Gunsmith near Cortez, CO? need 5.56 NATO reamer

[Derek M.]

anyone close to CO? My buddy Adam needs a possible rechamber on a rifle.

 

[Derek M.]

Adam is close to Utah and will go anywhere around that area, even up to SLC

 

[sinarms]

What kind of rifle does he need rechambered with a nato reamer? The only chamber I would ever cut with that is an ar barrel that will just shoot nato ammo. If it is an ar barrel I wouldn't rechamber it. If it is a bolt gun then why does he want to use that chamber?

 

[Derek M.]

What kind of rifle does he need rechambered with a nato reamer? The only chamber I would ever cut with that is an ar barrel that will just shoot nato ammo. If it is an ar barrel I wouldn't rechamber it. If it is a bolt gun then why does he want to use that chamber?

I don't know all of the details but in short, he has a Savage bolt rifle he uses for varmint hunting and he bought a lot of boxes of 5.56 NATO rounds to shoot through it from his "gun guy." The rifle is chambered in 223. I told him, after he asked me, that the SAAMI and NATO specs are not the same and it is ok to shoot 223 ammo in a 5.56 chamber but not really a good idea the other way around due to pressures. His complaint has been stiff bolt lift and erratic groups of late.

So, he's now deciding on whether he wants to build an AR and chamber it in 5.56 and keep all of the ammo, or build an AR in 223 and get rid of the ammo. At the time of my post, he thought he wanted to rechamber his 223 to 5.56.

 

[Trickymissfit]

I don't know all of the details but in short, he has a Savage bolt rifle he uses for varmint hunting and he bought a lot of boxes of 5.56 NATO rounds to shoot through it from his "gun guy." The rifle is chambered in 223. I told him, after he asked me, that the SAAMI and NATO specs are not the same and it is ok to shoot 223 ammo in a 5.56 chamber but not really a good idea the other way around due to pressures. His complaint has been stiff bolt lift and erratic groups of late.

So, he's now deciding on whether he wants to build an AR and chamber it in 5.56 and keep all of the ammo, or build an AR in 223 and get rid of the ammo. At the time of my post, he thought he wanted to rechamber his 223 to 5.56.

It's many years ago, but Rifle magazine did a really good article on shooting the 5.56 and the .223 at 1000 yards. They had chamber drawings, and the only real difference between the two chambers is in the throat. The NATO round is also loaded at a higher pressure spec. Blackhills loads a lot of the military stuff these days, and they have said they load it to 58K PSI. I think the actual milspec pressure max is 60K psi. None of these pressures are an issue in a .223 chamber, but there is an issue with the throat. It's going to make that 58K psi pressure spike up a little bit for a microsecond. How much I don't know, but would expect to see 63K psi. I've shot a little bit of 5.56 in my Remington, and had zero issues (Blackhills 55 grain). Add to this the fact that the rifle probably has a factory .223 chamber, and many of them have long throats anyway. My Remington has a minimum spec .223 N.M., and if it will shoot them a Savage will as well
gary

 

[MHO]

I would recommend Sulli at WestWind Rifles. Dave Sullivan (303) 828-3823 [email protected] He is a great gunsmith. His shop is in Erie, Colorado. Just north of Denver.