There is a lot of bad info on the difference between .223 and 5.56 on this thread. The following is an answer directly from Winchester:
“There are a lot of questions about these two cartridges. Many people think they are identical - merely different designations for commercial and military. The truth is that, although somewhat similar, they are not the same and you should know the differences before buying either cartridge.
The cartridge casings for both calibers have basically the same length and exterior dimensions.
The 5.56 round, loaded to Military Specification, typically has higher velocity and chamber pressure than the .223 Rem.
The 5.56 cartridge case may have thicker walls, and a thicker head, for extra strength. This better contains the higher chamber pressure. However, a thicker case reduces powder capacity, which is of concern to the reloader.
The 5.56mm and .223 Rem chambers are nearly identical. The difference is in the “Leade”. Leade is defined as the portion of the barrel directly in front of the chamber where the rifling has been conically removed to allow room for the seated bullet. It is also more commonly known as the throat. Leade in a .223 Rem chamber is usually .085”. In a 5.56mm chamber the leade is typically .162”, or almost twice as much as in the 223 Rem chamber.
You can fire .223 Rem cartridges in 5.56mm chambers with this longer leade, but you will generally have a slight loss in accuracy and velocity over firing the .223 round in the chamber with the shorter leade it was designed for.
Problems may occur when firing the higher-pressure 5.56mm cartridge in a .223 chamber with its much shorter leade. It is generally known that shortening the leade can dramatically increase chamber pressure. In some cases, this higher pressure could result in primer pocket gas leaks, blown cartridge case heads and gun functioning issues.
The 5.56mm military cartridge fired in a .223 Rem chamber is considered by SAAMI (Small Arm and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute) to be an unsafe ammunition combination.
Before buying either of these two types of ammunition, always check your gun to find what caliber it is chambered for, then buy the appropriate ammunition. Most 5.56mm rounds made have full metal jacket bullets. Performance bullets - soft points, hollow points, Ballistic Silvertips, etc. - are loaded in .223 Rem cartridges. Firing a .223 Rem cartridge in a 5.56mm-chambered gun is safe and merely gives you slightly reduced velocity and accuracy. However we do not recommend, nor does SAAMI recommend, firing a 5.56mm cartridge in a gun chambered for the .223 Rem as the shorter leade can cause pressure-related problems.
Winchester Law Enforcement Ammunition
East Alton Illinois”
Dead, Any rifle that “goes nuclear on you” over a “couple thousand CUPS” should be destroyed immediately as it is UNSAFE. Since a proof load for .223 is 78,000 PSI and the SAAMI spec load is 55,000 PSI, your assertion that a “couple thousand CUPS” will go “nuclear on you” is NOT true and should NOT be repeated. There is often a pressure differential in the same cartridge greater than "a couple thousand CUP" due to temperature influences.
Please don't guess at critical firearms info. Providing bad information to people that put their faces mere inches from a vessel containing these types of pressures could kill someone. Instead look it up! It took me all of 5 minutes to find and provide the information I posted.
Hope this helps
Got my info from Here.
So yes, a stainless bull barreled match grade .223 that could probably handle even the SAAMI safety net of 78k CUPS can handle the extra pressure from 5.56.
Now, since an AR newbie probably isn't going to be all that interested in dotting every "i" and crossing every "t" on their first purchase, a simple warning about the very real differences in pressure seemed warranted without going into 11 pages of techno-babble.
Capice?