Have seen some good reviews of this ammo but thought I would ask if others have experience with it.
It may seem odd that I just bought 1200 rds of it on a hunch it would perform well but my past impulse buys have paid off so I figured why not.
Figured for the price I could not lose.

Have three new builds that I need to do accuracy tests for anyway and I already had on hand in the 69 grain Black Hills and PPU.
Would appreciate your responses.

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_3_16/676237_ADI_Australian_Outback_69gr_SMK___my_rifles_new_favorite.html

It velocity tested slow for me out of a 10.5"

Australian Outback 69gr Sierra Matchking
2326 ES 48 fps
2325 Avg 2300 fps
2293
2309
2281
2278
2290
2297
2308
2298

For comparison:

Black Hills 77gr TMK:
2411 ES 49 fps
2415 Avg 2410 fps
2376
2408
2424
2397
2421
2425
2401
2420

IMI Razor Core 77gr OTM:
2411 ES 148 fps
2423 AVG 2447 fps
2439
2446
2544
2410
2449
2396
2459
2497

the Black Hills and IMI are 5.56 pressure.  ADI is .223



 

I can appreciate that but velocity is oftentimes king, especially with a small round like a .224 bullet. That statement only gets more important as the barrel gets shorter, which is why I mentioned my testing was done from a 10.5 barrel.

Apples and rocket ships. As already stated you are comparing 2 different rounds. Modern powders and primers have closed the gap between the two, but only if used. The Outback is slightly slower than premium ammo, but the price isn't premium either.

I was able to easily get it into 1MOA 10 round groups out of a BCM 16" SS410 last summer.  I have a bunch, but haven't shot any lately.

<sigh> I in no way said it's "bad" ammo, rather I pointed out that is has a marked velocity disadvantage from other loads out there. The OP asked for people's experiences with it and I gave him mine. There is no "apples to rocket ships" comparison here. More like Honeycrisp to Red Delicious apples comparison.

120-150fps is more than "slightly slower" when talking about any .224 projectile fired from an AR, seeing as it is already a small round and some would argue underpowered. Granted, yes it IS loaded to .223 specs vs the 5.56 loads I posted but seeing as the OP didn't list his intended use for the ammo nor even any details of his builds, my intent was to show him what some other loads could do out of an SBR. Velocity only gets better as the barrel length increases. HINT: There will most likely be a proportional increase in the performance of the ADI 69gr ammo too as barrel length increases.

LOL Comparing 223 and 5.56 is not comparing "like" rounds. The bullet is the same, but pressures, and load data aren't.
Your comparison would be like my comparing a .308 to a 300 Win Mag. Same bullet, weight, size, etc. NOT the same in any other way.


223 has premium ammo. Premium isn't set aside for the 5.56 only. Anyway the question was if Outback was any good. We should stick to that.

The three builds are-
1-20" Larue Stealth
1-18" Lothar Walther
1-18" Green Mountain

Intended purpose for these are target/varmint shooting out to 600-800 yards.
The Green Mountain has been out a few times and easily hits a 12" steel plate at 720 yards with 55 grain cheap Federal AE 223 ammo. Witnessed by a friend who I later let his 15 year old son shoot the rifle. He hit the plate 49 out of 55 shots as we spotted and corrected his aim for wind drift.
I am sure the 69 grain will be better suited for longer range even with less initial velocity yet having better accuracy.

Wish Molon had a review on this ammo. I see he does for the 55 grain ADI but not this 69 gr.
No way I know other than to shoot it but just wanted others experience with it is all.

I know many would say shoot 77 grain but I like how 69 grain shoots closer to the same point of aim as my 55 grain ammo varieties I have stocked up for general shooting.
With the builds above I am expecting 1 MOA or less without having to make up hand loads. Do enough of that with my 300 Winchester Magnum and others.

You go right ahead and try to shoot a .308 out of a .300 Win Mag and tell me what happens. Oh wait...you CAN'T, but you can shoot .223 and 5.56 out of the same rifle for the most part. Your argument is ridiculous. You should read more and opine less, unless you're just here to start shit for no reason.

And now you get the distinct opportunity to be the first poster on ARFCOM, in the 14 years I've been here, to get onto my ignore list. Thanks for being a pompous a$$.

Sorry for the $hitshow in your thread OP. Sounds like a solid line of thinking to use the 69gr pills for those builds. I see what you're trying to do with a round with a closer POI to your other ammo if that's what you get out of the 69gr stuff.

The only caveat I have now is that you may eventually want to try some 77gr loads, not because they are heavier but because the BC is higher, meaning better performance at the extreme (for .223/5.56) ranges you want to shoot.

In case you don't know, here are some BC numbers for popular Sierra bullets (taken from sierra's website):

69gr Matchking
.301 @ 2800 fps and above
.305 between 2800 and 2200 fps
.317 @ 2200 fps and below

69gr Tipped Matchking
.375 @ 2700 fps and above
.365 between 2700 & 1950 fps
.335 between 1950 & 1700 fps
.305 @ 1700 fps and below

77gr Matchking
.372 @ 3000 fps and above
.362 between 2500 and 3000 fps
.362 between 1700 and 2500 fps
.343 @ 1700 fps and below

77gr Tipped Matchking
.420 @ 2400 fps and above
.415 between 2400 and 2000 fps
.395 between 2000 and 1750 fps
.380 @ 1750 fps and below

Found out my hunch about his ammo is correct. At least for the 20" Larue Stealth barrel build I did.
A certain lot # just did .521"  5-5 shot group average at 100 yards today for the MOA challenge.

This ammo also shot 3/4" to 1"  5 shot group averages with my Lothar Walther and Green Mountain builds today as well.
One lot # was better but still the other was no slouch either.
I am stocking up even more on this ammo and definitely recommend you try it out.

Here are the results with a Lothar Walther 18" barrel build.
A few shots were all on me not the barrel or ammo on this target.



Results for a Green Mountain 18" build-

Note center group is PPU 68 grain the rest are ADI 69 SMK. goes to show how better ammo makes a huge difference.

This is 5 rounds at 100M from a 16 KAC Mod1 upper with a 4x horseshoe dot ACOG.  Prone on a bipod.  

This is definitely not typical performance from that rifle or my ability, but it is possible.  I was shooting mostly ten round groups from 100-400M today with this ammo and I would call my setup an honest 2MOA system today (wind was about 8-10mph).  Which I am more than pleased being shot from a light, chrome-lined barrel with an ACOG.

As a Kiwi, it pains me to say anything nice about Australians, however ADI small arms ammo is of good quality.  ADI ammunition is actually made in Australia by Thales Australia a division of the French arms and ammunition manufacturing giant.  We issue F1A1 here and it averages 1.25 MOA, which is pretty darn good for mass-produced military ammo out of military rifles.  Their new temperature-insensitive propellants have an innovative neutral-burning grain design, and the results are very good news indeed.  We have fired literally millions of rounds and had very few issues.  From a quality standpoint, I'd have no hesitation in using it.

I bought a box of this stuff to try out and I think I'm going to buy a few hundred rounds to set aside for hunting and defensive shooting. I only practice with real world conditions(for me) using iron sights and no bipod and the ADI was pretty accurate for me at 2MOA. PMC X-tac Match with the 77 OTM was slightly better but not enough to justify the extra cost.

Love ADI 69gr OTM. It's my go to ammo for distance and honestly my SD choice as well. It shoots great out of every rifle I've tried it in.

Anyone have velocity numbers out of 16" and 18" barrels?