Has anyone ever tried a variable rifle scope on a 14 inch contender in 223. Is the recoil light enough to be able to do this without ringing your bell when the gun recoils?

Yes, you can use a rifle scope. Just back off the eye relief until you are getting a doughnut hole in the middle. Center that field of view on the duplex reticle to create consistency and eliminate parallax.

I've used a rifle scope on a 7-30 Waters pistol barrel. The 223 should be a cream puff.

I run one on the 223 freedom arms with a harrel brake. I shoot with a full field of view and free recoil.

Yes, if your .223 has a sufficient brake, you can suck up to the scope. I think he was referencing a factory barrel sans brake. I could be wrong.

Ive done full fov on 14" .223 with blue dot loads but cant remember if i did full power loads. Been so long i forget, but i think so. Love it on the rimfires!

I have been hunting with a rifle scoped 223 Contender since 1982. 4-12 Bushnell Scopechief with BDC turrets. Shot a Pronghorn thru the lungs at 400 yards. Many groundhogs out to 350 yards or so. No brake needed. A great setup.

billa. a Pronghorn at 400 yards with a 223 is very impressive to me. What load were you using.

Do you hunt Whitetails with this setup? I plan to use my 223 contender with a 14 inch barrel to hunt deer here in North Carolina this fall. What would you load your contender with to do so? I have read a lot here about the Barnes TSX bullet and have bought a couple of boxes of their 55 gr loads to use next year. What do you think?

I took 2 Pronghorns does with the 223 Contender back in 1986. One a base of neck/spine shot at 120 yards the other a pass thru broadside lung shot at 400 yards. Both dropped on the spot. I used a 55 grain Hornady spire point, soft point over 26 grains of IMR-4895.
I do not advocate the 223 for deer size game although a well placed shot with a tough bullet will do the job.