Reply With QuoteWell I assume you mean velocity, but to me the biggest gain with any Ackley type chamber is the improvement in brass life and reduction if not elimination of trimming.
And educated guess would be about 5%.
How much can one expect to gain by haveing a 223 made into a AI...
My son is considering haveing his done..I told him he isn't gonna gain
all that much by it..From what I have read and heard about it...So
what can he seriously expect to gain by it...
Well I assume you mean velocity, but to me the biggest gain with any Ackley type chamber is the improvement in brass life and reduction if not elimination of trimming.
And educated guess would be about 5%.
204, 22 K-Hornet, 222, 223, 22-250, 22-250AI, 6BR, 243, 243AI, 6-06, 6-WSM, 250-3000AI, 270, 7-08, 7RM, 30BR, 308, 30-06, 375 H&H, 444 Marlin, 450BM, 458WM
Not to get an argument started but a friend of mine had a 220 AI and his brass split all the time...But maybe that was his loads or whatever..5% isn't a lot. is it?Originally Posted by bootsmcguire
For .223, I don't think it's worth it.
It gets me 26" velocities from a 22" barrel...2890fps with 80gr Amax and 26.2gr Varget.
If I have the choice between Root Canal and prepping 223 brass, Root Canal by a long shot, I don't mind other calibers but 223 UH. 5% is roughly 100 to 200 FPS
Tanks Dean
RUMs are like woman in Stiletto heals, you know they are going to put you in the poor house, but that has never stopped anyone from pursuing them.
.223AI is really easy to over pressure. working up a load and then changing just a primer or brass brand can blow your primer & extractor.
.222 mag or 22BR would be a couple other ideas
.223 Rem AI, .22-250 AI, .220 Swift AI .243 Win AI, .6mm Rem AI, .257 Rob AI, .25-06 AI, 6.5x300wsm .30-06 AI, .270 STW, 7mm STW, 28 nosler, .416 Taylor
I knew it wasn't worth it...A total waste of money,etc......
Well worth it if you have the right twist and barrel length to take advantage of it. Don't have to resize brass. Able to shoot regular 223 in a pinch. 50-150 fps increase in velocity which can keep you supersonic out to 1K. Makes the 223 a little more versatile. Gives you almost 22-250 performance with a short action and a lot less powder.
To each his own...
For something that's not worth it, a lot of folks spend a lot of time money and effort developing it, there got to be something to it, to me it's worth it anyway.
Dean
RUMs are like woman in Stiletto heals, you know they are going to put you in the poor house, but that has never stopped anyone from pursuing them.
What size action is a 22-250??????Gives you almost 22-250 performance with a short action and a lot less powder.
Boiler up has a good point...
Last edited by stangfish; 12-29-2012 at 12:22 PM.
I built one once, no longer have it. Not much gain for the cost. I do have other wildcats so work is not the issue. As to the more powder idea. Every modified case I have uses more powder. Maybe less then the next size case up. But the next size up is faster then any modified case. Two that come to mind that are very easy to make are the .223 and .30-06. The A.I. versions look cool & different only to those that know ammo. They gained 100fps, which means little for hunting. No real gain until you need a bit more to stay supersonic for long range target shooting.
If you have good brass, case life is longer and case growth is slower. If you have to scratch an itch, the .223 is as good a place to start as any. Lee make inexpensive dies. date is easy to find. No change in Barrel life. Don't put your Remington brass hot loads in military brass.
short action here....
Your right about the military brass....Lots of people are not aware of this issue...I think one can get about the same gain with a faster burn powder and a mag. primer...Not only is it a waste of money,but if you wanted to trade the rifle,very few will want it..So think about it befor you do it..It's like trying to trade a rifle with a bull barrel..who wants it for hunting...But thats just my way of looking at things....But after all I do need to get all the post I can get aint that right STANGFISH....LOL
My first Savage was a 110 Tacticle in 223 that shot god awfull!! The rifleing looked ok but you could pick out the cases that had been fired from it vrs the AR,H&R and Ruger VT=the chamber was that bad,most of the difference was in the shoulder/neck.
Had the local hack take 1/4" off the barrel and rechamber it to 223ai.
In this case going to 223ai was a complete seccess and have found a couple other advantages along the way.
The ai is faster..dah
No trimmig required for the ai.....It doesnt grow with every shot like the standard 223
The ai helps keep the brass seperate....Kinda, it looks a lot different than the standard 223 but is a short 204 with a bigger neck.
I reloaded 1000 rounds of 40/IMR4198(new lot that was not retested) for the RugerVT too hot for a prairie dog shoot.....Although it was too hot for the standard 223 it fireformed just fine in the 223ai. a big plus at the time
Would I rechamber a good shootin 223 to ai? No but it does have its place and if you have to chamber/rechamber its worth going with the improved.
223AI doesn't really cost any extra money, except maybe a set of dies.
My fireform load is an 80gr A-Max @ 2.485" OAL over 24.4gr Varget in virgin Nosler brass with CCI-450 primer, which gives me 2735fps. I could probably load hotter, but this is very accurate, and when I eject the case it is fully formed into AI.
Throw brass into tumbler to polish, remove from tumbler, size with Lee Collet Die, install primer, load powder, load bullet, go shoot again...easy as pie.
I would agree that the 223AI is kind of easy to overpressure; testing with Varget I saw about 2950fps with 26.6gr Varget with ejector swipe (bad news in an AI case!), and a kind soul told me QuickLoad showed that pushing 70k PSI. My 26.2gr load is on the warmer side, probably 65-67k PSI, but I haven't experienced any loose primer pockets, there's no swipe, and brass has grown exactly 0.0000". I've thought about switching to 8208XBR, which should give slightly better speed and slightly lower pressure...but I'm lazy when it comes to load development, so we'll see.
The max range I have available to shoot is 650yd, and at that range I was able to make fairly consistent hits with a 26" 1:9 factory 223 barrel and 75gr HPBT @ 2860fps...but pushing a much higher BC bullet at slightly faster speeds helps me with wind drift. And should I want to shoot at 1000, my drift/drop ballistics are superior to a 30cal 175SMK at 2750fps. And all that from a 22" barrel, which is lighter and easier to handle than a 26" or longer tube.
So, is the 223AI "worth it" to everybody? Nope. But I shoot mine about 4x more than I shoot my 260, and the 80gr Amax has proven to be one heck of a whitetail bullet.
One of my better decisions, IMO.
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