A .223 Wylde chamber is a wildcat

rifle A rifle is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a gun barrel, barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus o ...

chamber designed to accurize the

5.56×45mm NATO The 5.56×45mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 5.56 NATO, commonly pronounced "five-five-six") is a rimless bottlenecked centerfire intermediate cartridge family developed in the late 1970s in Belgium by FN Herstal. It consists of the SS109, ...

chamber for NRA High Power competition.

Background

In 1957, during research into the development of a military .22 caliber rifle, the .222 Remington Special was created by a joint effort of

Fairchild Industries Fairchild was an American aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company based at various times in Farmingdale, New York; Hagerstown, Maryland; and San Antonio, Texas. History Early aircraft The company was founded by Sherman Fairchild in 192 ...

Remington Arms Remington Arms Company, LLC, was an American firearms manufacturer, manufacturer of firearms and ammunition. It was formerly owned by the Remington Outdoor Company, which went bankrupt in 2020 with its lines of business sold to several purchase ...

, and U.S. Continental Army Command. Based on the

.222 Remington The .222 Remington or 5.7×43mm (C.I.P), also known as the triple deuce, triple two, and treble two, is a centerfire rifle cartridge. Introduced in 1950, it was the first commercial rimless .22 (5.56 mm) cartridge made in the United Stat ...

, and with several other .222 caliber cartridges under development for civilian rifles at the same time, the .222 Remington Special was renamed

.223 Remington The .223 Remington designated 223 Remington by SAAMI and 223 Rem. by the C.I.P., (pronounced "two-two-three") is a rimless, bottlenecked, centerfire intermediate cartridge. It was developed in 1957 by Remington Arms and Fairchild Industries ...

. In 1963 it was adopted as the standard

intermediate cartridge An intermediate cartridge is a rifle/ carbine cartridge that has significantly greater power than a pistol cartridge but still has a reduced muzzle energy compared to fully powered cartridges (such as the .303 British, 7.62×54mmR, 7.65×53 ...

for the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

, as the ''M193'' Cartridge. In 1972,

Fabrique Nationale , trading as FN Herstal and often referred to as Fabrique Nationale, or simply FN, is a leading firearms manufacturer based in Herstal, Belgium, and former vehicle manufacturer. It was the largest exporter of military small arms in Europe . FN ...

(FN) created a new type of service ammunition for

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

was based on the .223 Remington cartridge being used by the U.S. Army but had greater range and effectiveness. The first iteration of this ammunition was designated ''SS109'' in NATO countries, and later adopted in the U.S. as the ''M855''.

Chamber dimensions

Bill Wylde of

Greenup, Illinois Greenup is a village in Cumberland County, Illinois, United States, along the Embarras River. The population was 1,365 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Charleston– Mattoon Micropolitan Statistical Area. Greenup received its name fr ...

, compared the two cartridges and changed the chamber of the rifle's barrel to a specification he called the .223 Wylde chamber. The chamber is made with the

freebore In firearms, freebore (also free-bore, free bore, or throat) is the portion of the gun barrel between the chamber and the rifled section of the barrel bore. The freebore is located just forward of the chamber neck and is cylindrical in shape. Th ...

length and leade angle found in the military 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge and the

diameter found in the civilian

SAAMI The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute (SAAMI, pronounced "Sammy") is an association of American manufacturers of firearms, ammunition, and components. SAAMI is an accredited standards developer that publishes several A ...

Similar designs

* PTG 223 Rem Match is essentially the same concept. It uses a freebore diameter of , throat angle of 1.5° and freebore length of . * JGS 5.56 Compass Lake uses a freebore with a 223-style length () and diameter () but with a 5.56-like angle (1.5°). * 5.56mm Noveske Match Mod 0 is intended for a similar use. Dimensions are unavailable.

Use

The .223 Wylde chamber is used by rifle manufacturers who sell "National Match" configuration AR-15 rifles, barrels and upper receivers.

References

External links

Brownells Tech Tip: AR-15 5.56/.223/.223 WyldeChamber Choices ('Guns Magazine')
{{DEFAULTSORT:223 Wylde 5.56×45mm NATO Bullets Firearm components

Background

Chamber dimensions

Similar designs

Use

See also

References

External links