.223 Ammo

It tends to run dirtier and with a little less velocity but it should run fine in any mechanically sound rifle. Buy it, shoot it, and clean well afterwards.

Academy.

It's better than nothing at all. At the end of the day, Tulammo goes bang when you pull the trigger. Just be sure to clean up your rifle a bit more thoroughly after shooting a bunch of it. And as a poster above said, the consensus is that stell is hard on an AR's internals, but if you don't shoot it constantly you'll be fine.

I would only buy it for range or plinking, I have shot a good bit of it and the pistol ammo and it’s prolly 1-15 that misfire or ftf fte.
I would never trust it for self defense from skateboard wielding attackers.

There's three major negatives with steel case ammo, in my opinion.

1 - Premature wear on feed ramp and chamber. This isn't a HUUUUUGE issue unless you're someone who shoots 1000's of rounds a month.

2 - (the biggest issue in my opinion) - Not only is 223 lower pressure than 5.56, but steel case 223 is even lower pressure than brass 223. As a range officer at a very busy public range, whenever I work the rifle line, it never fails that I have to help shooters because their AR's are having trouble cycling due to the lower pressures. The most common issue is the bolt isn't blown back far enough for it to pick up the next round and chamber it.

3 - I see MANY MANY more jams with steel case and I believe this has to do with the polymer coating on the cases. Whether it's the heat or pressure or a combination of both, something causes the coating to stick to the inside of the chambers. The result of this is the spent case sticking in the chamber and the bolt not traveling back at all because the extractor is hooked on the rim of the case. This requires either removing the upper from the lower and using a flat-head screwdriver to "pry" the bolt to the rear or using a cleaning rod inserted from the muzzle and pushing the case and bolt out.

In my personal experience, I've found that applying a LOT of oil on the carrier group rails, the bolt seals, bolt lugs and even a drop on the 1st 2 rounds in each magazine allows steal case to cycle much better but the trade off is it gets pretty messy!

Something else that can be done is to install a lighter buffer tube spring and/or see if your gas block can be adjusted to allow more gas pressure back to the bolt.

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I see MANY MANY more jams with steel case and I believe this has to do with the polymer coating on the cases. Whether it's the heat or pressure or a combination of both, something causes the coating to stick to the inside of the chambers. The result of this is the spent case sticking in the chamber and the bolt not traveling back at all because the extractor is hooked on the rim of the case. This requires either removing the upper from the lower and using a flat-head screwdriver to "pry" the bolt to the rear or using a cleaning rod inserted from the muzzle and pushing the case and bolt out.

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That's not due to any kind of coating, old wives tale there. Steel cases don't obdurate in the chamber like brass does, not as flexible nor as "springy" so it's slower to seal (meaning more propellant gas escapes around the case and chamber wall) and and slower to return to shape (and they don't return quite a much) as the pressure drops during the firing cycle. With AR's, especially those running lightweight BCG's and shorter gas systems, the extraction phase starts while the case is still trying to hold onto the chamber which will lead to a FTE. The better option is to run a heavier buffer or action spring as that will give more dwell time for the case to shrink and ease extraction (also need to be running the full Crane setup on the extractor too). Adding oil only hides the problem and causes excessive bolt-face thrust forces which can damage the bolt and cam pin.

My Ruger 556 hated that stuff unless I just got a few bad boxes. Never had issues with any other ammo I fed through it.

As for jams in .223/5.56 barrels/chambers, a gunsmith taught me to get a 3/16s brass rod from Lowe’s/Home Depot about 24 to 30 inches long. If careful, brass won’t scratch your bore like a cleaning rod might.

Plus, the brass rod is heavier and often just dropping it down the barrel will be enough to dislodge stuck cases. And I always bring a small ball peen hammer (or better yet a brass hammer) to the range.