Off the shelf, non match grade. As in what’s the best bulk type light to mid grain ammo.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: smithnsig,

Magtech 62 gr 5.56 has been good in my DD M4V11-----available here:

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...3106699/m/6230015644

PPU make a nice 62gr in 223

Do you want 223 or 5.56?

SGAmmo has both on sale these days on a daily/weekly basis. Sign up for their email notices.
Ammoseek is easy to use. In spite of the huge number of listings, I don't think anyone has all the sales on a list.

NOW is the time to catch some sales and stack it!

If you can come down to 50 grain, we've had the best results with Federal American Eagle Jacketed Hollow Point (AE223G). It is twice as accurate as the more common 55 grain FMJ, and not that much more expensive. We've seen it outperform match-grade ammo. Very consistent performance.

quote:

Originally posted by KMitch200:
Do you want 223 or 5.56?

SGAmmo has both on sale these days on a daily/weekly basis. Sign up for their email notices.
Ammoseek is easy to use. In spite of the huge number of listings, I don't think anyone has all the sales on a list.

NOW is the time to catch some sales and stack it!

I’ve got plenty of m193 and Ss109 along with some 62 gr TBBC. I want to stretch my rifles legs so to speak without paying $1.00 per round.

quote:

Originally posted by smithnsig:
Off the shelf, non match grade. As in what’s the best bulk type light to mid grain ammo.
I want to stretch my rifles legs so to speak without paying $1.00 per round.

No bulk FMJ ammo is truly accurate. If you want ammo that produced groups instead of shotgun patterns at distance, you must pay for quality components.

As noted above, AE223G is among the more accurate of cheaper rounds. The 50 grain bullet gets tossed in the wind, however.

It's a rare AR barrel that doesn't shoot Hornady's Vmax or Sierra's Blitzking bullets accurately.

Of course, Hornady sells Vmax ammo. I find the 55 grain Vmax more accurate than the other Vmax weights across a wide variety of barrels. Vmax ammo is available through Black Hills, HSM, Fiocchi, and others.

Ammo with Blitzking bullets isn't as common. Aussie Outback (ADI) and HSM load Blitzking.

52 grain HP match ammo can be quite accurate. I believe both Sierra and Hornady make such bullets. Black Hills is likely the best source.

If you really want to hit targets at distance, consider increasing bullet weight to 68 (Hornady HPBT) or 69 (Sierra MK) grains.

Bolt action or AR variety?
What caliber is the chamber/rifle? No need to discuss the whole 5.56 does both/223 does one only routine?
What rate of twist?

The steel core M855/SS109 are typically less accurate than lead core FMJ 62gr.
With this information comments can be better defined.

I forgot to mention Hornady's new Frontier HPBT "match" ammo line. Frontier is reasonably priced, has options in 223 and 5.56, shows very consistent chrono velocities in all my ARs, and uses some decent bullets. After quite a bit of testing I have decided not to use the Frontier line, but it may work for you.

For background, my AR uppers have barrels from 14.5" to 24" long, with twist rates from 1/7 to 1/8. All barrels are stainless, my best match upper is 223 chambered, the others are 5.56 chambered.

Frontier's 55 grain was the most accurate across all barrels. The 223 load was more accurate than the 5.56 load. My best 5-round groups were about .9" at 100 yards, with the worst around 2 inches.

Frontier's 62 grain load generally showed inconsistent accuracy for me. I only tried the 5.56 ammo. A couple barrels obtained some 1.5" groups, but most were in the 2" to 3" ballpark.

Frontier's 68 grain loads were even more varied. Again, the 223 loads generally were more accurate than their 5.56 counterparts. One group could be around 1", with the next group at 2" or 3". I even got a few 4" groups.

The 75 grain 5.56 ammo did OK, but nothing special. A few groups a little over 1", then quite a few around 2".

As a baseline, my uppers consistently produce groups in the .75" to 1.25" ballpark with their preferred factory match ammo. My best uppers rarely produce groups larger than 1" with match ammo, and they produced a number of groups between .5" and .75".

