bamaranger
New member
overated
It seemed to me that the original question addressed the 5.56mm's overall rating as a cartridge, and just not the combat/military/LE use.
What is driving the .223/5.56mm is the popularity of the AR. With the advent of the affordable AR, and it's overall wide acceptance as a general purpose rifle by its many fans, the .223/5.56 has seen more use in the past decade or so than ever before. In terms of general purpose use, I think the popularity of the AR has thrust the .223/5.56 into enough areas where we can see the cartridges limitations and strengths better than we could twenty years ago.
Standard cup and core/HP/SP bullets allow common .223 sporter/varmint rig to take varmints out to 300 yds or more. Ammo is plentiful at this time, and allows practice at such range mimicking heavier calibers.
Modern bullets, and I'm talking here bonded/partitioned, monoalloy types,or heavy for caliber types, will allow the cartridge to take medium game( by that I mean deer/hogs) satisfactorily under ideal conditions and placed well. Other posts and wide experience (including my own with bamaboy as lad) prove that the .223 will take deer.
Get a long enough tube, with a fast enough twist, and needle like bullets, and I read you can punch paper in competition far better than when the cartridge first hit the scene some forty years ago. I dunno, say to 600 yds?
But.....the rifle and the cartridge are not the end all do all. And I think there are those who would have us believe that the AR /.223 is pretty close to that. There are cheaper plinkers (if we ever get ammo again) faster and flatter varminters, harder hitters for medium game upto and beyond whitetail size (nobody recommends the .223 as an elk rifle),and the bigger centerfires will take the competition to 1000yds and beyond.
It seemed to me that the original question addressed the 5.56mm's overall rating as a cartridge, and just not the combat/military/LE use.
What is driving the .223/5.56mm is the popularity of the AR. With the advent of the affordable AR, and it's overall wide acceptance as a general purpose rifle by its many fans, the .223/5.56 has seen more use in the past decade or so than ever before. In terms of general purpose use, I think the popularity of the AR has thrust the .223/5.56 into enough areas where we can see the cartridges limitations and strengths better than we could twenty years ago.
Standard cup and core/HP/SP bullets allow common .223 sporter/varmint rig to take varmints out to 300 yds or more. Ammo is plentiful at this time, and allows practice at such range mimicking heavier calibers.
Modern bullets, and I'm talking here bonded/partitioned, monoalloy types,or heavy for caliber types, will allow the cartridge to take medium game( by that I mean deer/hogs) satisfactorily under ideal conditions and placed well. Other posts and wide experience (including my own with bamaboy as lad) prove that the .223 will take deer.
Get a long enough tube, with a fast enough twist, and needle like bullets, and I read you can punch paper in competition far better than when the cartridge first hit the scene some forty years ago. I dunno, say to 600 yds?
But.....the rifle and the cartridge are not the end all do all. And I think there are those who would have us believe that the AR /.223 is pretty close to that. There are cheaper plinkers (if we ever get ammo again) faster and flatter varminters, harder hitters for medium game upto and beyond whitetail size (nobody recommends the .223 as an elk rifle),and the bigger centerfires will take the competition to 1000yds and beyond.