223 wylde question

[Huckleberry Hound]

Potential stupid question warning:
So i put together a savage 223, and the barrel is from carbon 6, which is sold as 223 wylde. I used 223 rem go/no go gauges to set the head space. Does that change things, make it functionally a 223 rem? Or am i good to shoot 223 rem and 5.56 through it? Just curious how that works.
And it makes me wonder, if 223 wylde really is the answer to shoot both 223 rem and 5.56 ammo equally well, then why are any bolt gun or ar manufacturers still selling guns chambered in 5.56 or .223 rem? Why wouldnt they all just cut the crap and sell everything chambered in 223 wylde? And why dont they just rename it to 223 zakk wylde? That would be rad, id buy one.

 

[Marbles]

No, headspace is the same for 223 Rem, 223 Wylde, and 5.56 NATO.

Edit follows:

Throat dimensions are a lot of the difference. Tikka uses a chamber that is slightly tighter than a Wylde, but much looser than a 223 Rem (based on casting my chamber recently because I'm a curious nut).

The Wylde chamber sacrifices aspects of reliability compared to a 223. In a battle weapon, I would take a 5.56 chamber (and crimped primers, sealed cases, Etc.).

I'm pretty sure the primary area were 5.56 is an issue in a 223 chamber is in auto loaders due to the pressure. That is also where the added reliability of looser clearances is most important for reliability.

 

[Huckleberry Hound]

Thats what i thought. So my bolt gun should functionally be 223 wylde as per the barrel specs

 

[Huckleberry Hound]

Just chambered a 5.56 round in the savage and it went in slick as snot. Embarrassed to admit this but one time when bench shooting multiple guns i accidentally put a round of 5.56 through my rap 223. Noticed it was hard to chamber and in a moment of stupidity didnt stop and analyze the problem. Anyway it went okay, no disaster. But chambering that 5.56 round in my 223 rem ruger bolt gun, it clearly wasnt smooth. This chambered smooth.

 

[Marbles]

Thats what i thought. So my bolt gun should functionally be 223 wylde as per the barrel specs

Yes.

 

[Huckleberry Hound]

Okay, now that thats settled, my other 2 questions. Why do they still make guns in 5.56 and .223 rem instead of chambering everything .223 wylde? And why cant we call .223 wylde the .223 zakk wylde?

 

[Wildhorse]

223 wylde is just the middle ground option for being able to successfully stabilize and shoot 223 and 5.56 factory ammos efficiently the reason for 5.56 rifles and 223 rifles is usage specialized usage a 223 chambered rifle should "should" perform better than a 223 wylde or 5.56 with said ammo and so on with the 5.56

 

[wind gypsy]

Throat dimensions are a lot of the difference. Tikka uses a chamber that is slightly tighter than a Wylde, but much looser than a 223 Rem (based on casting my chamber recently because I'm a curious nut).

Curious about the dimension differences you saw on the casted chamber?

 

[wind gypsy]

Okay, now that thats settled, my other 2 questions. Why do they still make guns in 5.56 and .223 rem instead of chambering everything .223 wylde? And why cant we call .223 wylde the .223 zakk wylde?

Good question. While .223 should shoot just fine in a wylde chamber, it's still loaded to 223 SAAMI spec and velocities should be slightly lower in a wylde chamber due to there being more volume in the chamber and a longer, shallower angled throat. There could be potential for lesser accuracy in theory, my wild ass guess is it wouldn't be statistically significant. I'd be all for 223 rifles being chambered in wylde!

 

[wind gypsy]

Interestingly (and this could only be done in a hammer forged chamber) the rifling extends back into the throat. So, while the throat looked to be about 0.060 long based on the length that was 0.226 in diameter, that section is rifled to within about 0.01 of the case neck.

The only way I can make that make sense is if the groove diameter is deeper than 0.226" and that would be pretty odd?

 

[Marbles]

The only way I can make that make sense is if the groove diameter is deeper than 0.226" and that would be pretty odd?

Well, that is because what I wrote is wrong and I should have known better than to go from memory before having coffee while being in a hurry to get out the door. I deleted it to avoid confusing people.

 

[Marbles]

Curious about the dimension differences you saw on the casted chamber?

Here is a drawing. I was mixed up in what I wrote earlier. The throat looks to be 0.059, however the rifling appears to taper and leaves a very shallow imprint as it approaches the throat; plus not having anything solid to go up against on the rifling I had a hard time being sure. Certainly not under 0.051 and I don't think it was 0.060. Rifling appears to reach full thickness (maximum depth in the cast) between 0.090 and 0.100.

Groove to groove looks to be 0.2245 for the inch of bore that I cast and this starts were the rifling starts. I measure a TMK to have a diameter of 0.2230. Anyway, that should give an idea for the potential degree of error, either due to my measurement technique or variation in the cast size due to temperature change. So, take these measurements with a grain of salt, I doubt they are as exact at 4 figures past the decimal.