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Posted: 3/1/2006 8:03:01 AM EDT
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Due to the previous thread beig archived, I have to start a new post. Previous results 256 responses 181 had no problems 53 had minor problems 22 had major problems This thread is ONLY about the LOOSE boxed XM855PD variant Please add your personal experience with Lake City XM855PD ammunition to this thread. When you do, please give information about: 1) Firearm used in 2) Approximate number of rounds fired. I am trying to solicit only information about your PERSONAL experience with this ammunition. If you haven't used it, then please don't clutter up the thread. Information about proper functioning (or lack thereof) is obviously the most important, but factors such as the accuracy or other peculiarities you've noticed are informative also. If you have had problems with this ammo which were severe enough to cause you to stop using this ammo, then please describe them. And one more minor request: keep your reviews objective. This is part of the FAQ Troy has written about this ammo:
Archived comments: BoogerSnax I got 2000 rounds of it, intending to use 500 and stash the other 1500. So far I've only used 90 rounds out of it. All the rounds looked good. I didn't count them, but they all looked fine. Maybe 5 rounds total out of 2000 with the bullet seated a "wee" bit too deep. But so much as to toss them out. Out of the 90, all went bang, and they punch through 1/4" steel plates like a paper punch through warm butter. Bushmaster XM15. 11" BBL. clippen 2k, tossed maybe 5. Not pretty but function great. dpmmn I have 6,000 rounds of XM855PD, I have inspected and gone through every round,and I have used around 2,000 rounds in a Colt 6600, 6601, and a ArmaLite M15A2. Not one single problem, I am goingto highly recommend it UnusSupra1 I have bought this ammo from SportmansGuide twice. Both orders of 500 rounds were great, no bent rounds. I think the best part was the price. 1st order $104 for 500 rounds delivered (still had club membership) 2nd order came to $109 for 500 rounds delivered. ops144 about 400 of a 1000 so far and all good to go.... i picked out about 25/35 just to be safe. not one problem HP40 Good stuff, though you have pay attention to under powered rnds. Ihaven't had any that did't make it out the barrel though I have had a few that made me look down the barrel to be sure. About a half dozen out of 1-1.5 k fired. kc0iwx Had 2 that got lodged in the throat, not alowing another round to chamber. Both were knocked out with no dammage. MOIGR 1k from Ammoman--not a single problem Bushwacker85 1. 16" Bushmaster and Mini-14 2. 250 rounds so far No problems target435 several minor dings.most rounds had the green tip paint wearing off.sound fine thru a Bushy 16" and aColt MT lightwt JBowles 1400K rounds inpectes and threw out about 15-20 rounds. It has always gone bang. USAF_Hop_N_Pop comming up on 3k of the stuff and not a single reject or problem |
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I have fired around 200 rds of this ammo with no problems. 2 Bushmasters, both 16 in barrels, M4 type. At 100 yds with my EOTech 551 and 552 zeroed for 50 yds, most every shot was within 8 in dia pattern. Worked most excellent, and will save the remaining 798 rds. This was all loose packed and marked for training only, 62 gr FMJ green tips. Nato stamped and dates were 01 to 05, and in between. Edit 5/21/06- Ok now have fired about 700 rds thru this 1st batch. This stuff is pretty accurate. Even firing pattern group shots of 4 to 6 shots in 10-15 seconds (and faster) I have no problem being on a 8 in dia plate, with most in or near the Bullyeye at 100 yds. This ammo was from Natchez. |
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I bought a case of this mostly because it was rated decent and I wanted ammo to shoot in my AR. The AR was a Del-Ton 16" kit built on a Stag lower. barrel was 1x9 chrome lined M4 profile. I was trying to get rid of this ammo yesterday and tried to shoot 600 or so rounds and I had I would guess 100 or so rounds that wouldn't fire. Some would fire if you rechambered the round and tapped the FA, but most just a click. I tried to see if the issue was ammunition specific and shot several magazines of Wolf without a hiccup. Worst load of cash I've ever dropped. ETA: none of the rounds had mis-shapen bulllets or cases and all look like they should be fine to fire. To say the least I was embarassed that the M855PD shot worse than the Wolf which was more than half the price. I voted serious problem. |
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I picked up 500 rounds from Sportsmans Guide not realizing what it was. I culled probably about 15-20 rounds with serious problems like a primer in backwards, badly dented brass, misaligned bullets, and split case necks. I culled another 20 or 30 that had minor bulges on the case neck that would feed in my mini14 but not my AR. I'll probably pick up some more, but I'd prefer to not get the PD stuff again. Although sorting through by hand only took an hour or so... Sam |
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I have bought a couple cases of this stuff and have shot about half of it. There were 20-30 rounds in each case that were badly dented or had ripped necks, but there were still more than a 1,000 good looking rounds in each box. One case had green tips, the other did not. Accuracy is decent. Other than on my last range trip, I have had not problems with this ammo. I had a weak round on the last trip to the range. The report was quiet, but the bullet did manage to make it out of the barrel. There was not enough oomph to strip the next round out of the magazine, but it ejected the weak round OK. I would not bump fire with this ammo. While that does not exactly qualify as a 'major problem,' i will probably not buy anymore of this stuff. |
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I just picked up 1000 rnds of this stuff. I've fired roughly 200. Out of that 200 I haven't found any obvious defects in the cases, All rounds fired, and all rounds had enough energy to load the next round. Penetration was EXCELLENT and a round even managed to neatly cut a 6 penny nail (sunk behind 4 inches of wood) in half. HOWEVER At 100 yards this stuff groups like shit. Out of a 20" bushmaster I couldn't get it under a 6 inch group (and that's assuming a couple of really wild ones were my fault). At 200 yards they were literally all over the place most missing the target completely. In the same outing I used 68gr blue box Black Hills and with a couple exceptions was inside 1. I'm gonna give this stuff another shot but I am REALLY disappointed. |
