I completely understand the differences between these chamberings…
That said, for the casual shooter, is the price difference worth it? For the style of uppers I’m looking at, Wylde seems to run about $100 more give or take, and then it goes up from there.
Anyone regret not getting the .223 Wylde chambering?
Anyone spend the extra then not really notice a difference in accuracy and feel they should have just got a 5.56?
I’m curious and on the fence.
I think you’d have to shoot quite a bit to notice much difference. That being said, it seems to bring my 5.56 55gr grouping tighter – I don’t have enough data to prove anything. All the stuff I’ve read says it’s really the best of both worlds.
I got the stainless 18" in .223 Wyle upper from PSA at a good price ($400), which still seems available. At the time, it didn’t appear to be any or much more than a similar 5.56 NATO upper. I love how it shoots. My target shooting buddy was amazed with it too.
I and The Wife have an AR rifle each in Wylde - and everything else in 5.56. Honestly…… most of the shooting we do with the Wyldes is so much longer range vs. the carbines and/or pistols, it’s really hard to compare Empirically.
I personally feel that, if you PLAN ON shooting towards the limit of the cartridge with a given rifle, then give yourself every advantage you can get.
Otherwise, say sub-100-metre shots, stay with the 5.56/cheaper chambering as you’re probably unlikely to notice the difference.
As it is, anything I possess in ANY chamber-cut is likely to be able to outshoot my own abilities.
I have that one - it DOES shoot really nice. As I noted - it’s better than me.
My plan is a 1-6x24 LPVO instead of a red dot. So yes, I plan on stretching out a little further…
And I don’t know if that’s sufficient for pushing the limits of the cartridge.
To me, the 1-6x24 is a better choice than a red dot. I have the Vortex Viper 2-10x32 on mine. Probably would’ve been fine with the 1-6x24 but will swap optics around as the need arises. I’m liking the LPVOs better than the red dot nowadays, but even the military is moving to them. For me, any assistance helps my old eyes!
Edit: not 2-8 but 2-10
I have old eyes too. It sucks.
I had a Romeo 5, 20mm.
Went to Romeo 7s on my AR pistol and a rifle. 30mm. REALLY like them…
Wanted something on the new rifle to reach out a little further, thus the LPVO.
I’ve read a lot of these theads, and I get it. That being said, if I get into long range, I am buying 6.5 Creedmore bolt action.
For me, the .223 Wylde isn’t really about long range, and I agree that really long-range needs a larger caliber like the 6.5CM. The advantage of .223 Wylde is being able to shoot either 5.56 NATO or .223 Remington without having to worry about a couple things:
I ordered another 5.56 mid today.
I’ll continue to use .223 for fun, and only 5.56 for better accuracy.
I don’t know everything, and that is good info. Also hope I didn’t sound like a smartass. I like the versatility of the AR platform, and have two rifles in 5.56. I have also read that short barrel (<16") is hell on bolt, etc. Not chamber pressure, but moving parts due to high gas pressure/feedback during cycling. I would like to see maybe a 24 or 26 inch barrel in 5.56 . I own a 20" and a 16" (mid length gas system).
I don’t hunt, at least not yet
And it may surprise people, but it’s actually difficult up here in the Western half of the state to stretch out a rifle out to its limits
It seemed to me from my research that the only real advantage to the Wylde chambering was increased accuracy with .223, vs .223 in a 5.56 chamber, and still allow you to shoot 5.56. Hope that made sense 
So like I said, I’ll plink with .223. If I need increased accuracy, I’ll shoot 5.56 to match my rifles chambering
This. Mine see green tips almost exclusively anyways (plan to try some 77 grains if/when they get cheapish again) so I never saw the point of paying the Wylde premium.
Sorry to drag this on, but I just wanted to give a couple more points that I feel are being overlooked - could be just an undiagnosed OCD!
The .223 Wylde wiki article has some great information to glean some of the finer points describing it. To me, the wiki’s wording and organization are sometimes confusing, but, overall, was very informative.
A couple of points they made that seem applicable to this discussion:
…the larger-diameter 5.56 freebore can occasionally have a minor detrimental effect on accuracy on any given random shot, when using the standard combat 62gr M855 cartridge.
You would think it would have detrimental effects on all cartridges. So, it does improve 5.56 accuracy.
The .223 Wylde-spec chamber uses the slightly looser 5.56 NATO chamber dimensions around the case for cycling reliability in a semi-auto firearm, along with the tighter freebore of the .223 Remington for a more consistent accuracy.
So the cartridges, as a different author says, “won’t rattle around in the freebore”.
Freebore - short smooth section of barrel located after the case mouth, but before start of the rifling “grooves and lands”
Lastly, looking at the PSA uppers chambered in .223 Wylde, I don’t see much (if any) difference in price with the 5.56 NATO uppers. I know there used to be a large premium extracted, but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore - at least with PSA.
