My first experience with the .223 came in the form of a Thompson/Center Contender.

It was a beautiful "Super 14" that I purchased at a local gun shop. The story I got was that it had been ordered and the buyer was not able to get the purchase permit.

The gun came complete with scope, case, original sights, and all the boxes. It was flawless and probably the most carefully finished piece of work I ever had the pleasure to handle.

Shooting the gun, it quickly became obvious that it was a much better shot than I was. At the range, my skills improved with the gun and eventually I was able to shoot golf balls with it a 75 yards.

I carried it with me coyote hunting, along with my Savage 22 Hornet. I always thought that if the right situation came along, I would fire it instead of the Hornet. That idea never panned out, so on one occasion I left the Hornet at home and carried the Contender. It was to be the first "pair" of coyotes I had ever called in.

My 1^st attempt to drop one of the coyotes sent a resounding click to my ears as I had failed to select the firing pin. I could see the coyotes actually laughing as they stood patiently waiting for me to correct the problem. The second attempt made a similar sound as the action had not been properly locked up. The coyotes were laughing so hard now that they had to leave and go tell their buddies.

Read on, it gets better. Cold and angry, I opened the chamber pulled the shell, closed the chamber, reopened the chamber, reinserted the shell, closed the chamber, selected the firing pin and started playing the hurt rabbit song again. The coyotes came back, still chuckling, they strolled back to stand in the exact same spot. The coyotes ears rang this time as that missile flew past them and they really weren't laughing anymore. It was more of a "oh @#$%" "he figured it out". After that they left me sitting there really wishing I had brought the Hornet.

The Contender made excellent trading material and I got rid of it. Don't get me wrong, I miss the gun, it was a fine piece of equipment but I just was not comfortable with it in the field.

As for the caliber, I was hooked and knew I would someday purchase a rifle in this caliber.

In the fall of '97', I purchased a NEF SB2 synthetic in .223. Now before you start grumbling, hear me out. The sole purpose for this gun is coyote hunting. From what I can tell, coyotes do not care what brand of weapon you choose but they do get a kick out of ones you can't shoot. My thinking was for $200 plus a scope I could have a new gun that would reach out there a little farther. For another $85 I can add a barrel in another caliber.

Now the only trick was to make the gun shoot. Not knowing what to expect, I purchased a couple of boxes of factory ammo and headed for the range. It did a fair job but obviously would need some coaxing.

New dies and once fired brass; I was ready to go to work. Now the fun began. It did not matter what I shot the gun would not group. I know what your thinking, the gun is cheap what should I expect. I blamed the gun too, until a friend of mine discovered that the seating die in the new set in fact had a .243 sleeve. While waiting for the manufacture to correct the problem, I bought another set of dies in a different brand.

Now working with the new dies, the last group I fired on 2/8/98 was pretty good. 1.5" at 100yds. I think we found the problem. That will kill any coyote I get a shot at. I switched powders and things got even better BL-C(2)

The gun had a problem too and it had become apparent that the dealer misled me. See NEF Ejector Overtravel under Gunsmithing Work. I guess that will be filed under the live and learn column. I fixed the problem and came to enjoy the rifle.

This particular gun liked the 52gr BTHP Match bullet from Hornady.

UPDATE ! I have since sold the rifle, and like always, regret selling it. The groups had gone to heck and I was confident that the chamber was out of whack. Turns out the scope was defective. Another live and learn !

I had become frustrated with the velocities I was getting from the rifle and saw little point in burning twice the powder only to duplicate my Hornet load velocity.

This was not intended to be a "Gun Review" but since I have gone this far, I will say this. For the money, it is a good little rifle. I believe the low velocity was due to the quality of the barrel/chamber. Most likely, firelapping or bore polishing would improve the situation to some degree. The chamber was long in the throat area and the only help here was to leave the brass as long as possible. As for accuracy, I believe that the groups I was originally getting were the norm and they were good groups, but still lower than expected velocity.

UPDATE 12/09
I traded for a 223 bolt gun at my shop and it had to go home with me. A beautiful little Interarms Mark X. I have not played with it much more than a thorough cleaning and sighting it in. Because I had no 223 brass left over at home I sighted the gun in with a box of PMC ammo. With 3 holes touching at just over 100 yards, I think I can make this work.

As of this writing I have 22 different 22 caliber bullets to play with. This could take a while :).