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It's actually even a bit more subtle than that.
There are conditions for stability in a gyroscopically stabilized object. They have to do with rotation speed, length, and diameter. A system is "stable" if it will return to its original state, given a small perturbation. A weight hanging from a string is stable. A pencil balanced on its point is unstable.
The 223 bullet is deliberately designed to be right on the brink of instability. As soon as it strikes something, it tumbles. It's designed to do that. When an FMJ 223 bullet hits a person, it causes a much worse wound that a stable bullet of the same size would.
The Warsaw Pact countries howled bloody murder over this violating international law. They continued right up until the time that they developed their own equivalent bullet.
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