According to the 16th Edition of Cartridges of the World, development on the 223 Remington case started in the late 1950s and was adopted by the U.S. military in 1964. As of this writing, the cartridge’s use in M16/M4 variants make the pair the longest-serving rifle/ammunition combo in our nation’s history. One of the reasons for that longevity is that both the platform and the round lend themselves to further development, including different powders, barrel twists, barrel lengths, bullet weights, bullet shapes, bullet construction, sighting systems, and much more.

The 223 Remington (the military version is called the 5.56 NATO and is slightly different) may easily be the number-one-selling centerfire rifle round in the U.S. right now. While the 223 may be the most popular centerfire rifle round in the U.S. at this point, we have no intention of claiming it is the best — for anything. But many people forget how many roles there are in which it serves very well, such as a varmint and small-game hunting round, along with, believe it or not, long-range shooting.

We selected three rifles from three companies to see how well and how easily they fired the 223 Remington cartridge. The first was a Ruger Hawkeye Predator 17122, $1359. The second was a CZ Model 527 03019, $785. Last was a Tikka T3X Varmint JRTXH312, $999. We wanted to test bullet weights from across the spectrum. Since that kind of selection was impossible to find during the ammo drought, and because we have several decades of experience in loading good 223 rounds, we rolled our own. We relied heavily on the Lyman 50th Edition Reloading Manual and Hodgdon’s online reloading sources at Hodgdon.com. We used bullets from Barnes (36-grain Varmint Grenade 30171), Berger (55-grain Flat Base Varmint 22311 and the 80.5-grain Fullbore Target 22427), as well as from Sierra (69-grain Tipped Match King 7169). We tested various loads, using all Hodgdon powders: H322, H335, Varget, and CFE 223. We also made exclusive use of CCI BR4 Benchrest primers and Lapua brass.

Here’s how the rifles performed:

Gun Tests Grade: A (OUR PICK)

$999

Rifles made by Sako (pronounced sah-co) in Finland are renowned for their quality and accuracy — and justifiably so. Tikka rifles are engineered and produced by Sako in the same plant and have a great reputation of their own. Think of them, perhaps, as the price-point brand for Sako. They accomplish some of that through simplifying the manufacturing process and going for economies of scale. Want a 260 Remington? No problem. Have a need for a 223 Remington? Once again, no problem. However, you’ll get the same-size receiver. The latter cartridge may be a half inch shorter, but Tikka just sleeves the magazine and changes the bolt head and barrel to make these two different rifles.

Tikka unveiled a host of new camo patterns for the company’s stocks at the 2019 SHOT Show. The stock on the Varmint model we have is basic black. Actually, kinda boring. But it is a very functional boring. The base material for the stock may be black polymer, but Tikka goes a big step forward and fills it with foam. No more “Thunk!” when your buttstock slaps against the tree trunk. Also, the stock comes with a soft recoil pad — not a big issue on a varmint rifle, but still nice. Also, the buttstock sports a good cheekpiece that would work for left- or right-eyed shooters. It helps, but it is still a bit low, so we added on the Blackhawk cheekpiece from Midway (125776, $38). Two different pistol grips are available. Our sample came with the more vertical of the two options. A second grip with a more conventional sweep is also available. Those can be purchased through the Beretta website, BerettaUSA.com, $22. Beretta now owns Sako/Tikka. We tend to do a lot of positional shooting and prefer the vertical grip. There is an additional Torx-head screw in the fore end that can be used to anchor an optional beavertail that fits over said fore end. You remove the front sling-swivel stud, fit the new fore end over the existing one, and tighten both screws back down. The beavertail ($29) is available from the Beretta site as well.

The T3X Models have a steel recoil lug inserted into the stock, which fits into a mortise in the action. Everything is nice and snug and doesn’t move. Be aware that the action screws are not mounted through any kind of pillars and can be over-torqued. The stock free-floats the barrel, leaving a considerable gap. The fore end channel is also well reinforced, with little flexing even when intentionally compressed.

The T3X Varmint ships with a single, six-round magazine. Replacement magazines are easily available through Beretta. Aftermarket magazines allowing for a longer cartridge overall length are also available. More on that later.

We have tested custom rifles with actions as smooth as a Tikka, but not many production rifles. The way the bolt glides in the raceway is matched by a very good factory trigger that is easily adjusted to 2 pounds or less. Just remove the action from the stock and use an Allen key to rotate the screw facing forward from the trigger. A little does a lot, and the bolt that holds the trigger on the action prevents the trigger-adjustment screws from being backed out too far. Our trigger broke cleanly, with virtually no overtravel, with a mere 1.3 pounds of compression. Standard deviation on ten trigger compressions was only 0.6 ounces.

The bolt was a two-lug piece, with a Sako-style extractor and a plunger ejector. The barrel on the Tikka measured about 0.87 inches at the muzzle and about 1.13 inches at the receiver, making this the heaviest of the three rifles tested.

Accuracy was very good, averaging 0.91 inches for multiple five-shot groups. Toss out the 36-grain Barnes Varmint Grenades from the results and the Tikka averaged 0.63 inches per five-shot group. Best groups for both the Berger 55-grain Flat Base Hollow Point and the 69-grain Sierra TMK were sub-half-inch.

Our Team Said: We don’t know that this would be the rifle we would pick if we were going to be doing spot-and-stalk all day, but it sure would be if we could post up someplace and try to call in some coyotes.

Another aspect of the Tikka that’s worth noting is the ability of the rifle’s hardware to come out of its stock and go into a PRS-appropriate chassis. Shooting the Precision Rifle Series is expensive, and ammo costs and new barrels are very real money considerations, with some of the more popular 6mm cartridges burning out barrels in as few as 1500 rounds.

One way to cut these costs is by using sub-caliber practice rifles. Cartridges like the 223 still have some long-range capability and can be hand-loaded to develop that further. The 223 uses one-half to one-third the powder many current long-range cartridges require. Barrel life on a 223 can easily be three to four times what it is with a 6mm Creedmoor. The practice rifle should be as close to the match rifle in form, balance, and accessories as possible.

We discovered that the Tikka T3X Varmint would do a marvelous job as a practice rifle in substituting for our MPA 6mm Creedmoor. Masterpiece Arms (MasterpieceArms.com) makes its Masterpiece BA Competition Chassis for the Tikka T3X action. Price is $1100 to about $1200 for the chassis. We used a Vortex PST Gen 2 scope instead of the Vortex Razor on the match rifle, but we were able to get the exact same reticle on both. The Masterpiece Arms chassis allowed the use of MDT magazines which, in turn, allowed the use of longer-than-normal 223 loads while still fitting in the magazine. That made it possible for us to work up loads using Varget powder, CCI BR4 primers, and Berger 80.5-grain Target bullets. With this set up, we got little-bitty groups and true 600-yard accuracy.

We used it primarily for positional practice on a 400-yard target. A great place to find aftermarket parts for the Tikka is Mountain Tactical at TikkaPerformance.com. The initial investment is steep, but the savings thereafter are worth it. We will note that the only way we managed to get the loads to do what we desired was to use a longer cartridge overall length as allowed by the aftermarket magazines. There was plenty of room in the short-action-sized Tikka receivers for the over-length rounds. The trim CZ and Ruger actions did not give us this option.

223 Remington Range Data

Value Guide: Short-Action Bolt Rifle Scores