Fritz-

Have you ever tried the IMI 69 or 77 gr razor core ammo?

quote:

Originally posted by Tgrshrk99:
Fritz-

Have you ever tried the IMI 69 or 77 gr razor core ammo?

I am curious too.

I have used a fair amount of the 77 grain IMI with inconsistent results. Usually the best I can expect is about 1 MOA ~100 yards, but often with unexpected flyers that open groups up to 1.5" or more. I don’t, however, have exceptionally accurate rifles chambered for 223/5.56. What should be the most accurate is a Tikka T3 that handles 5.56 ammunition with no high pressure signs despite its 223 chambering. The rifling is 1/8 inches, and perhaps that’s a little slow for the bullet, but Bryan Litz’s data says that should be fine, especially at my elevation. Slower twists that stabilize the bullet properly are supposedly better for precision. The load seems to be a little better in a Colt LE6940 which is hardly a match rifle, but that may just be lack of sufficient data.

The velocity figures for the IMI 77 grain were also not impressive. With an admittedly small sample of 10 rounds from the Tikka, the extreme spread was 107 fps and the standard deviation was 34 fps—far higher than what Litz says is necessary for decent precision.

The best load I’ve found for the Tikka has been the Hornady 55 grain A-MAX TAP, but the Speer 75 grain Gold Dot and Federal 69 grain Gold Medal Match are usually consistent at just under 1 MOA at 100 yards.

quote:

Originally posted by Tgrshrk99:
Have you ever tried the IMI 69 or 77 gr razor core ammo?

Not in my own rifles, but in a buddy's Larue. His Larue shot ammo neck and neck with my Wilson Combat ARs. The IMI ammo in his Larue showed respectable accuracy, but not up to the standards of Federal and Black Hills with similar SMK bullets. As a result, I saw no need to try IMI ammo.

Our IMI results were similar to what Sigfreund states above -- pretty good groups, if one would throw out the almost inevitable flyer.

I picked up a box of:

Hornady 55gr 223 Black
Federal 223 55gr FMJ-BT
Federal 223 50 gr Hollowpoint
Aguila 556 62gr FMF-BT

I’ll try to do all the light weights I can find off the shelf. Then I’ll do the middle to heavyweights.

I’ll try to Give a report

18” Shaw Fluted HBar rifle length 556.

Ok round 1 of light weight.

5 shot string with 5 minutes cool time for barrel.

100 yards

I’ll post some pics when I can.

Federal AE 223 50 grain JHP. 2.125” group.
(1st 3 shots were less than 1/4”. If I were shooting 3 shot groups I would be gushing)

Federal AE 556 55 gr XM 193. 2.25” group.
(1st 3 shots were 3/4” group. This has happened before with this ammo.)

Hornady Black 223 62 grain FMJ. 2 3/8”. Pretty even spread. (I think I had one flyer so I will give this another go.)

Federal AE 223 55 gr FMJ-BT. 2.5” even spread.

Aguila 556 62 grain FMJ-BT. 2.5” even spread.

ZQ1, or ZQI, or ZQL whichever it is 556 62 gr SS109/M855.
3 5/8”. Even spread. Noticeably less accurate. Reliable bulk ammo, but that’s it. Looked like shooting an old model Mini-14.

Pretty typical results for cheap and inaccurate ammo. What I've seen with my ARs for the types I've tried:

American Eagle 223 55 grain FMJ:
2.03" and 2.28" for a 24" 1/8 DSC barrel
2.00" for an 18" 1/7 Wilson barrel
1.20" and 2.50" for my #1 16" 1/9 Wilson barrel
1.52" and 1.93" for my #3 16" 1/8 Wilson barrel
2.10" and 2.75" for a 14.5" 1/7 LWRC barrel
All these barrels have 5.56 chambers. AE223 has become my close range fodder, when competitions require that I only need to hit IPSC A&B zones at close range.