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I have purchased 10K rounds of xm855pd and gone thru ~1k. Averaging approx 7-12 throwaways/1K box. No other issues encountered. Averaging 3-4MOA @ 100yds out of two Colt M4gery/Carbines (1/7 twist) with EOTech when on bench and taking time. I imagine I could have *much* more accuracy with a scope optic but that is not the application for this rifle (I have my Sako trg-42 .338LapuaMag w/US Optics SN-3 3-22x for long-range accuracy apps). I'm quite pleased with empirical observations (no chrono) of the power, 62-grain steel-core bullet (penetration), consistency, accuracy and price. Purists & dinged rounds aside, I honestly can't see any problems with utilising these rounds in any real-world app, training or not. I don't mind a few throwaways/1K at the price point ~ most of mine was purchased @ $170/1k delivered up to $200/1k delivered most recently. I certainly would not want to be shot with it...  and I suspect any BG's wouldn't be alive long enough to express their offense at being hit with such unworthy ammo.  |
| i fired 200 rds today through bushmaster varminter scoped.... out of 200 rds maybe 3 felt irratic in the power dept.... i printed 1 inch at 100 yrds on paper .... then went to shooting 4 to 6 inch rocks on metal stakes at 500 yrds.... this is the max range at my rifle range.... i could hit the rocks about 4 out of 6 times.... i do not know if it was me or the ammo...... i would not have bought if i had known it to be PD... i bought at gunshow for $225 and thought it was regular 855.... i will not buy again.... i want the good stuff .... although it is decent ammo for practice...... havent sorted through the rounds just shot it... 01-05 headstamp |
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I've mostly used Lake City XM855PD in my rifle. Out of about 2500 rounds fired through my rifle about 2000 rounds have been XM855PD. I haven't had any trouble at all. My rifle is a post-ban Rock River Arms AR-15 TASC Rifle with the mid length handguard. I bought it brand new in October 2003. |
I've purchased about 8k rounds of XM855PD over the past year through various vendors. I would have to say that I have tossed out about 10-20 rounds due to issues with the brass (usually large dents, but have also encountered some torn necks). I have also had 1 squib with the XM855PD . I will continue to use the XM855PD in my LMT M4 16" barrel and Colt SOCOM M4 barrel. |
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Loose 855PD from Ammoman. Gun: 16" POF upper, rock river lower. Broken in and reliable up to this point. Ammo: 1 loose packed 855pd box Experience: fired maybe 100 rounds total in 2 outings. Went through the box and pulled any badly dented/ damaged/ set back bullet/ etc rounds. maybe 20 - 30 total. Each (short) range session ended with a squib round/ barrel stuck projectile (2 total so far). definitely not thrilled with the ammo's performance. |
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I have fired about 300 rds of XM855PD out of a 16" Bushmaster Dissipator. No problems. I read a post on The Gun Zone web site where they wrote to Federal at Lake City asking about the XM855PD nomenclature. According to Federal's reply, XM meant that it didn't pass final QC, but was in every other respect as good as commercial ammo. The PD just meant that it was loose packed in the box. Here is the link: www.thegunzone.com/556xm.html |
shot off about 800 of my 1010 rounds that came in the 1000 rd. purchase so far. 6 rds were totally unusable in the box, many others had minor dents, quite a few had minor issues with the mouth of the cartridge folded. a couple had deformed bullets also. After hand sorting all 1000 rounds, the function of the ammo has been 100%, but I didnt like having to hand sort and inspect each round. These are obviously rejects. If the price was right, I might buy again, based on the function of the non-deformed rounds. 
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April, 2006... Over 4000 rds of XM855PD expended by two people at Tac Responses five-day Civilian Contractor shooting course. Rounds were shot through two Bushmaster carbines. A few rounds (less than 10?) looked too beat-up to load. Otherwise, no ammo problems what so ever. I will be buying more of this (for training) as it becomes available. |
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Ordered a case of 1,000 to give it a try. Shot out of a 20" Bushmaster 1/9 Fired 500-600 rounds within an hour or two. Most mags were rapid fired in groups of 180 rounds, mag after mag. Fed flawlessly, great accuracy and not a single malfunction. Will continue to buy and use this ammo. |
I bought one thousand rounds from Ammoman, looked at it, and sorted it. Out of that onoe thousand rounds I found three that I wouldn't gamble with even putting in a magazine. The ammo was headstamped 06. With shooting ball park of 500 rounds without a problem I ordered four more thousand. Three of these four thousand rounds where headstamped 06 and the fourth is stamped 05. I haven't gone through any of these with a fine toothed comb, maybe I'll do that if I ever get scared. The price was right, and the ammo was available. If I had it to do all over again at the same price yes, I'd jump all over it. Don't see prices coming down for a good while.
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| I have had about a 12/1000 reject rate with this ammo from about three different lots, along with the usual extreme variations on green tip paint and primer sealant. The ones that I've feed into my 1/7 Colt and two 1/9 Bushies have all gone bang with 5.56mm force. In general, the ammo looks pretty gnarley with lots of dents and creases. A commercial ammo maker could never get away with selling stuff that looks like this. The military was right to reject it for frontline service. So why are we now paying $300/1000 or more for this stuff? What a ream job! |
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