.223 to .221 without new barrel?

[USCGLongBow]

I recently found myself wanting a .221 Fireball for shooting squirrels and yotes on the ranch. I have been looking for rifles and can find very little in the way I wanted to go. I considered building a custom rifle, but since this rifle will see a lot of hard days, I don't see the need to pay that kind of money.

So now to my question. If I could find a lightweight rifle chambered for .223, would it be possible to take it to a reputable Gunsmith and have them turn the barrel down, rethread, and run a reamer to achieve the .221 chamber? Or would it be smarter and cheaper to just order a Pac-nor barrel and have it installed?

 

[orwapitihunter]

There are a couple of factors you will need to consider.
1. To set a barrel back on most rifles you need enough diameter to form a shoulder in the appropriate position. That shoulder sets how far the barrel screws into the receiver (Win 70/Rem 700). In some rifles (Rem 700) the shoulder also captures the recoil lug and keeps it in place as well. Other rifles (Savage) only need the tennon diameter as a jam nut is used to lock the barrel at proper depth as well as the position of the recoil lug.
2. Another problem with this particular conversion is ejection. Any of the rifles that use a plunger ejector and a extractor located at the bolt lug may give you problems. What happens is, as you are extracting the shorter Fireball case, it clears the chamber and then enters the runway in the receiver that the lug rides in. At that point, because the case is so short, it acts like it has cleared the ejection port and slips free of the extractor. Thus dropping free and lying in the action and preventing another round from chambering. If you look at a Rem 700 chambered to Fireball, you will see that the factory has changed the extractor location to about the 2 o'clock position. This causes the case to drag its way out of the action above the lug raceway. I researched 223/fireball conversions before I did a couple for a customer. The only issue I found was people that had problems with Fireball to 223. Their 223 brass was exiting high, hitting scope turrets and bouncing back into the receiver. So I went ahead and built two 300 Blackouts on 223 actions for the customer. Both of those rifles had occasional issues with leaving empties in the action. I ended up having to go with Sako style extractors to cure the problem. The Sako/M16 style extractors sit above the lug. Thus duplicating the extractor location change that Remington did on the Fireball based rifles.

 

[digger11]

Just buy a CZ in 221 and never look back.Great little inexpensive rifles.I have one in 222 and really like it for a cheap knock around gun..Oh and it shoots lights out!

 

[USCGLongBow]

There are a couple of factors you will need to consider.
1. To set a barrel back on most rifles you need enough diameter to form a shoulder in the appropriate position.
2. Another problem with this particular conversion is ejection. What happens is, as you are extracting the shorter Fireball case, it clears the chamber and then enters the runway in the receiver that the lug rides in.

I didn't think about the ejection, thank you. I will have to take that into consideration, and maybe a custom gun would be the better choice.

Just buy a CZ in 221 and never look back.Great little inexpensive rifles.I have one in 222 and really like it for a cheap knock around gun..Oh and it shoots lights out!

I looked at that, but since CZ dropped the .221 from there product line a couple years ago I haven't been able to find too many people willing to seperate from their rifles. I don't have the money right now, because I have it wrapped up in other projects, but I am definitely considering the CZ if I can find one available in a year or so.