American Eagle 223 50 grain JHP:
1.10" for an 18" 1/7 Wilson barrel
1.02" and 1.60" for my #1 16" 1/9 Wilson

Federal 5.56 55 XM193:
1.75" for my #1 16" 1/9 Wilson

Other 55 FMJ in my #1 16" 1/9 Wilson:
Black Hills -- 1.5" to 2.25"
Fiocchi -- 1.5" to 2.25"
HSM -- 1.5" to 2.25"
PMC -- 1.5" to 3.0"
Remington -- 1.75" to 2.5"
Winchester -- 2.0" to 2.5"
Wolf -- 2.0" to 2.75"

If you want accuracy, get away from FMJ and be ready to pay for quality ammo.

Yeah. I’m going to pick up some more 20 round boxes of different type stuff. After a couple of more types, I’ll have a pretty good idea of what lighter plunking ammo to us. I’m curious about the Hornady Frontier loadings. I’ll fine the Hornady Black another go as I’m pretty sure I pulled one left. If so it would be less than 2”.

After that I’ll test the heavier/longer loadings. Fun to see them side beside. Five shot strings tell a different story. Had I been shooting 3 shot strings, 2 groups would have been sub MOA. One was 1/4” after 3 shots.

If you get a FMJ round that shoots well, it will be the luck of the draw with your barrel. Might be luck of the draw with that batch of ammo, too. FMJ bullets are notoriously inconsistent from one to the next. Shoot enough FMJ ammo and you'll get a 3- or 4-round bughole, then one in the next county. The next group from that same ammo might look like a shotgun pattern. FMJ ammo also exhibits pretty wonky accuracy as distance increases. Trying to hit reasonable sized plates at 300-400 yards with FMJ is a good warmup for buying lotto tickets.

3 round groups have virtually no value for anything other than true match ammo. And by match-grade I mean ammo that can produce 10 round bughole groups day after day. For my precision bolt action rifles, I need only 2 or 3 rounds on paper before a match to confirm that my zero is still good. Same with my best precision AR, as when my head's not up my backside, it has little problem doing half-inch groups with ammo I use in precision matches. Such confidence in POI also demands consistent fundamentals in marksmanship.

That's why I test new ammo's 100 yard accuracy with a minimum of two 5-round groups back-to-back. If the two groups for that particular ammo don't have similar distribution and points of impact, I keep shooting more 5-round groups until I get a consistent feel. The cheaper & less accurate the ammo, the greater the sample size is necessary to obtain reasonable data on its accuracy potential.

I am going to have to try that Federal 50 grain stuff in my 1-12” twist barrel. Sounds promising.

Ok. Shot some more, using Hornady Black 75gr. 223 as somewhat of a baseline.

Hndy Black 75 BTHP 223. .9” a 100 yds.

Hndy Frontier 556 55 gr OTM Match. 1.9” best 55 grain so far. Cheap by the 1000 so far.

Hndy Black 62 gr FMJ. 1.3”. Best 62 gr. So far
Very flat grouping with little vertical deviation.

Hndy Whitetail 60 gr interlock. 2.3”. Not particularly impressed. Expensive for what it is.

Federal Fusion 62 gr. Non MSR. 1.8”. Good stuff for defensive or hunting. Group was not small, but was very concentric with no outliers.

I shot some Sig Sauer 77 gr OTM match also. Best group I could get was 1.8” thought it would be a little tighter.


I am kind of liking the Hornady 62 gr FMJ. It groups well for 62 gr. If I can repeat the performance of the 223 Black with the 556 Frontier load, and it is cheap enough, that may be one to stock up on.

Frontier 75gr. 2.5” best group. A bit of a disappointment since it uses the T2 bullet.

Frontier 62gr OTM 1.5”. Not bad. Only had 1 box. Gonna shop for some to see what kind of price I can find.

Mag Tech 62 gr nonmagnetic 556. 4”-5” groups neither rifle liked this. No better than cheap M855 except some ranges don’t allow steel.

Hornady Black 223 75 gr T2 shot 1” for a baseline.

If you're just going for cheap accuracy, I'd also check out Hornady's steel-cased match ammo. They offer a 55 grain load.

https://www.hornady.com/ammuni...gr-hp-steel-match#!/

Sells for ~34 cents per round online.