5.56mm NATO

The 223 Remington or 5.56mm NATO was of course the result of a military development project. One month after its adoption in February or 1964 as the 5.56 Ball Cartridge M193, Remington released the 5.56mm NATO commercially. Just like every other military cartridges, the 5.56mm NATO rose to its success and popularity quickly.

Based on the 222 Remington the 5.56mm NATO cartridge is only 0.60 inches longer than the parent cartridge. Being that the 222 Remington is the parent is also the reason that the 5.56mm NATO is known as the 223 Remington. However the 5.56mm NATO has a longer body the powder capacity is greater than that of the 222 Remington. The only other change was that the neck was shortened to allow for the extra body length, this put the 5.56mm NATO at its current, longer than parent, size of 1.76 inches. The ready supply of cases for the cartridge and excellent selection of bullets to load with the 5.56mm NATO made it a very popular choice. So popular in fact that many police departments use the 5.56mm NATO today. That and I am almost positive that the cost of the round has something to do with it, the smaller bullets makes for a cheaper bullet, and with high supplies of cases the costs are lower as well. With police budget every dime counts and when your looking at funding a very expensive but effective round, why no chose the cheapest but effective round, in comparison,while your at it.

The original rifles though had a 1 in 14 inch twist, but for stability issues was cut down to 1 in 12 twists, this allowed the bullet to stabilize for longer shots with the 55 grain service bullet. But when the military adopted a heavier bullet of 62 grains the military rifles were fitted with 1 in 7 inch twists to handle the heavier bullet. So like all good things several manufacturers followed the path and changed their rifles over to the faster twist. This is where it all became troublesome.