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Hornady 75 grain 5.56 NATO Superformance





Hornady’s newest line of ammunition in 223 Remington/5.56mm NATO, “Superformance”, is now shipping.  Of particular interest to AR-15 shooters is their 75 grain 5.56 NATO Superformance load.  Hornady claims a velocity of 2920 fps for this load from a "20 inch NATO-spec test barrel."



From Hornady's website.



The 5.56 NATO Superformance load is topped with the “T1” 75 grain BTHP projectile.  There is a slight taper crimp at the case mouth and no case-mouth sealant.














Naturally this load is charged with one of the new, “highly progressive” Superformance powders.  According to Hornady, the Superformance propellants “provide a longer duration/application of peak pressure in the pressure time curve that occurs within the barrel.  In other words, both Superformance and standard propellants provide an equally powerful 'push' applied to the base of the bullet, but with Superformance propellants, the 'push' is applied for a longer period of time.”




From Hornady’s website.



The lot of 5.56 NATO Superformance ammunition that I evaluated is loaded in Lake City 09 brass.  The primer pockets are crimped and sealed.


Chronographing of the 75 grain 5.56 NATO Superformance ammunition was conducted using an Oehler 35-P chronograph with “proof screen” technology. All velocities listed below are muzzle velocities as calculated from the instrumental velocities using Oehler’s Ballistic Explorer software program. All strings of fire consisted of 10 rounds each.  Data was obtained from a Colt 20” M16A2 barrel.  





M16A2 barrel















Each round was single-loaded and cycled into the chamber from a magazine fitted with a single-load follower. The bolt locked-back after each shot allowing the chamber to cool in between each shot. This technique was used to mitigate the possible influence of “chamber-soak” on velocity data. Each new shot was fired in a consistent manner after hitting the bolt release. Atmospheric conditions were monitored and recorded using a Kestrel 4000 Pocket Weather Tracker.





Atmospheric conditions:

Temperature: 58 degrees F.
Humidity: 32%
Barometric pressure: 29.65 inches of Hg
Elevation: 950 feet above sea level


For comparison, I fired the Superformance load back-to-back with Hornady’s 75 grain 5.56 NATO TAP T2 and 75 grain 223 Remington TAP FPD.  The chronograph data is shown in the table below.










There were no manifest over-pressure signs on the case-heads of the fired Superformance rounds.






An accuracy Snapshot of the 5.56 NATO Superformance load was obtained from a distance of 100 yards shooting from my bench-rest set-up.  The test vehicle was a chrome-lined, NATO chambered 20” Colt HBAR with a 1:7” twist.  The barrel was free-floated. The free-float handguard of the rifle rested in a Sinclair Windage Benchrest, while the stock of the rifle rested in a Protektor bunny-ear rear bag. Sighting was accomplished via a Leupold VARI-X III set at 25X magnification and adjusted to be parallax-free at 100 yards. A mirage shade was attached to the objective-bell of the scope. Wind conditions on the shooting range were continuously monitored using a Wind Probe.





A quick 10-shot control group fired from the above set-up using match-grade hand-loads had an extreme spread of 1.2”.





The 10-shot group of the 75 grain 5.56 NATO Superformance load had an extreme spread of 3.4” and a mean radius of 1.16”.






For the Internet Commandos in our viewing audience tonight, here’s a pic of a cherry picked, 3-shot group of the 5.56 NATO Superformance load.  The group has an extreme spread of 1.263”.





For comparison, I also fired a 10-shot group of Hornady’s new .223 Remington 53 grain Superformance load.  This load uses a brand new bullet from Hornady, the 53 grain V-MAX.  The ogive of the bullet is tailored for .223 Remington chambers.  This load produced a sizzling muzzle velocity of 3285 fps when chronographed from a 20” Colt M16A2 barrel.





The 53 grain V-MAX is shown on the left compared to a 52 grain A-MAX on the right.




The 10-shot group of the 53 grain Superforance load had an extreme spread of 1.213” with a mean radius of 0.458” from the Colt HBAR.    It will be interesting to see how this load performs out of my .223 Remington chambered Krieger barreled AR-15.








UPDATE: Hornady 53 grain Superformance



From Hornady’s website.

As previously mentioned, the 53 grain Superformance load uses a brand new bullet from Hornady, the 53 grain V-MAX.


From Hornady’s website.  


According to Hornady, this bullet has been “optimized for the .223 Remington chamber.” It seemed only fitting to test this new load from a .223 Remington chambered AR-15.  The test vehicle was my 24” Krieger barreled AR-15 with a 1:9” twist and naturally, a .223 Remington chamber.







Shooting was conducted from my bench-rest set-up at a distance of 100 yards.  A 10-shot control group using hand-loaded Sierra 55 grain BlitzKings had an extreme spread of 0.63”.







The 10-shot group of the 53 grain Superfromance load had an extreme spread of 0.70”!









