Zeb C. is an avid hunter who lives in Fort Yukon, Alaska.
During one winter, residents in the village of about 900 people became concerned about a bear.
Residents had seen the bear eating an animal carcass in town, and noticed that the bear didn’t avoid people.
The bear looked like a polar bear, but residents believed it was a white grizzly bear.
That’s because they hadn’t seen a polar bear journey 250 miles inland to the village.
When word spread about the bear, hunters armed themselves with rifles in case they encountered the bear.
But the hunters did not carry guns like .357 magnums or .30-06 Winchester Model 70s.
Many, including Zeb, carried AR-15s.
About three miles outside of the village, Zeb and another hunter encountered the bear.
And, it turned out to be a polar bear.
The bear came out from under a brush pile about 10 yards away from Zeb.
According to Zeb, the polar bear charged straight at him. He didn’t have time to lift and sight his rifle.
“I shot from the hip, seven or eight times,” he said.
“If I had gotten it to my shoulder, it (bear) would have been on top of me. It happened so quick, by the time it was down, it was about 10 feet from my feet.”
The .223 round might not be the first choice for some hunters, but the round is more capable than many realize.
In fact, the .223 round has more energy than most .44 magnum rounds.
And in Zeb’s case the .223 round provided plenty of power to stop the charging polar bear.
Now, when it comes to AR-15 calibers there are many different options.
But the most common is .223 Remington or 5.56 NATO.
The .223 Remington is a rimless, bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It was developed in 1957 by Remington Arms.
The round is one of the most popular rifle cartridges.
The 5.56 NATO is also a rimless, bottlenecked cartridge. In 1980 it was standardized as the service rifle cartridge for NATO forces.
The 5.56 was derived from the .223 Remington round.
The rounds are similar, but have a few differences that set them apart.
Pressure and casing:
One of the biggest differences between the 5.56 and the .223 is that the 5.56 has higher pressure.
The 5.56 pressure is about 58,000 PSI, while the .223 pressure is about 55,000 PSI.
It’s a difference of about 3,000 PSI depending on the exact round.
This is important.
The difference in PSI is enough to cause barrels to rupture, which can obviously be dangerous for the shooter.
Another difference between the two rounds is the casing.
The 5.56 has a .125″ longer throat compared to the .223.
The longer throat allows for the 5.56 to hold more powder.
Can you use 5.56 rounds in a gun chambered in .223?
The quick answer is no.
This goes back to the different pressure in the rounds.
So, while the round might fire properly it’s not worth it.
You might not notice a difference if you fire one or two rounds.
But the longer throat on the 5.56 round means that you will likely produce higher pressure than the .223 chamber can handle.
And this could lead to the barrel rupturing.
What about .223 rounds in a 5.56 chambered rifle?
It will work and is safe and you can do this all day long if you wanted to.
I own plenty of rifles chambered in 5.56 that I shoot .223 with.
Which round is better?
The rounds are very similar, but the slightly longer throat on the 5.56 can lead to better ballistics.
However, the difference is small and it’s not noticeable by most shooters.
If you have the choice between weapons chambered in .223 and 5.56 the latter gives you more flexibility.
In other words, the rifle in 5.56 will allow you to fire .223 if needed.
Yet, there are more ammo choices in .223 compared to 5.56.
The .223 round comes with lots of options so you can find them for hunting or self-defense.
The right choice depends on what you want to do with your weapon, but you can’t go wrong either way.
