223 Ackley Improved

[Rocky Raab]

I agree with Catfish.

The 223 AI is a nice little round, but what it gives you over the regular 223 may be a bit exaggerated in print. The problem with most of the Ackley Improved cartridges is that it's extremely hard to read pressure signs on them. So reloaders just keep cramming in more powder, thinking there's something magic that keeps the pressures low. There isn't. The pressures climb with frightening speed; you just can't detect them in the way the case looks, or the bolt turns.

If I needed more than the regular 223 (and I don't think I do), I'd just get a .204 or a .22-250.

By the way, it isn't bullet speed that burns out barrels. If that were true, barrels would wear out at the muzzle. They don't. It's the mechanical and thermal effects of funnelling a big load of burning powder and gas through a little hole. The more abrasive powder kernels (which means the bigger the cartridge case) and the smaller the hole (the caliber) the more erosion and wear you get with every shot. Lots of shots in a short time magnify the problem as the barrel steel heats.

Which again explains why virtually every serious prairie dog shooter uses a 223 or smaller round like a 221 or 222.