Norinco 223 Ammo

[amadjuster]

I have some old Norinco .223 Remington I bought back when I had an AR-15 and it has been stored away since I sold it. Now I have a Stevens 200 .223 heavy barrel and I went to the range yesterday for the first time to shot it and sight it in. Everything went well, except for the crappy factory trigger, and it shoots great. I used about 6 factory loads and got the hits to the center and then shot 3 of the Norinco rounds. The last one would not extract and I had to knock it out with a cleaning rod. The round was not stuck, the extractor just would not grab the rim. I then thought this was 5.56 MM and the pressures were too high. Then I found the ammo boxes and all are marked ".223 Remington". I then wrote this off to a undersized head since it was ChiCom. Then I later examined the cases and found the primers to have the classic cratering, but the primer is barely flattened. I am not sure how you can have a primer so strong it will not flatten out but will still crater. I don't think I am going to shoot this stuff in my bolt action rifle anymore and I doubt the brass in good enough to knock the bullets out and salvage. Has anyone else had any experience with Norinco and pressure problems?

[GaCop]

If your AR had the standard 5.56 chamber, it handled the Norico w/o problems. The tighter 223 chamber with shorter lead is what is causing your problems. Sell off the Norinco.