Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Rechamber Hawkey .223 to .223 Wylde.

Lee Richison, a fine locla gunsmith in Aurora, OR is moving to Utah so I need recommendations for a new one.

I have a .223 Hawkeye. I would like it rechambered to .223 Wylde. We have lots of 5.56 users in the family and I would occasionally like to use some.

Ideally, the gunsmith would be near Portland, OR.

Does anyone have any recommendations? i would like a first class job as the rifle runs near .5 Inch groups at 100 yards and often under an inch at 200 yards barring wind issues with its best handloads.

If this rechambeering could likely change the rifles accuracy for the worse, I may elect to leave it as is.

Thanks,
Gary

The 223 Wylde was designed as a compromise to do exactly what you wanted; to be able to shoot 223 and 556 and maintain accuracy. An unexpected side effect was that the Wylde chamber was super accurate. Many Service rifles are chambered in 223 Wylde. I had a few and saw many, many more. Unless someone botches the job, it should be just as good as the other Wyldes, and better than what you have now.

To do the conversion you simply run a 223 Wylde reamer down the chamber and it will widen the shoulder a couple thousands, and extend the freebore area.

If you reload it shouldn’t affect your accuracy, but the new throat will take some time to smooth out.

Provide the smith knows to dykem the shoulder area really thickly, so he can see the reamer just as it starts to approach the shoulder the headspace will remain exactly the same. You still have to pull the barrel, and dial it in to do this correctly but other than that it’s not that bad.

I would think a Hawkeye would have a sloppy enough camber as to have nothing to be worried about.

I thought so too. Not this one.
The chambers on my Mini-14's have been pretty large but are actually 5.56 mm capable.

So what are your supposed "problems",with said 5.56 fodder now and the "issues"? Factory? Reloads? Hint................

To be clear, I am interested in a referral to a gunsmith.

If only in the interest of ABSOLUTE clarity,I certainly didn't mean to slight the fhuqking humor of said notion,but was simply curious what your Imagination was relating to be your Pretend "issues" with 5.56 Fodder in the Ruger? Contrived notions are never not fhuqking funny,if only for starters. Any/all things that'll go in an AR mag(even ASC's),will be happily digested via the Ruger,less a glitch. That of course granting the courteous assumption of Factory Fodder,rather than Fhuqktard Fodder,if only obviously. Hint.

Do tell about these "particulars",that are sooooooooo troublesome. Hint.

Laughing!..................

You're likely to be able to fire either 223 Remington or the vast majority of 5.56x45 with the gun as delivered by Ruger. If you encounter a problem, it's a quick & simple throating reamer job to lengthen the leade.

Have you tried any 5.56 loads in your Hawkeye?

Contrary to internet blabbing, if it chambers without having the bolt too stiff, it is safe in that bolt action rifle.

Yes, I tried some 55gr in my Hawkeye RL on a sage rat hunt. I had a couple of failures to fire and a few rounds needed a bit of extra effort to chamber, I have the impression it may have a tight chamber.

One of my AR's ( a Rock River has the Wylde chambering and it had no issues with that bunch of ammo. The ammo was substandard for accuracy though.

It was my expectation that it would work fine as it does in my AR's, two Mini-14's and a Savage 110. It also grouped more poorly than the .223 loads I was using.

One more time...Does anyone have a gunsmith they would recommend.

This is a do it yourself project.

http://www.m-guns.com/tools.php

Click the "5.56 Reamer" picture and read the procedure.

I KNEW it was gonna be funnier than fhuqk! Hint. Laughing!

For even more ABSOLUTE Clarity going Wylde sure in the fhuqk is NOT going to "help" with schit ammo and/or excessive headspace. Hint.

Resistance on the bolt closing,is a GOOD thing. Get nervous,when you feel nothing. Read that again. Now one more time. Hint.

One more time...pull your head out of your ass and get fhuqking real. You are in wayyyyyyy over your pointy head and are simply going to fhuqk a sound rifle up,with your amazing Dumbfhuqktitude. Hint.

Thank me later.

Just sayin'............................

Have you checked your seating depth? Are these reloads or factory loadings? If they are reloads, why would some fit and some not? Might want to check the reloads, seating depth to the ogive, and a few other things before having the chamber recut IMO.....

Mini 14’s are marked .223 Rem but have a 5.56mm chambering. If you’re happy with how it shoots now I wouldn’t deal with the hassle of chambering your Hawkeye for .223 Wylde.

You reload so how much cheap 5.56mm are you going to shoot to offset the cost of the smith work especially with what 5.56 is selling for today? If you want to shoot some 5.56 through it do it and rock on.

Greg Tanner in Rifle, CO., may be one to talk with

I've heard good things about this guy though I have not used him. No idea if he is close or not.

http://www.oregunsmithingllc.com/

Certainly not seating depth or a throat geometry issue,but assuredly a headspace issue and likely a Turd Polishing Tournament with schit bullets,using schit O/F brass. Hint.

Believe it or not,one can't carve a deep enough hole in an OEM Hawkeye 223 chamber,to make schit ammo "good". To be Crystal CLEAR,the OP is in wayyyyyy over her head,but it is funnier than fhuqk,because she's doing her best. Hint.

Thanks for the laughs!......................................

Thanks,

I have heard the same. He is a bit far away but he may be the best remaining bet.

He is out by Pendleton but I need to take a trip over East in a couple of months. I will try him out.