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

NATO spec 5.56mm has a higher chamber pressure then civilian .223.

I found extractions with NATO fodder very hard so I stick to .223 these days. I have run plenty of Russian Barnaul steel case .223 through mine and that is very easy going on extractions. A bit more cleaning on the other hand in comparison to brass cased ammunition. Russian steel case in .223 is not milsurp and loaded to the correct specifications for .223. The Barnaul is a steel cased bimetal round. That means the bullet itself is made out of a soft steel (softer then your barrel) with a copper wash, for some it is controversial but the Russians love the stuff through their military rifles and it is cheap.
You will find the first 100 heavy going anyhow so I suggest you bring gloves with you.

I recently sourced some different fodder, Hornady 223 REM 55gr training rounds. They are steel case like the barnaul but have a copper jacketed match round rather then a bimetal steel. Apparently they were developed by Hornady for Police and Federal training by offering match quality but in a cheaper case. Considering the FBI or police forces are not going to be reloading a cheaper steel case training round makes sense. I got them off an RFD friend of mine who has just started importing them, they come in 5o round boxes with a nice tray to hold them. He is only getting the 55gr at the moment as that is more popular in the UK market. Hornady also do a 75gr example which I am trying to persuade my friend to get that in as it would be perfect for my barrel length and twist. I haven't had a chance to shoot them yet but I am hoping they are good as I paid slightly less then Barnaul prices for what on paper is a better performing round.

The rfd is Sussex Guns: sales@sussexguns.com

Normal primer Fed?

I don't read my own signature!

That makes sense. The milsurp I have is similar in appearance to the Hornady in the picture as it as the same lacquering on the case. I have used similar stuff in .308 for my Remington 700 and the only issue is that the lacquering fouls up the breech and gets missed with the boresnake/brushes. I have a shotgun brush that is just about the right diameter to clean it.

I bought my ammo from HPS in Gloucester and it is listed as .223 rather than 5.56 so that should work out.

Demonic69 wrote:Normal primer Fed?

I don't read my own signature!

The Hornady steel case uses Berdan primers, which makes sense considering they are not reloadable. Apparently Hornady gets the cases pre-primed from another manufacturer and then they load it with powder and bullet.

Zilberbak wrote:That makes sense. The milsurp I have is similar in appearance to the Hornady in the picture as it as the same lacquering on the case. I have used similar stuff in .308 for my Remington 700 and the only issue is that the lacquering fouls up the breech and gets missed with the boresnake/brushes. I have a shotgun brush that is just about the right diameter to clean it.

I bought my ammo from HPS in Gloucester and it is listed as .223 rather than 5.56 so that should work out.

If it is from HPS then it will be Barnaul, box and bullets will look like this:



or this:



I had the green stuff which worked fine for me. As I said before it is not technically milsurp as it is made for the civilian (western) market to SAAMI .223 Remington specifications rather then NATO 5.56 or US M193. There are differences.

http://www.saami.org/pubresources/cc_dr ... ington.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5.56%C3%9745mm_NATO

You are spot an as they are the green lacquered Barnaul with Berdan primers. I currently do not want to start reloading .223 (or .308) as I already reload .357 and 9mm. I have 1:7 twist barrel and I am not sure if they will be that accurate but then again nor is the person behind the trigger.

1:7 twist will favour a heavier bullet, with a shorter barrel 75gr is ideal apparently. I also don't reload as of yet so steel case makes economic sense for me but I do buy some ppu as well. I have a 1:7 twist with a 16" barrel.

55gr is fine for plinking, I have shot up to 400yrds with that but it wasn't particularly accurate. 100 to 200 yrds it is perfectly fine and plenty of fun when shooting at a reactive target when you are not worrying about groups.

Given up waiting on UK AR specialists for a castle nut (yes you know who you are) so Fab Defense have come to the rescue and l have just fitted a polymer stock tube complete with a recoil spring fresh from Israel. At this rate l will need to buy shares in Fab D. All l am waiting on now is the red dot bracket from the States, oh and a PTK angled foregrip from a guy in Watford.