 Cody47 
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Joined: Sep 2009  CA, USA
 Posts: 3 Feedback: 0% (0) |
Posted: 3/25/2010 3:33:28 AM
THE IMAGE ABOVE IS A PAID ADVERTISEMENT 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. 
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Posted: 3/25/2010 3:34:05 AM
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Posted: 3/25/2010 3:34:40 AM
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Posted: 3/25/2010 3:35:12 AM
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Posted: 3/25/2010 3:35:46 AM
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Posted: 3/25/2010 3:36:19 AM
-Cody |
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stevos758
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Team Member
Joined: Jul 2008 WI, USA
Posts: 300 Feedback: 100% (22) Link To This Post |
Posted: 3/25/2010 4:07:12 AM
WOW!
 Speechless! |
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Posted: 3/25/2010 5:19:38 AM
Very informative Cody47........thank you.
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eracer
Grendel FTW
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Joined: Dec 2002 FL, USA
Posts: 8299 Feedback: 100% (11) Link To This Post |
Posted: 3/25/2010 6:13:02 AM
[Last Edit: 3/25/2010 6:23:40 AM 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. |
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Posted: 3/25/2010 6:30:41 AM
Great work.
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Posted: 3/25/2010 7:08:07 AM
Great post! Thank you!
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Posted: 3/25/2010 7:19:46 AM
Very interesting. That must have taken a lot of time and money. I bet you had fun, though! Thanks for your post.
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Posted: 3/25/2010 8:01:25 AM
THANK YOU!!! Great work.
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Posted: 3/25/2010 8:23:18 AM
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Posted: 3/25/2010 8:28:31 AM
Thanks. Now, if I could only find a write-up for a 1/9 10.5 inch.
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tojan19
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Joined: Mar 2006 VA, USA
Posts: 1770 Feedback: 100% (81) Link To This Post |
Posted: 3/25/2010 8:35:13 AM
I think a mod needs to tack this one. Great review. Thanks a lot for putting that together.
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KBAD
Just a Big Hairy American Winning Machine
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Joined: Jan 2006 USA
Posts: 1934 Feedback: 100% (17) Link To This Post |
Posted: 3/25/2010 9:15:18 AM
Great post! That must have been fun to compile!
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QuicksilverJPR
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Joined: Apr 2008 GA, USA
Posts: 2767 Feedback: 100% (5) Link To This Post |
Posted: 3/25/2010 9:39:54 AM
Very impressive work on the pics and time/money/effort...
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Posted: 3/25/2010 10:48:43 AM
Awesome work, wish I could have done it myself!
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Posted: 3/25/2010 10:49:43 AM
Good job Cody and thanks for posting this!
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Posted: 3/25/2010 11:08:20 AM
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. |
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Zhukov
Does not play well with others
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Joined: Apr 2003 TX, USA
Posts: 22313 Feedback: 100% (43) Link To This Post |
Posted: 3/25/2010 11:23:32 AM
Cody47 - Thank you very much for going through the trouble and testing all that ammo, uploading the pictures and sharing!
I'll mark this post "do not archive" so it stays active for non-Team members. |
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87GN
vuurwapenblog.com
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Joined: Sep 2004 AZ, USA
Posts: 27049 Feedback: 100% (81) Link To This Post |
Posted: 3/25/2010 11:32:15 AM
Fantastic. Great job.
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Posted: 3/25/2010 11:39:44 AM
very impressive! thanks for the time and effort! ever consider adding some SSA loads to the testing?
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Posted: 3/25/2010 12:20:12 PM
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! |
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Posted: 3/25/2010 1:51:04 PM
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:Accurizeit@aol.com. 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 |
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