Quote Originally Posted by langss View Post
...Remington XP 100 in .223. The first shot told me something was wrong when I had to open the bolt with a block of wood. Obvious sign of over pressure. But me being me I thought it was perhaps just the brand of ammo and pressed on with a different brand with the same result. So I tried another brand and had no sign of over pressure. I now know what I did and I will say that Remington builds a pretty tough gun to withstand what amounts to serious over pressure loads and still shoot just fine.The point being that if it says 5.56 on your barrel your good to use either. If it says .223 on your barrel....stick with .223 or carry a block of wood to open your bolt.
The wood block works up to a point. But I've seen more than one 700 bolt minus it's handle after the braze fails! One was in fact a .223. But in that case it was the owner's fault for getting too aggresssive with his loads. Blew the entire case head off BEFORE he proceded to further mangle the bolt. Funnily enough, the rifle was later returned to service with the same bolt after some major rework including the addition of a SAKO type extractor and a silver soldered ring replacing the ruined area surrounding the bolt face...