19 replies to this topic

[JohnC]

OK, I have some n00b questions.

I just bought a new Colt AR15 LE 5.56 NATO. I've never owned an AR before.

1) Is it best (cheaper) to buy bulk surplus ammo online or locally? I ask because I'm not sure if there are fees for hazardus, explosive, or whatever crap they deem it by.

2) What websites or local shops have the best prices for good 5.56 ammo?

3) What is the best brands, type, etc? Not sure if there are some really ####ty brands I should avoid, etc.

3) What bulet weights, etc., are most accurate in the AR?

Feel free to add anything else I might be forgetting to ask here that I need to know. I've been out of the loop for probably 10-12 years now. Last time I reloaded anything was for my 270 Winchester probably in 1998-1999. lol

[peejman]

OK, I have some n00b questions.

I just bought a new Colt AR15 LE 5.56 NATO. I've never owned an AR before.

1) Is it best (cheaper) to buy bulk surplus ammo online or locally? I ask because I'm not sure if there are fees for hazardus, explosive, or whatever crap they deem it by.

Just depends on where you can find the best deal. Pay tax on local purchases or pay shipping online. No extra fees, ammo's just heavy.

2) What websites or local shops have the best prices for good 5.56 ammo?

This is a neat site for online shopping... http://gun-deals.com/ammo

3) What is the best brands, type, etc? Not sure if there are some really ####ty brands I should avoid, etc.

Depends on personal preference as much as anything. Some guns/people abhor the cheap, steel cased stuff, some love it. There's very little corrosive AR ammo out there to worry about.

3) What bulet weights, etc., are most accurate in the AR?

Depends on the rifle, barrel twist, length of barrel, distance in question, etc... Half the fun is figuring out what yours likes best.

[Dolomite_supafly]

Walmart sells 420 rounds ammo cans of M855 green tip penetrator rounds for $150. You are going to be hard pressed to beat it. They also sell Tula for under $5 for 20 rounds and again you are goingt o have a hard time beating that price.

The M855 was designed for the AR platform. You might find stuff that is more accurate but not for the price. And most other ammunition is 223 pressures, not 5.56.

Dolomite

[JohnC]

Thanks.... Off to Wallyworld to check it out!

[JohnC]

And most other ammunition is 223 pressures, not 5.56.

Dolomite

BTW... does this mean I should not use .223 rifle ammo and only the 5.56 NATO?

[smopoim86]

BTW... does this mean I should not use .223 rifle ammo and only the 5.56 NATO?

No. the opposite is where issues arrive. 5.56 is higher pressure than .223

Edited by smopoim86, 10 April 2012 - 06:24 PM.

[gjohnsoniv]

The leade is just a hair different on SAAMI spec (.223) versus the military specs (5.56.) In other words you can fire .223 in a 5.56 rifle, but it's not recommended the other way around.

[scoutfsu]

Shoot whatever you want. Just remember that you will not get stellar results with cheap ammo. For plinking and other similar stuff, the cheaper the better. Don't try and bench rest some groups though.

The cool thing about getting a true 5.56 barrel is you don't have to worry about over pressured rounds from a narrow chamber or stuck cases (generally).

[Jonnin]

Accuracy and cheap ammo do not mix unless you load your own. Either blast away at shortish ranges and be happy with low cost stuff, or load your own match grade to take it on out to 300+ yards. The 223 is a little annoying to reload, have to trim the cases and deal with dented cases, different thickness cases, and other stuff. Unless you DO want high quality ammo or have a reloader that moves the process right along in quantity, buying bulk is a good idea.


Honestly, if accuracy is a big deal, get a different caliber. 223 can do OK but its not one of the top performers at say 500 yards. There are dozens of better calibers for that. At 200 yards the bulk cheap ammo will start to fail you for precision shooting at an increasing rate.

Edited by Jonnin, 10 April 2012 - 08:07 PM.

[Dolomite_supafly]

The caliber is more than capable of holding its own against most other calibers inside of 500 yards providing quality ammo or components are used.

My 223 shoots under .3" (yes three tenths of an inch) at 100 yards. So if the wind is cooperating that is thoeretically 1.5" at 500 yards. Although I have never done that I have actually done under 2" at 400 yards. The load is a 69 SMK over 24.5 grains and touched off by a Wolf (yes Wolf) primer. I have taken the same gun and shot Tula out of it for grins. The best 100 yard group was about 3" or almost 10x a large.

When reloading dented cases they do not cause any problems as far as cycling or accuracy, they are just cosmetic. And in AR's to prevent dented cases take some velcro tape and cover the deflector with the loop side. This gives enough cusion to prevent dented cases. It is also very cheap and effective for preventing case dents.

As far as the case thickness goes as long as you stick with the same brands you are going to be fine. I am using R-P brass that I have collected over the course of 5 years so they are from all different lots. Accuracy is all about consistency so if you are using several different types of brass you are going to have issues with vertical stringing.

