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Posted: 3/25/2010 3:33:28 AM EDT
Let me start by saying I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the best shot in the world, but I can generally hold my own.
This started as a simple test to find accurate ammo for my new AR15, but after testing several different types of ammo and getting a wider variety of results than expected, it ended up being a large project testing all different types of.223/5.56 ammo. Now, at the end, I figured I'd share this info. My thinking was that maybe someone else can benefit from this experience.

Below is a test of 60 different types of .223 or 5.56 ammo ranging from 40 grain to 77 grain.



The targets I used are the Hoppes S-12 50-Yard Small Bore Rifle targets that come 5 to a page.


Each target measures 4 inches across. Hoppes recently made changes to this brand of target that's why some were solid orange (old style) and some are orange and black (new ones).
I placed orange dot stickers in the middle of the new ones for easier target centering while aiming.

All shots were fired from 100 yards. Five shot groups were fired from each bullet type and repeated 4 times for consistency checking. The groups are displayed from smallest to largest and not in order of firing.
Wind was less than 10mph each day of shooting.
Because it took me several months to obtain all of this different ammo, these test sessions were shot on multiple days (sometimes weeks apart) and scope adjustments were made prior to some sessions. Sometimes all four groups of the same ammo were not fired during the same test session (hence the different grouping of the same ammo).

The rifle used is as follows:

Rock River Arms Upper
24 inch stainless Bull barrel in .223 Wylde chamber with 1:8 twist
Spike’s Tactical Lower
Rock River Arms 2 stage trigger.
Vortex 6-24X50mm scope



I apologize as I don't have a chronograph so the velocities listed are stated and not actual.













Link Posted: 3/25/2010 3:34:05 AM EDT
[#1]























Link Posted: 3/25/2010 3:34:40 AM EDT
[#2]























Link Posted: 3/25/2010 3:35:12 AM EDT
[#3]
























Link Posted: 3/25/2010 3:35:46 AM EDT
[#4]























Link Posted: 3/25/2010 3:36:19 AM EDT
[#5]












-Cody
Link Posted: 3/25/2010 4:07:12 AM EDT
[#6]
WOW! Speechless!
Link Posted: 3/25/2010 5:19:38 AM EDT
[#7]
Very informative Cody47........thank you.

Link Posted: 3/25/2010 6:13:02 AM EDT
[Last Edit: eracer] [#8]


That was a phenomenal post. Thank you for that.



I found it very interesting that your gun shot the Fiocchi 40-gr. V-Max so well, the 62-gr. FMJ so poorly, and the 77-gr. MK as well.



The Performance reloads shot very well. That's some impressive stuff for the price. I'd love to buy some, but I can't seem to find a phone number or good website.



Again, stellar post - thanks for taking the time to gather and share all that data.





Link Posted: 3/25/2010 6:30:41 AM EDT
[#9]
Great work.
Link Posted: 3/25/2010 7:08:07 AM EDT
[#10]
Great post! Thank you!
Link Posted: 3/25/2010 7:19:46 AM EDT
[#11]
Very interesting.  That must have taken a lot of time and money.  I bet you had fun, though!  Thanks for your post.
Link Posted: 3/25/2010 8:01:25 AM EDT
[#12]
THANK YOU!!!   Great work.
Link Posted: 3/25/2010 8:23:18 AM EDT
[#13]
Link Posted: 3/25/2010 8:28:31 AM EDT
[#14]
Thanks. Now, if I could only find a write-up for a 1/9 10.5 inch.
Link Posted: 3/25/2010 8:35:13 AM EDT
[#15]
I think a mod needs to tack this one. Great review. Thanks a lot for putting that together.
Link Posted: 3/25/2010 9:15:18 AM EDT
[#16]
Great post!  That must have been fun to compile!
Link Posted: 3/25/2010 9:39:54 AM EDT
[#17]
Very impressive work on the pics and time/money/effort...  
Link Posted: 3/25/2010 10:48:43 AM EDT
[#18]
Awesome work, wish I could have done it myself!
Link Posted: 3/25/2010 10:49:43 AM EDT
[#19]
Good job Cody and thanks for posting this!
Link Posted: 3/25/2010 11:08:20 AM EDT
[#20]
Great work putting it together Cody!
I am really impressed at the performance of the Fiocci 77 grain Sierra MK.

Any chance you can put all the data (without pics) in a table at the end?
A screen shot of the data in a spreadsheet would work great.
Average the group size and sort it by that.
Just an idea.
Thanks again.
Link Posted: 3/25/2010 11:23:32 AM EDT
[#21]
Link Posted: 3/25/2010 11:32:15 AM EDT
[#22]
Fantastic. Great job.
Link Posted: 3/25/2010 11:39:44 AM EDT
[#23]
very impressive!  thanks for the time and effort!  ever consider adding some SSA loads to the testing?
Link Posted: 3/25/2010 12:20:12 PM EDT
[#24]
Awesome!










As you noted, this accuracy/range report isn't completely scientific, but it is interesting and useful to see none the less.  Thank you very, very much for sharing this!  It's interesting to see how 55 gr FMJ-BT rounds have different performance.  Not surprised Hornady's 55 gr fmj-bt are more accurate than most.




Thanks again!
Link Posted: 3/25/2010 1:51:04 PM EDT
[#25]
Originally Posted By eracer:
That was a phenomenal post. Thank you for that.