Hornady 223 Remington 75 grain Superformance





The new 223 Remington version of the 75 grain Superformance ammunition is loaded with the Hornady 75 grain BTHP bullet; the “T1”.  This bullet does not have a cannelure, but a slight taper crimp at the case mouth produces a crease in the bullet jacket.  Naturally, this load is charged with one of the new “highly progressive” Superformance powders.






Hornady claims that this load obtains a velocity of 2930 fps when fired from a 24” SAAMI test barrel.  I chronographed this load from an AR-15 that has a 24” stainless-steel match grade Krieger barrel with a 233 Remington chamber.  A 10-shot string fired from the Krieger barrel produced a muzzle velocity of 2881 fps with a standard deviation of 14 fps.

An accuracy SnapShot of this load was obtained from my AR-15 with the 24” Krieger barrel that has a 5.56 Match chamber.  This barrel was chosen as the test vehicle because it shoots the Hornady 75 grain BTHP bullet extremely well.  Previous testing with factory loaded ammunition from both Hornady and Black Hills ammunition topped with the Hornady T1 bullet produced 10-shot groups from 100 yards in the 1 MOA spectrum.  My match grade hand-loads using the T1 bullet fired from this barrel have approached half-MOA 10-shot groups from 100 yards.







The Superfromance load was fired from the Krieger barreled AR-15 from my bench-rest set-up at 100 yards.  The 10-shot group had an extreme spread of 1.878”.

Very cool.

Thanks for the report.


Have you broke one down and had a look at the powder?

Nice work again Molon, I just got 200 rounds yesterday to test out myself.


Some info from Hornady's Chief Ballistics Scientist, Dave Emary:

"“We have done extensive testing of the new .223 Rem. load in ARs with barrels from 14½ inches to 24 inches,” said Emary. “The propellants are very progressive and burn out rapidly after peak pressure. The AR’s gas system was originally designed around a 62-grain bullet and about 26.5 to 27.0 grains of powder and is therefore within the design envelope of the system.”

"The velocity gains in Superformance Varmint—in some cases they exceed standard offerings by more than 230 fps—are achieved through the use of highly progressively propellants loaded to fill the cases, yet not be compressed."

http://www.hornady.com/assets/files/Superformance_in_Gas_Guns.pdf

I might need to pick up some of this to try out.

Looks like the velocities are worthy.

I'm curious however about the rounds.  If you go to their website they seem to have several iterations of the new Superformance in 223.  They show both "Match" and "Varmint"  However their varmint only shows Vmax bullets and only in 50 and 53 grs.  Your report and Hornady box clearly show OTMs.  At least if you use the ammunition search.  I suppose their website could use some updating.  

It almost appears the box is labeled Varmint because it's 223 rather than the bullet type.

Yes

Looks excellent.  Are they actually going to sell it to people?

Nice writeup as usual!

I am curious to see how this might perform with shorter barrels and both mid-length and carbine length gas systems...

I know a lot of two legged varmints, gonna have to pick some of this stuff up.  





 

Yeah I was at that velocity.  Curious what it runs out of a 16" tube.  Now if I could just remember the differences between the T1 and T2 projectiles...

IIRC the T1 is basically what they sell as a component? Or maybe it's what comes in the 75gr TAP FPD. The T2 is what they use in the 5.56 TAP. I think. Could be wrong.

You got it.  

The 'T1' is available as a component, it also appears in every 75 bthp Hornady load, except the 5.56 TAP (which uses the T2 - not available as a component).

Thanks for the link, SkyPup.  VERY interested in more performance data out of a 14.5" 1/7 barrel (Molon? ).  Regardless, I'm probably picking some up and giving it a try.  

Well, I see the photo, what I am trying to recall are the implications of the different designs.

Interesting...

Closing in on the 6.8spc's prices, may as well make the jump.

Bought a few boxes of the stuff! midway has it instock
promo code 11010

I`ll see how it compares to my BH75 & MK262 etc.

UPDATE
WARNING!!!
Midway sent me 5 boxes of Superformance 53gr 223rem  ( NOT 5.56mm 75gr  RRRRrrrrr!))

So you might call in your orders.

BTW

The 53gr superformance seems to be a compressed load!
The case is full compared to 53gr Match w/c

One of our members on our SIG 556 forum chrony'ed his SuperPerformance 5.56mm NATO out of his SIG 556 Swat 10 inches out of the muzzle and saw an improvement with the Superformance = 326 fps faster (avg.) in a 16", 1 in 7" twist barrel shooting two ten shot strings of the Hornady 75 grain Match vs SuperPerformance




There were no FTF or cycling issues whatsoever with the piston driven carbine.


Based on this data, the increase in muzzle velocity for a 16" carbine barrel is as significant as in the 20" barrel.

OP, thanks for your work.....in on group purchase as availability increases......

Apparently this ammo is going to provide significant muzzle velocity increases across the board in all barrel lengths.

Will be great to get ahold of the SuperPerformance powder for reloading when it becomes available next year.....

