So I got a New England Firearms Handi-Rifle Pardner in .223 with a nice scope at a yard sale. Go to the range at my lunch break, set up targets at 100 yerds, trudge back to the bench...load up, first round, from a brand-new box of ammo...

Expecting POW!
But POWrrFFT says the gun - and my face suddenly HURTS....The casing ruptured and I got a spray of fine brass powder right on the cheek...looks like I brush burn...

And all I can think is how freaking close to my EYES that blast of metal powder was....

So now, the gun is full of brass filings - and as I find out later after a good cleaning, it's broken too (firing pin is destroyed, it seems).

Of course, AFTER the fact, I learn that .223 and 5.56 aren't the same, and even though I used ammo labeled .223, not 5.56, it didn't say .223 REMINGTON on the box, so it may be a case of 5.56 loads packaged as .223.

Anyway, damage to the gun is consistent with a 5.56 round being chambered in a .223 remington gun - it seems that the primer blew back into the firing pin, the case wasn't correctly seated and the resulting rupture made a mess of things. I'll be hauling it off to the gunsmith...this will be an expensive bargain!

Glad you're ok, sounds like you were wearing eye protection.

Was it factory ammo, or someone's reloads?

Factory Ammo, yes eye protection...stuff happens on the range...

When you have it at the gun smiths have him check the head space also. OH and tweezers work real good to get the brass out of your skin so you do not get super face.

Yeah, I want this gun totally checked out. It really turned out badly for me...was a cool gun, but if the repair is super-expensive...well you live and learn. Fortunately no brass actually is embedded in my skin...that's good.

Back to my trusty M6 Scout....my all-purpose gun that I use more than any other!

FWIW, some rifles, such as the Ruger Mini-14, accept both .223 REM and 5.56 NATO. Always read the manual.

Pat

It isn't a matter of RTFM- just about any firearm manufactured for .223 Remington will handle 5.56mm milspec, just like any .308 should handle 7.62 NATO, or any .30-06 will handle, well, .30-06. Even though the manuals might caution against military ammo, and SAAMI might say there is a difference, the manufacturers KNOW that these guns will at some point be fed military surplus fodder. The only time I might say it is critical is something like the ADC Model 1 derringers, in the .223 loading, due to just how little metal there is, but for something like this that started life as a 12 ga shotgun action, there's enough metal there that I think it would more than compensate for the higher pressures.

These little "handiguns" might another exception, but we would have been hearing a lot about this if it was a chronic issue. I'm wondering if there was a flaw in the chamber, or the action might not have been entirely locked. I'd also like to find out if you have a lot number on that ammunition, and run it down, becuase if the case itself failed, then this wouldn't be an isolated incident, odds are something would be bad with the lot.

This wouldn't happen to be cheapo European ammo, would it? I've thrown a lot of US military ammo out of my Contender, and I've never seen anything that even looked like it was bulging, much less ruptured, but I've heard a few horror stories about cases made in the old ComBlock.

Martin,

Sorry to hear about your experience! Perhaps you should contact NEF (H&R / Marlin) - that should not have happened. I understand that the primer was pierced - or did it actually blow out? Two different failure modes there. Did the case head separate / rupture?

You are correct about generally not using 5.56 in a .223, although an accident like yours would be rare. See http://www.winchester.com/lawenforcement/news/newsview.aspx?storyid=11
and http://www.thegunzone.com/556faq-nb.html

However (ahem) - it's not all as simple as that - not really too much of a Dr J / Mr H. Yes, milspec may be loaded to higher than SAAMI spec. The "problem" didn't get really serous IMHO until 1) it became a NATO round and 2) the SS109 and longer bullets came onto the scene. Back when the only ammo was US M193, it just wasn't much of a problem.

As Ironraven noted, many weapons handle both just fine - probably in main part because they are designed for 5.56. But be careful with firing 223 in semi-autos - there is a milspec for the energy required to light off the primer, and it is, as a generalization, higher than non milspec. Reason is to reduce / eliminate slam fires cause by a floating firing pin doing an inertia ding of the primer when cycling the bolt into battery. I've never had one, but I load my semi auto ammo with milspec primers for that reason.

Pending hearing back from you, I'm guessing you either had a pierced primer (gun flaw) or the gun fired when it was not completely locked up (also a gun flaw). Frankly, I seriously doubt that one could suffer a case separation in this caliber / action combo unless the action was previously sprung enough for you to notice (and how would THAT have happend? Not enough available energy in that size case).

I'm VERY curious to hear the specifics once you have them. Please share!

Again, glad to hear you're OK.

Tom

"just about any firearm manufactured for .223 Remington will handle 5.56mm milspec"

"any .308 should handle 7.62 NATO"

OK, fine. I refer you back to post #1 in this thread.

Pat

I had a NEF Handy Rifle in .308, a real POS! <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />