im looking at getting some of the 75Gr aac 5.56 BT JHP with cannelure for a possible HD/shtf round and want to see what y'all think on it for effectiveness or lack of, anyone shot it into gel or similar? im wondering if its something that will actually expand and retain a lot of weight or is it more for fragmentation? I have a 16" barret rec 7 with 16" barrel that's my go to for most anything. I also got a few boxes of the 223 Hornady black 75gr BTJHP as well but its almost double the cost per box.

prior discussion
https://www.ar15.com/forums/ar-15/AAC-5-56x45mm-75gr-BTHP-Review/16-777823/

buffman review

Thank you, I will check that out, but also looking for others opinions on here who have personal experience with it, has anyone tried hunting anything with it etc?

All traditional BTHP bullets get terminal performance from yawing, then fragmenting and do not open in the front. The hollow point in the front is just a byproduct of match BTHP bullet construction and inside the tip is just an air pocket and a simple lead core. This includes the Hornady TAP 75 grain 5.56 load, Black Hills Mk262 77 grain 5.56 load, etc.

The Hornady 75 grain BTHP tends to yaw a bit earlier than the 77 grain SMK, but not by much. Both have very similar fragmentation and wound profiles. It is more like a 2.5-4" neck vs. 3.5-5" neck before yawing and fragmenting.

Generally speaking, ballistic tips provide the most immediate and dramatic wounds, but only the 77 grain TMK can reach the 12" FBI minimum penetration standard in 5.56 as all other ballistic tip .223 bullets over fragment and under penetrate. Most ballistic tips will have a 0-1" neck before fragmenting. Ballistic tips also tend to fragment more reliably and at lower velocity. Your BTHP bullets will still easily fragment at 16" barrel velocities and for quiet a distance.

Soft ponts expand from the front almost as fast as ballistic tips and have bonded options to allow them to perform better through barriers. But MANY soft point loads fail to reach 12" minimum penetration. But there are also plenty of bonded soft points that reach 12" from 55 grains to 75 grains to choose from. Its just .223 just tends to have lower bullet weights than other calibers so retaining weight is more important for .223 bullets than other calibers to ensure you reach 12" minimum. Higher weight bullets or fragments tend to penetrate deeper. I would only choose a soft point for self defense in .223 if it was bonded because I would prefer more tissue destruction from fragmentation if I did not need or want the bonded barrier performance.

That AAC 75 grain looks to be a great load if the delayed yaw of a BTHP and poor barrier performance are not deal breakers for you. They also don't have sealed primers or case necks so are not the ideal round to stack for preps or issue as a LE duty load, but would be excellent for a precision training round that still has good terminal performance and 12" penetration on exposed soft targets. While I might stack about 300-400 rounds of something sealed and expensive like 5.56 Hornady TAP or MK262 for emergencies that might include flood water exposure, I would not hesitate to use those AAC 5.56 loads as home defense rounds and precision training rounds.

The Hornady 5.56mm 75 grain BTHP TAP T2 has a much shorter ballistic neck and more consistent and higher percentage of fragmentation than the 77 grain MatchKing.

Hornady 5.56mm 75 grain BTHP TAP T2

Velocity:  2689 fps from a 16" 1:7” twist barrel

penetration in bare ballistic gel: 13.8"

ballistic neck length: 0.8”

Recovered diameter:  0.40”

Recovered length: 0.25”

Recovered weight: 30.5gr

Percentage of fragmentation:  59%

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The Sierra 77 grain MatchKing can produce an excessively long ballistic neck for a defensive load.




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Thank you, and yea I haven't bothered to even look at the primers to see whether they are sealed or not, I got 1k of there sabre blade black tip stuff as well, well 1k in 75gr and 1k in 55gr and 200rss of the 62gr though plan to get more of that, I have seen a few ballistic gel tests with the sabre blade, and the 75gr does look like it passes the 12' point.

my go to gun is a 16" 1:7 twist Barret barrel.

what would be some good bonded soft points that are generally obtainable? I haven't seen anything speer available. I have about 300 rds of fiocchi 55gr PSP and some ppu 55gr sp and pmc bronze 55gr SP.

Federal Fusion and Fusion MSR are pretty available and perform pretty well.

Molon, do you have a comparison between the Hornady T2 you mention here and the T1C? I believe you covered this many years ago when the T2 loads first came out but I dont remember. The AAC 75gr load uses the Hornady T1C I believe NOT the T2.

I consider both (T2 and T1C loads) to be very good SD loads. Maybe not as consistent terminally as the Gold Dots or Fusion but maybe a little more accurate in some guns...I still have some of the old Hornady steel cased loads that use the T1 and T1C bullets. But they dont shoot as well as the brass cased Hornady Match 75 gr loads.

In the data that I've seen, the T2 has a shorter, more consistent ballistic neck than the T/T1.




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