I am looking for a new gun in 223/556 bolt action. I want one that'll shoot 5.56 as well as 223. Who would you recommend? The reason I want a rifle that shoots 5.56 is sometimes there is some good deals in cheap ammo. I looked at the ruger American rifle in 556 and the mossberg mvps. Does any other company make 556 bolt actions? I do reload, I've also been seeing some cheap ammo in 556 also. Thanks.

I posted this on the other page.


posted 03 March 2020 20:27

kennedy..i bought the HOWA/HOGUE in .223 REM. bought my own scope, shoots good, and I like the 3 position safety.

you can also buy .223 and 5.56 ammo on sale for about $0.28 a pc. some gun makers don't like you to shoot a true 5.56 military spec in a bolt gun, high pressure.. I shoot 5.56 and .223 in my AR but I don't shoot 5.56 in my bolt, or that's the way it was 10-15 years ago
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if you ever reload a true 5.56 military round, they have there own special reload data..

Tikka, CZ and Ruger are three that I own. All are very accurate.

I have a Howa 1500, a Ruger Scout, a Win m70, a CZ 527.... I like the set trigger on the CZ, its a 24" heavy barrel ... the Scout is accurate with 55 gr surplus, I dislike the huge magazine for it..... the Howa is easy carry,,, and the Winchester is an old push-feed that ive had a long time...

If you can find an Interarms Mini MK X you won't be disappointed.

What you are looking for is a rifle cut with a "Wylde" chamber......kind of a balance that will shoot .556Mark and 223rem.....just a bit of throating difference, longer throat, used to reduce pressure of the 556 round.

All that said, I have never heard of a bolt gun with a Wylde cut chamber.....plenty of ARs though.....

I have a Stevens 200 in .223. I think it may have a Wylde chamber. At least the free bore lets me seat bullets way out past book max.
I shoot both in .223 and 5.56 ammo in it.
Being it only has a 1-12 twist it won't shoot the long boat tail bullets well.
I bought a box of 62 gr BT FMJ's just to see. You could see that the bullets where not making round holes, more egg shape, where the hole was about twice as long as it was wide.
This was at about 75 yards. %% gr and less shoot very well.
With the 50 yard range I have I my back yard it makes one not a very ragged one. Maybe 14 inch or lees groups. I know 50 yards isn't much but it's all I can get here. Closest range is about 45 minutes away.
Here I shoot as much for velocity and low numbers on the ES and SD. Once I find what looks good here I'll load up some to take to the range and shoot at 200 yards.
I think the current Savage 10 or 11 and the Axis uses a faster twist Like 1-9 or 1-7.
Looks around you might find a good deal on one.
Leo

Yeah I havnt made up my mind. Does anyone have the American ranch rifle in 5.56 if so how does it shoot? Accuracy wise.

My Ruger SS bolt gun will not chamber 5.56.

We have rifles marked .223 Remington.

They include rifles from all the major manufacturers in America and Europe.

Every single one of them shoots 5.56 marked ammo.

Check out the howa mini. It's a small bolt action sized properly for 223. The metal is nice, but the plastic is not great. There is good aftermarket support for it now: for stocks, bottom metal, etc.

My mini has a 9 twist barrel and I think the newer ones are tighter to shoot heavy nato bullets. They also have a threaded muzzle option now.

I'll check howa out. At the local pawn shop he has a ruger Hawkeye with scope for 525 bucks. I could probably get him down to 475 but will see.

I like the cz, except you guessed it the backwards safety. I've also looked at Rugers, but they are heavier than the cz.

Carpet man 1 I like the cz also. I'm just gonna shoot at critters like a fun gun.

heck, find the rifle you like, buy a wylde reamer, send to you favorite gunsmith for it to be set back a thread and rechamber ...

all my 223 AR barrels are wylde chambers

I've had great results with the Ruger American Ranch in 5.56. The first group went .44" at 100 with fairly cheap ammo. Accuracy has been superb! It's not the prettiest gun out there, but it does the one job it's made to do and well.

From what I understand the 223 chamber is held to tighter specs. Mostly in the neck and throat. The tighter neck holds the bullet in better alignment with the bore. The throating is cut a match sporting ammo better. This is doe to increase accuracy.
A 5.56 has a looser fit at the neck to help easy chambering. The throat is a bit longer so it can use a bit more powder to get higher velocity without getting to high a pressure. Similar to the way Weatherby makes a long throat chamber to boost velocity.
The wild chamber is kinda of a cross between the to. The neck is tighter for better accuracy and the throat is longer to help keep pressure down a bit.
The difference in pressure isn't much. I don't recall the exact numbers but the 223 is like 56K the 5.56 id like 60 k.
Most bolt actions can withstand much more pressure than the 5.56 generates. A lot of the new short mag's run in the 64K range.
Manufactures put these warnings on the rifles mostly to protect themselves not to protect you.
I wouldn't worry to much about the differences in the two. Just pick the rifle you like and find a load it likes.
Leo