Is it worth doing an AI with the .223?
- Thread starter Money Waster
- Start date
Back before all this current b.s. you could get Frontier 55gr h.p. match ammo for 33 pennies. Groups excellent, and lake city brass, would be perfect for fireforming. I should have bought a thousand.
In think a 223AI is eminently doable, and may be worth whatever troubles might/could be associated.
I went through this very quandary about a decade ago, when I had determined that the 22-250 ran too hot for match COFs. The 1:8" 22-250 shooting 75's has been a dream that faded for a lot of us.
I opted against the AI on general principle. The AI concept takes a popular and perfectly functional chambering and gives it a taste of steroids. Left at that, fine. But the very idea of hopping up the original round can also lead to hotloading the AI. This form of abuse takes the bore to intolerable temps, just like the 22-250. I see it as a net no gain. It should work, and would work, were it not for the natural (unnatural?) tendency to beg for more; this being the qualifying trait of its proponents. IMHO; nice but inevitably doomed by human nature.
I stay with the 223, and recognize that it has its limitations. I accept them. I branched out to the 6.5G but the projects have been stalled by lockdowns and harsh heat. The 308 is the 223's F T/R big Brother, and when that's not enough, there's the F Open 260/6.5CM. KISS! The .264 100gr ELD is a wunder-bullet at 4350ft altitude (840-860 MBAR), IMHO.
Greg
I went through this very quandary about a decade ago, when I had determined that the 22-250 ran too hot for match COFs. The 1:8" 22-250 shooting 75's has been a dream that faded for a lot of us.
I opted against the AI on general principle. The AI concept takes a popular and perfectly functional chambering and gives it a taste of steroids. Left at that, fine. But the very idea of hopping up the original round can also lead to hotloading the AI. This form of abuse takes the bore to intolerable temps, just like the 22-250. I see it as a net no gain. It should work, and would work, were it not for the natural (unnatural?) tendency to beg for more; this being the qualifying trait of its proponents. IMHO; nice but inevitably doomed by human nature.
I stay with the 223, and recognize that it has its limitations. I accept them. I branched out to the 6.5G but the projects have been stalled by lockdowns and harsh heat. The 308 is the 223's F T/R big Brother, and when that's not enough, there's the F Open 260/6.5CM. KISS! The .264 100gr ELD is a wunder-bullet at 4350ft altitude (840-860 MBAR), IMHO.
Greg
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Greg,
You speak from a position of wisdom, I don’t disagree with you logically.
That said I’m not where you are now. Perhaps it comes with age and I’ll get there one day? Maybe you have always been reasonable and I’ll never get there?
I know all cars are capable of exceeding the posted speed limits but I can’t help myself. I buy fast cars and risk their inherently durable manufacturing and push them faster. I buy trucks and lift them, and push their limits too.
And w firearms I’m guilty of pushing them harder than I need to.
Why?
Because I find a great deal of satisfaction in doing so. I realize I can just read about things and move on but I really wanted to see a pierced primer, a case separation, a sticky bolt and a burnt out barrel.
I don’t have a death wish, I just want to learn and I do this through experience.
I should just conform and “do the smart thing” but I don’t have it in me.
LOL! We all get there, and it doesn't take any great age.
Pushing my firearms easier happened when I bought that L-W precision rifle barrel. I suddenly had a sizeable investment that might benefit from some moderation.
That's all it took. And I realized that if I didn't treat the other ones, the factory barrels, with respect; I'd be looking at sizeable investments for them too.
I mean; who replaces a factory barrel with another factory barrel anyway?
FWIW, I bought the L-W in 2003; and I'm still getting the original outstanding performance out of it. I just take it out and play it for the more special occasions.
I also make nearly all the ammo I shoot, which keeps me from going hog wild there, too. I hate bench time.
Gotta do it, but no need to be dawdlin'.
Greg
Pushing my firearms easier happened when I bought that L-W precision rifle barrel. I suddenly had a sizeable investment that might benefit from some moderation.
That's all it took. And I realized that if I didn't treat the other ones, the factory barrels, with respect; I'd be looking at sizeable investments for them too.
I mean; who replaces a factory barrel with another factory barrel anyway?
FWIW, I bought the L-W in 2003; and I'm still getting the original outstanding performance out of it. I just take it out and play it for the more special occasions.
I also make nearly all the ammo I shoot, which keeps me from going hog wild there, too. I hate bench time.
Gotta do it, but no need to be dawdlin'.
Greg
What do people see as the added effort? Assuming you're handloading, it's less effort for the AI when you take reduced/no case trimming into account. I don't see the fireforming reason people often give as you're still shooting what amounts to a regular 223 load.
I think the little 223 is the most easily justified Ackley. Plenty of dies, reamers, prefits, inexpensive brass and bullets.
