The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

.223 is a great cartridge. It’s popular too, which means the amount of rifles chambered in it is vast, so there’s always a great choice of rifles available. Likewise, reloading is a doddle as the cartridge is very forgiving and cheap to load. And there’s not a Gunshop in the country that won’t have some sort of factory ammo on the shelf.

Yep, I’d say you’re missing out...

We supposes, if we has to have one, it ought to be one of them there tradishunal black rifle style AR thingies, oughtn't it ? Who makes a good one, with the ability to swap it over to .22LR ?

meles meles wrote:We supposes, if we has to have one, it ought to be one of them there tradishunal black rifle style AR thingies, oughtn't it ? Who makes a good one, with the ability to swap it over to .22LR ?

You pay's your money and takes your choice, asking that question on here is like asking which is your favourite child! You could try http://www.lannertactical.com/ , http://www.bradleyarms.com/products.html or https://www.valkyrierifles.net/.

meles meles wrote:We supposes, if we has to have one, it ought to be one of them there tradishunal black rifle style AR thingies, oughtn't it ? Who makes a good one, with the ability to swap it over to .22LR ?

Swapping it over is ok, you get to keep your lower receiver so if you spend big on trigger and stock etc, you get to swap uppers and with it, calibre.

If you really want swappable I’d go with something very “milspec” and from the factory, ask to see a .22 upper on the .223 lower before you buy the .223 rifle, some UK AR15’s can be a bit “Bob-spec” as opposed to “Mil-spec”

If you want to buy new, IMHO Lantac and Bradley Arms make the best straight-pull rifles, Bradley have a great reputation for builds and their rifles win big in comps. Lantac have a reputation for innovation in terms of Straight-pull specific bolt groups, fancy camming parts etc.

But you’re in £1500 odd starting out.

You can pick up a basic non side charging .223 AR for around a grand new. Lots of options around on gunstar etc.

Another good bloke to pop in and see would be Wayne at North West Custom Parts, he has a shed completely rammed with AR.

Also comes is BLACK which never goes out of fashion - unless your name is Yardley.

meles meles wrote:Oh, we sees. Sort of a rich man's 7.62x39 ?

Although it is just plain wrong (an AK should be 7.62 or 5.45x39!!!) there are AK variants such as the Saiga M3 or Bulgarian AR-M1 chambered in 5.56/.223...........

We still isn't convinced we needs one... and anyway, isn't .223 about to be rendered obsolete by the .224 Valkyrie?

meles meles wrote:We still isn't convinced we needs one... and anyway, isn't .223 about to be rendered obsolete by the .224 Valkyrie?

The correct answer is of course you don't need a .223 Rem. Unless you are doing competitions where the match conditions favour a lighter recoiling calibre you can shoot standing kneeling sitting and still be competitive at 500 yards. In other words nobody buys a set of golf clubs unless you are taking up golf.
The jury is still out on .224 Valkyrie.

Ovenpaa wrote:

kennyc wrote:its marginal on badgers though, often takes a second shot

Surely not if the first shot is well placed?

if you really want to use a .223 based cartridge then the .25 sharps really nails them