You should not have to trim every reload unless you are using the all in one dies, like Lee RGB dies, that size the neck and the body at the same time. The all in one dies wear necks out because it overworks them by constantly squeezing the neck down beyond what it needs to be then stretching it back out. Also, using the all in one dies I would only get about 4 loads before the cases became brittle unless I annealed the case mouths.

I now use a Lee collet die because it only sizes the neck. I as a seperate operation I use a Redding body die to size the body. I trim once and haven't had to trim again in probably 5 loadings. My initial trim is 1.748" and they have not grown beyond 1.755" when seperating the two steps. The new way I can get 10+ loads. The Lee collet die only squeezes down the neck to the final dimension. I do not crimp either, I let neck tension hold the bullet it place.

I can't imagine a cheaper round to load that does as well as the 223. Yes there are better calibers for long range performance but none of them are going to do it for the cost of 223.

I will say that the gun above is not an AR but the same rules apply to an AR.

Dolomite

[Johnny Rotten]

OK, I have some n00b questions.

I just bought a new Colt AR15 LE 5.56 NATO. I've never owned an AR before.

1) Is it best (cheaper) to buy bulk surplus ammo online or locally? I ask because I'm not sure if there are fees for hazardus, explosive, or whatever crap they deem it by.

2) What websites or local shops have the best prices for good 5.56 ammo?

3) What is the best brands, type, etc? Not sure if there are some really ####ty brands I should avoid, etc.

3) What bulet weights, etc., are most accurate in the AR?

Feel free to add anything else I might be forgetting to ask here that I need to know. I've been out of the loop for probably 10-12 years now. Last time I reloaded anything was for my 270 Winchester probably in 1998-1999. lol

Congrates on your 6920 purchase..
pretty much any brass case ammo will work just fine for you, I have a 6920 and a 6940 neither will cycle with Wolf (steel case) unless you change out the buffer to a H2 or H3, I allways purchase all my ammo online, you'll pay $0.27+ for brass case ammo and $0.18+ for steel case ammo per round delivered, can't go wrong with 55g with your 1x7 barrel.

[scoutfsu]

Wolf and Tula are underpowered rounds. How would going to a heavier buffer cause the weapon to cycle more reliably? Heavier buffers are to slow bolt speed on SBRs, hot ammo, and an overported gun. What am i missing here.

[Johnny Rotten]

Wolf and Tula are underpowered rounds. How would going to a heavier buffer cause the weapon to cycle more reliably? Heavier buffers are to slow bolt speed on SBRs, hot ammo, and an overported gun. What am i missing here.

Forgive me I went the wrong way, it comes with a H buffer, I meant carbine buffer...or get a vltor A5

[JohnC]

Congrates on your 6920 purchase..
pretty much any brass case ammo will work just fine for you, I have a 6920 and a 6940 neither will cycle with Wolf (steel case) unless you change out the buffer to a H2 or H3, I always purchase all my ammo online, you'll pay $0.27+ for brass case ammo and $0.18+ for steel case ammo per round delivered, can't go wrong with 55g with your 1x7 barrel.

Thanks!

I originally set out to get the S&W M&P15T Tactical, but the local shop didn't have it in stock. On the way to decide if I should go for broke on the Barrett REC7 instead, I decided to just give the Colt a try first.

Can't wait to customize this thing a bit, though. With some good ammo, I hope I can get some tight groups at atleast 100 yards.

[Pengnpup]

6920 nice

[Jonnin]

Those are great tips Dolomite, ty. And the most useful one you did not say directly --- but it sounds like I need to seperate out some decent brass for longer range work, and keep the "day after a 3 gun" pile for zombie blastin'

[JohnC]

6920 nice

I'm heading out to the range today to test out some rds. I'll report back how it goes.

[Johnny Rotten]

I'm heading out to the range today to test out some rds. I'll report back how it goes.

I'm assuming your in muffreesboro correct? what range do you go to?

[JohnC]

I'm assuming your in muffreesboro correct? what range do you go to?

Probably go here: http://tn.gov/twra/stoneshunted.html

[JohnC]

Stones River Hunter Education Center is only open Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so we went out to the Cheatham WMA Firing Range.

I also ended up at the only pace that had any 5.56 ammo, Outpost Armory.

So the report......

Took the Colt AR15 to the range yesterday and shot some 55gr surplus through it.

I was quite pleased with it. At 100 yards, standing up (not bench rest), I was actually putting shots in the head of a human silhouette target.

I wasn't sure that I could do that without a scope (my eye sight isn't the best), but obviously the gun is more accurate than I am.

The wife had zero problems with it. She actually really liked it and didn't do so bad herself!

That said, I can't wait to get a good tactical scope on this thing!