The .223 Wylde is not a cartridge.
Youll not find .223 Wylde ammunition.
The .223 Wylde is in raw form a series of dimensions.
What is the .223 Wylde? This diagram shows the dimensions of a reamer that produces .223 Wylde chambers. Image: Manson Precision Reamers
In finished form, its a chamber with those dimensions.
A review of the .223 and 5.56 NATO makes Bill Wyldes inspiration easier to understand.
Faster 1-in-7 rifling twist maintained accuracy.
Precision rifles like the Springfield SAINT Edge ATC use the .223 Wylde chamber. How does the .223 Wylde contribute to accuracy? The author has the answers.
The U.S. Army called this load the M855.
Case length in millimeters established the name: 5.5645 NATO.
Remington led the rush to chamber for it in sporting rifles.
After the M16 was allowed for Service Rifle matches in the 1990s, shooters sought ways to score more center shots with 5.56 ammo at 600 yards. Bill Wylde came up with a new chamber to address this.
The .223 owed much to the popularity of the .222 Remington, introduced in 1950.
Springfield Armory and Remington had rejected a 1.850-inch hull as a trifle long for the AR-15s action.
Are They the Same?
The 5.56 NATO and .223 cartridges chamber interchangeably. But this does not mean they are totally the same, and that is where the .223 Wylde chamber comes into play.
(Be sure to read our.223 vs 5.56 article.)
Listed case dimensions are the same, and each will fire in chambers bored for the other.
CUP and PSI values are often carelessly traded, one for another,butthey are not the same!
Small rodents at distance demand fine accuracy. You’ll get it with a tight hold and the Wylde chamber.
Nor is there a formula to convert one to the other.Maximum average pressure for the .223in PSIis 55,000.
Its 62,000 for the 5.56.
Not the neat mathematical relationship you might expect, given their CUP values!
The .223 Wylde is a chamber designed to yield .223 accuracy and breezily brook 5.56 pressures. With the right rate of twist, it handles a range of bullet sizes and weights well.
In SAAMIs lab, pressure is taken near the middle of the case.
NATO hews to the C.I.P.
or European practice of tapping pressure at the case mouth.
A Wylde chamber has no effect on cycling. Whether you feed the rifle 5.56s or .223s, it should function fine.
Gas from the burning powder builds quickly to uncork a bullet.
When rifling bites into its shank, the bullet slows; gas must suddenly work to keep it moving.
Theres a pressure spike.
In bolt rifles, does the wide range of .223 loads make the 5.56 NATO unnecessary? Or does the service record of the 5.56 in self-loaders give it the edge? In a Wylde chamber, both rounds can excel.
Theoretically, you wont know which peak registers, or consequently, if its within SAAMI or CIP spec.
A rodent out yonder begged precision not required on the battlefield.
The soldiers priority wasfunction.His rifle had to cycle reliably under harsher conditions than endured by most hunters.
The Springfield SAINT Edge ATC uses a .223 Wylde chamber for the accuracy advantages the author highlights.
The generous throats ensuring he could werent much help herding those bullets into tiny knots.
Are 5.56 rifles beefier?
Base to mouth, the two cartridge cases are identical.
They headspace the same, too.
Gunsmiths check headspace with go and no go gauges.
A go gauge is typically .004 to .006 shorter than a no go gauge for rimless bottle-neck cartridges.
The bolt should close on a go gauge but not on a no go gauge.
However, many chambers that accept no go gauges are still safe to use.
A field gauge has been employed to check these (mostly military) chambers.
Its about .002 longer than a no go gauge.
And it meets full-depth rifling sooner.
Bill Wylde figured few shooters enjoyed fretting over leade angles, secondary pressure peaks and fourth-decimal chamber dimensions.
But at .078, thelengthof this section is even greater than that of the 5.56.
Throat-and-leade length almost matches the 5.56s.
The leade angles are nearly identical.
Maybe to clean up chambers, suggested a friend.
This explanation is appealing not just because its simple.
It also makes sense.
A Wylde chamber can of course be cut in a new barrel.
But it can also be reamed from a .223 chamber.
Ill own most subsequent confusion around the Wylde chamber too, but not all of it.
Bill Wyldes does not.
Go to forum thread
