I haven't been able to shoot my AR's for quite some time until recently and am beginning to need some ammo.
I remember a time when 62gr green tip SS109 was the ammo to have, but it now seems that the 55 grain is just as hard and as expensive to get.
What happened and what should I be purchasing?
Most get the 62gr becuase of hype in all honesty. They hear the "penetration" or see the paint and think its something special. They also get it becuase that is whatsthe military has.
For just blasting, it doesn't matter. For "if you need it" I like the 55gr over the 62gr.
If you have a special twist, then weight might be a factor.
Get whatever is cheaper if for practicing or plinking. I like 75 or 77 gn bthp for hunting or shtf use
Originally Posted By AR15DELTAHBAR:
I haven't been able to shoot my AR's for quite some time until recently and am beginning to need some ammo.
I remember a time when 62gr green tip SS109 was the ammo to have, but it now seems that the 55 grain is just as hard and as expensive to get.
What happened and what should I be purchasing?
Truth to be told, unless you're competing in a match, you can zero with one brand of ammo and then be able to use just about any 5.56 / .223 ammo out to 200 yards. This morning for example, I was shooting 200 yards off-hand with Herter's, XM193, XM855, and some other cheap imports (zinc plated steel case). All hits were well within a16" circle - and I'm a really crappy shooter - and mind you, it was off hand @ 200 yards using irons. One of the two carbines used was zeroed with an XM855 and the other was zeroed using AE223.
There were couple of exceptions: PMC Bronze and old (circa 2004) AE223. I zeroed with XM193 and the PMC Bronze hit about 6" high at 100 yards and 8" low at 200 yards - still not enough to matter for self defense, though. Not sure if it was just a fluke - I only had a few of the PMC Bronze on hands, so I could not reproduce it. Still, even if that was the norm, your strikes will still be within man sized targets.
As for the old, 2003/2004 AE223, it shot way left compared to the newer AE223 / XM193 / 855 / X-Tac, but I could still hit an 8" circle with it off the bench @ 100 yards and a 12" circle tatget @ 200 yards with some misses to the left.
Just get any GOOD .223 / 5.56 ammo, zero your rifle, and rest easy.
Thank you all for the advice.