A standard deviation of 51 fps?  An extreme spread of 177 fps??  A nearly identical velocity from a 16” barrel (2904 fps) to that which I obtained from a 20” barrel (2909 fps)???   There are some seriously questionable issues with that data.

No doubt there are issues with his data but I was not there so I cannot critique his methods or materials except to say that it is all relative.

I just provided his data to indicate the improvement of the new SuperPerformance ammo over the Hornady Match ammo velocity wise

He also provided data from his SIG 5556 DMR rifle with a 21" barrel and a 1:10" twist, showing a 216 fps velocity improvement too:



Your data is the reference to compare the two against.

Sorry if I ruffled any feathers....

dupe post...

Molon,

Thank you for the results.  Your work is a true asset to all AR-15 owners.

Are you aware of any reliable data concerning the minimum upset velocity for the T1 projectile?  It would be interesting to see what increase in effective range the Superformance rounds offer to 16 and 20 inch barrels.

This looks like it should perform nice at extended ranges.  High BC and extra "umph" to boot.
I think I read the BC as being .395, which gives me about 380 ft-lbs of energy at 700 yds, plenty to smack steel plates

I'd like to see how these do thru 12.5 & 11.5 sbr's. If anyone has scientific data that'd be nice. Otherwise I'll have to go out and chrono some myself but It wont be very "scientific"

Yes.

You are correct.  Some time ago, I asked Dave Emary  about the redesigned ogive on the T2 bullet.  Here was his reply:

“We made the ogive radius shorter, makes the ogive a little fatter, on the TAP load because testing showed it fed better in the M16/AR. The sharper pointed match bullet would occasionally hang up between the feed ramp cuts in the barrel sleeve on some guns.”

2250 fps for a conservative, reliable fragmentation threshold.

Accuracy Snapshots added to first post.

That velocity is well, AWSOME.

I will be buying some of that powder to try to get milspec or faster velocites on my SS109 reloads.

Molon again great data. I do have the concern of the varmint moniker. This usually means light thin jacket. Is this the case of the new bullet or is it simply a way around marketing it as a LEO only round?

Varmint makes sense. Would like to hear the facts from Hornady on that one. As for the LEO part I was simply speaking from a marketing standpoint. As a lot of marketing departments learned in the 80's and 90's the LEO only part usually hurts sales and is more so what the manufacturer will sell and to whom more so than any law.

Remember thats not a "match" barrel molon used either, while im not expected much better. It appears that they went for velocity and ignored accurracy.

Very happy with the velocity but the accuracy makes me want to puke.

Yikes!  I wonder how many folks ordered as much as they could get in the cart yesterday and wish they could unclick that "buy it now" button.  

I've got a clip loaded with the SuperPerformance ammo to take down to the lower 40 where the hogs have been rooting up and eating the freshly dropped oak acorns, I'm sure it is accurate enough for another BBQ...

Here is some more accuracy data for comparison:

1) Sig 556 Classic SWAT (16" barrel, 1 in 7" twist), Nightforce 1-4x24 NXS, Harris bipod/LaRue QD mount, rear bag

2) Sig 556 DMR (21" barrel, 1 in 10" twist), Nightforce 3.5-15x50 NXS, Harris bipod/LaRue QD mount, Accushot Monopod (rear)

Conditions
Temp = 60-65 °F, Wind = 2-4 mph from 8:00 direction, Humidity = 49%, Bar. Pressure = 29.90 S

Ten shot groups.

I'll just consider that to be a place saver for when you have content to post - Eric

Over 3 MOA from a solidly benched gun is not something Hornady should be OK with. Yes, velocity is nice but not when an extra 100 or 200 fps trashes accuracy.



ETA - After looking at Molon's review of Hornady Tap & Match ammo the .223 TAP & match averaged 1.03". I'll pass on something that triples group size. I need all the help I can get!

I will reserve judgment until i get some into my SPR's at the longer ranges. Having said that I too will take the accuracey of my handloads and Blackhills ammo over an additional 100 fps or so.

Your comparing a $200 milspec barrel to one of the best match grade stainless barrels.

The 3" group size with a nato chambered, free floated rifle is ~2x larger than 8126N.  I'll continue to use 8126N.

Here’s some content for you.  Not one single straight-shooter that I know has been able to shoot consistent 10-shot groups smaller than 3 MOA with the 5.56 NATO Superformance ammunition from a NATO chambered, semi-automatic rifle.  As an example of what other members are actually getting with this ammunition, here are some groups from Belmont31R fired from 100 yards.  










Yet, SkyPup’s SIG-boy fired a 1.06” 10-shot group from 100 yards with this ammunition USING A 1:10” TWIST BARREL THAT ISN’T EVEN CAPABLE OF ADEQUATELY STABILIZING THE HORNADY 75 GRAIN BTHP BULLET???!!!





Maybe if there was an effort here to remove the fraudulent BS being reposted here from another website, you wouldn’t have to worry about removing this . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I'd be surprised if a 1:10" barrel could even keep these on the paper.    I don't believe it either.