I've read the Ammo Oracle today until my head hurt.....I apologize if I missed this.

What are the inherent differences between M193 & XM193? I realize that XM193 is the civilian stuff, but is there enough difference between the two to be concerned about?

When it comes to XM193 is the alot of difference between manufacturers? What is your (XM193) manufacturer of preference?

Thanks.

Basically...

Real Federal M193 is military ammo. - XM193 is stuff that didn't make the QC cut, so the military refused it. That's why Federal sells it to civilians.

The only _real_ XM193 is made by Federal at the moment. Other companies sell stuff by similar names in order to try to cut into those sales, but Federal holds the military contract. - Besides, most of the other companies that try to sell stuff with military sounding names (like m193) generally don't load their rounds up to NATO pressures... and that is the whole reason that people want real XM193... it's a NATO pressure loading. Most other ammo companies simply do not load their stuff that hot because their lawyers want them to stick to lower sammi pressures. That doesn't stop some companies from trying to pretend they're selling 5.56 instead of .223 though.

That said, Winchester Q3131/Q3131a does also meet military M193 specification. Not surprisingly, that's because Winchester/Olin held the military contract before Federal got it. As far as I'm aware, Federal and Winchester/Olin are the _only_ companies who actually sell civilian ammo that meets military pressure specifications. (Edited to add: Occasionally, some military surplus from other countries will show up for sale in the US, but that's happening less and less often with all the new UN ammo treaty BS).

Edited again: Go back and take your time reading all the ammo oracle stuff. There is no replacement for that knowledge. Take some aspirin, have a beer and get ta reading.

I don't think for 1 second that XM193 didn't make "the cut" or are rejected rounds.

It may be intenionally manufactured to different standards, but it's not rejected ammo.

That's what I've learned here, and it makes sense.

Emory