If reloading was not a reason I'd rather get a 22 WMR. Getting the same uses of a 22 WMR in a cartridge that I could reload seems attractive to me, but without the motivation to reload the whole thing falls apart in my world.
Yes I know the 5.7 is a bit faster, but not enough to justify having one in favor of the 22 WMR. In the real-world both rounds would do the same jobs, each as well as the other.
And from what I am told the 22 WMR is less expensive for the ammo.
If "more power" than you can have with a 22 WMR is in anyway a reason to put a new barrel into a rifle or buy a different rifle I might suggest a 221 Fireball (easy to make from a 223 by re-shanking the original barrel and cutting a shorter chamber) or simply get a 223.
Interest in the numbers and comparison of one set of statistics to some other set is OK and it can be fun and enlightening, but from the aspect of a "Mission Statement" ("what do I do with this thing?") I find very little room for "new jobs" between the 22 WMR and the 223. Said another way: What job do I have to do that a 22 WMR is not powerful enough for, but that a 223 is too powerful for?
I don't have a clue what that job would be.
Last edited by szihn; 03/29/24.
