recoil

It's Americas favorite CF rifle cartridge like baseball and apple pie.

That covers all my reasons ... Other than its easy to tune to other 223 caliber's no matter if it be a SiG, HK, CZ ... or an AR

 

[Beach Bum]

There are many good posts here ...with varying reasons for ownership ....I consider it to be one of the essential calibers....

 

[bikemutt]

As a hand loader, .223 for me is a way to hone my skills, practice more affordably than larger calibers, and not worry about component availability (for now anyway). I have bolt-action and semi-autos in .223 (5.56 if preferred), they are all fun to shoot for me. I don't even think twice about introducing a new shooter with .223 as they don't tend to get jumpy from recoil. It's just a good, solid round.

 

[forty_caliber]

Once again thanks to all for all of the great responses to this thread. I picked up an inexpensive Ruger MPR 5.56 18" today. I can't say that I "needed" another rifle for sure but to answer my own survey I:

• Needed one for my collection
• Both Cost and availability
• Already own many compatible accessories
• In before the Anti's make it difficult
• Another caliber to reload for

.40

 

[ACES&8S]

To be honest----The first time I ever bought a 223 was because Clinton & others said I shouldn't own one.
Ended up owning several AR versions & realized after years of owning them, that I wasn't a danger to anyone in -spite- of what
the critics said. So after that time passed so did the AR craze so I gave some of the rifles to my Sons & the others I sold
to -RESPONSABLE- gun owners like myself.
The only 223 rifles I own now are those EVIL tactical rifles which , according to the freedom haters, will succeed in turning me
into a dangerous citizen. So far a few foxes , groundhogs & turkey have voted yes to that.
Love the 223 for it's simplicity and accuracy but I just counted & I own 7 of the 30.06 which must mean that is my favorite caliber.
Good thread.

 

[Labguy47]

Surgery has made recoil a problem so I needed a built in buffer.

 

[Labguy47]

That was the reason I built my second AR. I wanted to see how good of a gun I could get using "budget" parts. It cost me $400.00

In fact I will probably build another AR in the future using military style handguard, grip and buttstock and budget parts just to see how inexpensively I can do it.
.

Just bought a S&W M&P AR for $400

 

[fpgt72]

You left out the reason I bought mine.....first time around the said they are going to take them away from us.

That is why I bought it way back in the 90's.....no other reason. I shot it quite a bit back then.....then they got to where every tacticool wannabe bought one and I did not want any more questions on why I keep shooting my antique AR....so back to the corner of the safe it went, and I bought a bolt AR....because at the time I had about a billion loaded rounds for the stupid thing.

One of these days I need to dust off that old AR and burn some ammo in it.

 

[kimberkid]

Y
<snip>
and I bought a bolt AR....because at the time I had about a billion loaded rounds for the stupid thing.
<snip>

What exactly is a "bolt AR" ?

 

[theotherwaldo]

Ruger's Precision Rifle is one example of a "bolt AR".