I acquired a Remington 700 on a trade. I cannibalized the rifle, taking off the sling, bipod and scope off for other purposes. Now I’m wondering what practical use I have for a 223 Bolt Action rifle. It can’t be used for deer hunting. It’s underpowered for boar I’d guess, too.
What game can it be used for? Can I change out the barrel for a larger caliber?
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That .223 will kill boars just fine. Just load up some heavier bullets and let them do the work.
I have a friend that only has a .223 and he hunts everything in North Texas with it.
He goes by the standard of shot placement is king.
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I have a Mossberg MVP Patrol rifle in 5.56 that takes AR mags as a back up to my AR - common ammo and mags.
.223 is plenty good enough for hogs/boar personally rolled a few in to the dirt with one.
Now you rifle could be used for that or other forms of varmint hunting as well as getting in to long range shooting if you have and interest.
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I had a Sako bolt gun that was quite accurate- with 55 gr. and under bullets. I believe the twist was 1 in 10.
Perhaps .223 bolt guns have changed in the last 15 yrs., but I’d want a minimum of 1 in 8 twist and a Wylde or 5.56 chamber to take advantage of heavier bullets/higher pressure (factory ammo) if getting a .223 bolt gun today.
I’ve never shot a hog but I have taken several whitetails with a 223 bolt gun. It works just fine. Shot placement and bullet selection is key.
I am thinking about getting a bolt .223 Wylde rifle as a way to get more practice for my long range precision shooting. Lot cheaper to be shooting .223 Wylde than 6.5 CM rounds. My thought would be to shoot smaller game with the bolt .223 Wylde and use the bigger rounds for deer and above – hogs could go either way. Lots of friends kill a lot of hogs with .223 Wylde
~THIS!~. … even cheaper than 308 loads and others …
As a strictly offhand shooter, I wanted to ‘learn’ benchrest-type technique and perfect my brass & load reloading skills. So I picked up a Savage heavy barrel in 223. It was an excellent platform to learn some new skills on! I got it down to consistent 1/2 MOA groups, got some nice relaoding tools I now use for other precision calibers and learned the Optimal Charge Weight method.
To me, the biggest learning was in the ‘nut’ behind the trigger, and nothing but range & trigger time will give you that. Another option is a good scoped 22LR and bench shooting at 100-yards … but to me it completely ignores the reloading quotient.
All good feedback. It is a great training gun vs shooting 308 or 300WM. I have a REM700 5R 223 1/9 twist that delivers 80 grain bullets with great accuracy at long distances. From 55grain to 80 grain.
Great to shoot and have no flinch or yanking of the trigger. With a can it’s a cream puff. It is one of our most accurate and favorite guns we shoot. Rescope it and shoot it.
Great fun, great practice. Kill those small Texas deer and thump a yote.
PB
Thanks for all of the feedback. I just need to get a scope and mount for it.
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Wylde chamber does not apply to bolt actions. Nor does NATO. Bolt actions are typically proofed to much higher than NATO pressure. Further, the typical Remington will have tight chambers with long throats that reduce pressure even more.
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Now that’s the truth. My Remington 700 in 223 and 308 has such long throats that I can not load the match bullets off the lands and grooves because the bullets would not be seated in the case sufficiently. I load them to max mag length and there is so much bullet jump it hurts accuracy.
Someone suggested I could get a 300 BLK barrel. That sounds ideal. Are there any things I need to know before I do it?
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it all depends on what you want to do with it. Suppressed, it could be fun, but if you want to shoot longer range, there are a lot of better choices than 300 BLK.
Is this rifle a heavy barreled rifle or a lightweight?
If heavy barreled then just keep it .223 and start shooting longer ranges. That .223 will make you a much better shooter then most die to you having to actually put in the work to make long range hits.
It’s capable of shooting much farther then people give credit for. You can also shoot much more then I can shoot my 6.5 creedmoor.
I will probably build up a .223 bolt gun to match my 6.5 for the gun if it and the cheap ammo cost.
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It’s lightweight
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Could you get it re barreled as a 6.5 Grendel?
I know that round works well in small frame AR’s. should work well with the .223 bolt face I would think.
That round also seems to do well at longer ranges. I know I was at the range and a guy was banging steel at 500 with his.
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Nope
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It’s not possible to change the barrel for a Grendel? Is it because of the chamber size?
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No, the bolt face is the problem. You would need to either have a smith open it up or purchase a whole new bolt. For the associated cost, you’ll be so deep in you’d be better off going another route. There are few 6.5 Grendel bolt actions for a reason.
If you’re changing bolts, may as well go .260 or Creed.
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