The .223 Remington is considered one of the most popular common-use cartridges and is used by a wide range of semi-automatic and manual-action rifles.

Stoner and Sierra Bullet's Frank Snow began work on the .222 Remington cartridge.

[8] Robert Hutton (technical editor of Guns and Ammo magazine) started the development of a powder load to reach the 3,300 ft/s goal.

During a public demonstration, the round successfully penetrated the US steel helmet as required, but testing also showed chamber pressures to be too high.

[8] Because of several different .222 caliber cartridges that were being developed for the SCHV project, the .222 Special was renamed .223 Remington.

At an Independence Day picnic, Air Force General Curtis Le May tested the ArmaLite AR-15 and was very impressed with it.

[8] In July 1962, operational testing ended with a recommendation for the adoption of the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle chambered in .223 Remington.

The specification included a Remington-designed bullet and the use of IMR4475 powder, which resulted in a muzzle velocity of 3,250 ft/s and a chamber pressure of 52,000 psi.

According to the official CIP rulings, the .223 Remington can handle up to 430.00 MPa (62,366 psi) Pmax piezo pressure.

In CIP-regulated countries, every rifle cartridge combination has to be proofed at 125% of this maximum CIP pressure to certify for sale to consumers.

[9] This means that .223 Remington chambered arms in CIP-regulated countries are as of 2016[update] proof tested at 537.50 MPa (77,958 psi) PE piezo pressure.

A higher pressure of 55,000 psi (379 MPa) resulted from the change from IMR to Olin Ball powder.

If a 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge is loaded into a chamber intended to use .223 Remington, the bullet will be in contact with the rifling and the forcing cone is very tight.

[14] By observation, 5.56×45mm NATO ammunition is not as accurate as .223 Remington in many of the AR-type rifles extant, even with the same bullet weight.

The .223 Wylde chamber specification developed by Bill Wylde solves this problem by using the external dimensions and lead angle as found in the military 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge and the 0.224 inch freebore diameter as found in the civilian SAAMI .223 Remington cartridge.

[19][20] The popularity of .223 Remington is so great, that in the US it virtually eliminated all other similar .22 caliber center-fire varmint rifle cartridges.