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Posted: 3/21/2015 4:35:52 PM EDT
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I'm getting ready to zero a new Leupold 1-4 on a 16" midlength.
Rifle has a 1/7 twist. I have the following ammo available - Federal M855 62 gr. 5.56 Federal XM193 55gr. 5.56 Prvi Partizan 62gr 5.56 Hornady 55gr .223 Geco 55gr .223 Sellier & Bellot 55gr .223 Winchester White Box 55gr .223 Gun will be set up with a 50 yard zero. Which loading is A: likely to give the most consistent performance and B: which would offer the best "universal" zero, understanding that any different load will result in slight variations. What I'm after is the selection from the above list that is most likely to give me a functional zero for as many of those loadings as possible. Thanks for any suggestions. |
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Quoted:
If all you're going to shoot is surplus ball, I would go with xm193. Remember though, all of those are 2-3 moa loads at best. Txl That's what I'll shoot for the most part with some higher grade hunting rounds thrown in occasionally (I'll tweak the zero when I'm using those). The 2-3 moa is what I was wondering about - if perhaps the Hornady or maybe the S&B was slightly better. |
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Of those, Federal 193 would get my vote.
My serious vote would be to get some good IMI 193 as your stash ammo, zero your rifles to that, train with the rest of what you have and then standardize to your 55 grain IMI as time/money permits. I'm slowly going to start zeroing all of my 556 guns to MK262 and loading my go-to mags with it. Won't shoot it for training due to cost, but its a great defensive load so that is my plan....plus it will be nice to standardize what I shoot in all my rifles (currently only have my precision rig zeroed to it). |
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Is the IMI stuff even out there anymore?
I've heard that the "Independence" branded 55gr is manufactured by IMI but don't know. I actually just bought a case of the Geco which is purported to be Swiss mil ammo in lieu of the Independence stuff because I couldn't really find much good info on it IMI branded M193 is something I haven't seen around. |
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There are published ballistic charts for both M193 55 grain ammo (and clones) and for 62 grain M855 (and clones) for a standard 50 yard zero. Either configuration will give you point blank range out to about 300 yards, after which they will diverge increasingly with distance. 5.56 ammo will have higher velocity than civilian spec .223 of the same bullet weight and tend to shoot a bit flatter, but may not shoot as tight groups.
But, to determine which weight and brand of those that will shoot best and most consistently in your carbine will require experimentation,. Each rifle, and particularly each barrel, will have its own preference and it may be much different than what any of us may find shoots best in our own carbine. |
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You know understand one of the benefits of selecting one loading. Another is that you can learn the corrections for each yardage by heart.
If you want to keep a second loading (or have a hard time remembering the corrections for the primary), put a piece of tape on the scope and write the corrections on it or maybe one piece of tape for the primary and one piece of tape for the secondary. More that that is pretty confusing. |
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