I found it very interesting that your gun shot the Fiocchi 40-gr. V-Max so well, the 62-gr. FMJ so poorly, and the 77-gr. MK as well.

The Performance reloads shot very well. That's some impressive stuff for the price. I'd love to buy some, but I can't seem to find a phone number or good website.

Again, stellar post - thanks for taking the time to gather and share all that data.



Thanks guys. When I began this it wasn't a project but more of a simple test to find some accurate ammo. I expected with a 1:8 twist that only heavy bullets would shoot well and found that totally untrue. To my surprise, some 40gr bullets shot as well as 77gr. Then it started to morph into a project as I started to test all sorts of .223/5.56 ammo. I started to see that V-Max and Match bullets tend to shoot a lot better than FMJ and SP bullets even from the same manufacturer. Yes I did spend a lot of time and $$ to do this and felt that after all of this effort it wasn't fair to keep it to myself.
Here's the contact info for the Performance Ammo Reloads -  Ph. 775-287-0001  email:[email protected]. His name is Daryl and he's a really nice guy. I met him at a gun show and his stuff shot so well that I have now bought a few thousand rounds from him. It's so accurate that I use his ammo to sight in my scope. He is pretty informative as well and takes pride in his product.

-Cody
Link Posted: 3/25/2010 8:04:38 PM EDT
[#26]
Nice work, thank you sir!
Link Posted: 3/25/2010 8:33:11 PM EDT
[#27]
Had a laugh when i came to your performance ammunition reloads, i just sighted in my AR with some of his .223 i got from the big reno gun show about a year ago.
very cool post, thanks alot.
Link Posted: 3/25/2010 9:00:25 PM EDT
[#28]
great job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Link Posted: 3/25/2010 9:39:14 PM EDT
[#29]
You da man...thanks!
Link Posted: 3/25/2010 10:32:46 PM EDT
[#30]
Nice, now i have a request....

Can you try the Turkish SS-109 from ammunitiontogo?

They claim 1MOA, i had two groups showing this but noone believed me, it seems like your gun will beable to do the ammo justice.
Link Posted: 3/25/2010 10:41:16 PM EDT
[#31]
Thanks for taking the time to post this.
Some valuable information here.
Link Posted: 3/25/2010 10:52:32 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Molon] [#32]


Link Posted: 3/25/2010 11:07:36 PM EDT
[#33]
awesome post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Link Posted: 3/26/2010 12:17:44 AM EDT
[#34]
I have purchased team memberships for others who have contributed to the site like this.  I am saddened that I am not in a position to do so now.  Your work is greatly appreciated and I hope that you continue to be a part of this site.
Link Posted: 3/26/2010 12:30:09 AM EDT
[#35]
Great post!!
Link Posted: 3/26/2010 12:37:45 AM EDT
[#36]
T4L
Link Posted: 3/26/2010 2:49:03 PM EDT
[#37]
Incredible post...thanks for sharing.

How many rounds did you go between cleaning the bore?

Link Posted: 3/26/2010 2:59:24 PM EDT
[#38]
Very nice report!  Thanks much for all your work!
Link Posted: 3/26/2010 3:22:17 PM EDT
[#39]
Great post!



I love a good information thread.
Link Posted: 3/26/2010 3:34:00 PM EDT
[#40]
tag
Link Posted: 3/26/2010 3:55:28 PM EDT
[#41]
Isn't it strange how a rifle will prefer some loads to others even though they use the exact same projectile?  That's why I love reloading!
Link Posted: 3/26/2010 6:01:28 PM EDT
[#42]
excellent post, threads like this are what make this site the great resource that it is
Link Posted: 3/26/2010 7:30:47 PM EDT
[#43]
very informative
Link Posted: 3/27/2010 12:15:23 AM EDT
[#44]


Great post.  Thanks for taking the time and energy to do a thorough review/report.
Link Posted: 3/27/2010 1:15:23 PM EDT
[#45]
Great thread. This will occupy a place in my bookmarks for a long time.
Link Posted: 3/27/2010 2:55:37 PM EDT
[#46]
Awesome post.  Thanks!!
Link Posted: 3/27/2010 3:28:54 PM EDT
[#47]
For newbies seeing this post, take note:

First, thanks for an amazing and time-consuming job of posting all the great info!  I appreciate what you've done...

In the 80's, I helped a guy zero some rifles he had.

Two of his rifles were Colt H-BAR 20" rifles.

He had about five different brands of ammo to test.

Colt H-BAR #1 had a 1" group (on average) with Black Hills Ammo (don't remember what flavor, but it was reman.)
This same gun had a 4" group (or worse, on average) with some Federal soft point (new ammo)

Colt H-BAR #2 had a 5 1/2 " group (on average) with the same Black Hills Ammo used above (which was a big shock to me)
And yet this same gun had a 3/4" group (on average) with the Federal soft point used above.

And I shot 5 groups of 5 shots to come up with the averages...it wasn't just one or two groups.

So ammo that shows up as "very accurate" with the original poster's ammo, may be accurate with your rifle, or may not be.

Just something to consider before you buy 1,000 round case of "the most accurate" ammo.

Link Posted: 3/27/2010 6:22:52 PM EDT
[#48]

Incredible work.

Thanks for sharing that great info!

4073
Link Posted: 3/27/2010 6:46:55 PM EDT
[#49]
Thank you!!
Link Posted: 3/27/2010 6:47:34 PM EDT
[#50]
Dude, I am speechless; that was the tits. Great work
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