AR 15 in 223 Wylde Caliber

[fyimo]

Any members shooting this caliber up here. I'm considering picking one up in this caliber and I would love to hear feedback from anyone shooting one.

 

[andy52]

Yes sir I have 2 ARs that are chambered in .223 wylde. It's really not a separate caliber just a modified chamber. It's a half way point between a 5.56 and .223.

 

[Sistema1927]

Supposedly he 223 Wylde allows you to shoot both .223 and 5.56 without a loss of accuracy as opposed to a 5.56 chamber. I have one AR in 223 Wylde, but I don't notice any difference.

 

[andy52]

Here's and example of a test group with a .223 wylde 20 inch barrel shot at 100 meters using Sierra 65 gr spbt. The one flyer is my fault because I pulled the shot. I was shooting for group and the scope was not zeroed for the ammo. The target grid is 1/2" squires.

 

[fyimo]

I ordered a AR-15 upper from PSA in 223 Wylde and I'm looking forward to getting it. The upper is coming with a Nickle Boron Bolt carrier group. I'm looking forward to my first range visit with it to see if it is as accurate as some people say they are.

 

[DWalt]

The Wylde chamber is essentially a compromise design which will satisfactorily handle both the 5.56x45mm NATO round (either M193 or M855) and the .223 Remington round having longer bullet noses and/or a different bullet nose radius. The military 5.56 chamber has a shorter entry (leade) to the rifling while the Wylde chamber leade is longer. Use of commercial .223 ammunition in a military chamber can cause the bullet to be jammed into the rifling, increasing chamber pressure. The reverse (5.56x45 in a .223 chamber) usually does not create overpressure problems, but it can cause accuracy problems as the bullet "jump" distance to the rifling can be critical to achieving the best grouping performance. Note that while there are no dimensional differences between the 5.56 and .223 cases, the bullet nose lengths and profiles can be somewhat different.

I have a Savage 112-V Heavy Barrel .223 bolt action rifle with the .223 chamber. While it handles both military and commercial .223 rounds OK, it groups somewhat better with the commercial .223 loads as the chamber uses commercial .223 SAAMI dimensional specifications.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

A friend was an early Green Beret, his main Specialty was small weapons. His research in post service life led him to some documents that showed, all the proto 5.56 AR's had the Wylde chamber, but Wylde was a Stoner associate. He had a patent on that chamber and when the Government went for they design the had someone (Colt maybe) come up with a different chamber.

My friend built several bolt action rifles with 1:8, 1:7 and 1:6.5 twist barrels and found that the 1:7 twist was best with the Wylde chamber for reducing chamber pressure with VLD bullets up to 88 grains. These rifles were use on long distance targets and were about 1/10 to 1/4 MOA (1" to 2.5" 5 shot groups at 1000 yards!)

If you hand load your ammo, you will probably see the difference, with factory ammo, not so much.

Ivan

 

[fyimo]

I'm glad to hear the above as the one I bought has a barrel 1/7 twist rate. I also reload so I should be able to reload a good accurate round for that upper.

Thanks

 

[DWalt]

Actually, a 1:9 twist is fine with typical bullets up to about 64 grains. Heavier bullets (lower ballistic coefficients) and tighter rifling twists are better if you are shooting out beyond 400-500 yards. Not many will want to do that with a .22. Larger diameter and heavier bullets will do better.

 

[gnystrom]

Any chambering be it .223, 5.56, or Wylde will all feed and give good accuracy given a tighter twist barrel and good optics. I don't consider my AR a long range gun but I did build it with a 1/7 twist and a Geissele trigger just in case.

 

[typetwelve]

I'm running a 223 wylde in an 18", 1:8 barrel from Odin Works. It was part of a medium budget build bench AR I made. I took it out last summer and was shocked at the performance of the rifle. I'm not marksman, but I go well below 1 MOA results shooting some Outback Ammo loaded with 69gr Sierra Match Kind projectiles:

That's a 5-shot group and the flyer is still within 1":

 

[joe44va]

I have a DDM4 with an 18" heavy barrel which I believe has the Wylde chamber. Shoots 1 1/8" ten shot rested groups. For me, this is pretty good.

 

[chiefdave]

Here's and example of a test group with a .223 wylde 20 inch barrel shot at 100 meters using Sierra 65 gr spbt. The one flyer is my fault because I pulled the shot. I was shooting for group and the scope was not zeroed for the ammo. The target grid is 1/2" squires.

Excellent shooting for a snipe, had you been an airdale I doubt you would have pulled that shot.