Thread: Will 223 still be popular

Now the ars are gone and i see people selling their bolt 223s i wonder what will be the favourite 22 cal in the future

I’m not selling my .223 bolt action. Not ever.

Will always be popular, I bought a replacement Tikka T3x in .223 yesterday and moved my accessories over.

I also got a replacement .223, a 1/8 twist Tikka Varmint.

.223 has its place, its a good cheap round for target shooting & practice. Good for small game & varmints to some reasonable distances.
Good for fallow deer and goats, & can be used on pretty much anything else in NZ in a pinch.

.223 is one of the top selling calibers, even in bolt actions. I think its in the top 5 calibers, or close to, of all new rifles sold.

Hell yes it will, i will always have a bolt 223, freaken love it!.........well as long as we are allowed firearms :-(

Won't be selling my t3 in 223 (unless my 17wsm project really impresses me) even then.... Chopped and canned, Boyd's stock, perfect for tight bush and clearings out to 200m

I just got a .223 Ruger American Ranch Rifle with the flush 5 round mag easy carry.
Opened up the barrel channel for more clearance.
Changed the trigger return spring to a cut spring same length as original from a pen, 1.5 lb clean break trigger pull.
Cut an inch of the stock.
Fitted AR titanium moderator straight on factory screw cut 16 "barrel.
Swapped over from AR Swarovski Z8i 1 - 8.
0.5 moa cheap 55 gr sp Freedom ammo.
Wallaby ready short and handy, might have to place a stone on top of it to stop it getting blown away if I lay it down out and about on a windy day.
A great relatively cheap wee rifle.
Shot it at 500 yards yesterday with 77 gr SMK my old Service Rifle home load.

When limited to a bolt gun you'd think there would be lots of better choices than 223.
But when you factor in the cost and availability of factory ammo, cheap and easy to reload, long barrel and case life it's still a good choice.

The the 204 Ruger and 22-250 are the obvious alternatives, both being readily available in factory guns, but 204 Ruger is arguably not as good for deer or goats, and 22-250 factory rifles always come in a slow twist that limits the use of heavy projectiles.
I bought a 223 about 10 years ago and at different times have wondered if I should've gone for something else, but it's such a nice cartridge to shoot and the mix of cheap bulk ammo and reasonably priced match ammo has made me happy with the choice I made.

Got 4 223, 2 will be going to the buy back, the other 2 are the go to guns in my cabinet

I've never owned a .223, but it strikes me as a versatile calibre, plus there will be a load of ex-AR15 owners who have all the reloading gear, so I think it will remain popular.

not to mention a ton of bullets to use up

I think .223 is a good middle ground between .204 and .22-250, especially with a reasonably fast twist on the .223. Makes for a very versatile caliber.
The others are barrel burners by comparison (22-250 more so). I used to have a .204, they are petty cool for varmints but the lack of any heavier projectiles and minimal projectiles with tough construction sort of make it a one trick varminting pony.

I did some load workup on the new .223, I chronoed a couple of rounds that were mid-way in the powder charges I was testing. I had 75gr hpbt travelling at 2960fps with 23.5gr 2208. I went higher with no pressure signs but didn't chrono them. (was shooting for groups, & chrono is a magnetospeed, which I do not like to use when shooting groups for load development. I had a couple extra 23.5gr so was not needed for group testing)

I've dusted off my Sako A1, freshen up with a new scope and given it some love again.....nup not selling, yep using

Had one for a while but couldn’t get my head around the tiny pill for bigger deer,went back to good old .308..was nice to shoot though and easy to reload for.

Bought a Tikka 223 varmint and happy it shoots the 1000rd tin of 77gr hpbt Belmont into .5~0.6" 5 shot group not too much trouble. Mainly be a range gun but will probably chop barrel to 20-21" thread and put suppressor on it. Barrel too fat for my Oceania unfortunately