Winchester White Box 5.56 vs .223

[saddlerocker]

My brother bought me some ammo the other day and brought home winchester white box. I have a 223rem bolt action. He said he grabbed them both off the same stack, but one says 223 Rem and other says 5.56.

I have heard that 5.56 guns can shoot .223, but 223 guns shouldnt shoot 5.56 because its a "hotter" round.
Is that true? should I give this ammo away? My 223 is brand new so I dont want to take any risks with it.

 

[griff383]

You are correct, 223 is safe in 5.56 but not the other way around. 5.56 is a higher pressure cartridge and thus a 223 chamber cannot safely support the 5.56 round.

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

Here we go again.

 

[saddlerocker]

I understand that many people might use it, and use it with no problems, but I just wanted to know "technically" if it was ok or should be avoided.

This is a bolt action weatherby vanguard with a heavy barrel, if it was an AR or something I would probably just use it

Ill probably give it back to my brother to use in his M4 Carbine

 

[bushmaster4162]

Copy that. These are two totally differant cartriges.if the barrel on your gun says,5.56 then is it safe to shoot .223 in that paticular gun..not the other way around,you could be injerd or killed. Safe shooting.

 

[Mags]

While I agree it is a bad idea to shoot 5.56 in a 223 bolt gun I find it hard to believe that a money grubbing company like Winchester or any other big ammo maker is going to run two different lines for two products that could be the same.
One example would be why take the extra effort to make the 5.56 brass thicker or the 223 brass thinner?

 

[helotaxi]

5.56 brass isn't thicker.

If you look at the specific loads in question, the WWB .223 is standard fare. The 5.56 as expected is loaded hotter. Fired consecutively in the same rifle, you can tell the difference. The 5.56 also has the primer crimped in per 5.56 NATO specs. Every time I've found both in stock at the same place, the 5.56 has been slightly more expensive as well.

 

[JoeMal]

Here we go again.

You didn't pop out of the womb and know the answer to this either. No need to be rude.

 

[matrem]

"technically" if it was ok

No.