AR Sponsor
Range Report - .223/5.56 Ammo Test (Pic HEAVY) (Page 1 of 3)
Posted: 3/25/2010 3:33:28 AM EDT
|
Let me start by saying I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the best shot in the world, but I can generally hold my own.
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. 
|
Speechless!
|
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. |
Social de-evolution appears complete. Typical human behavior is now entirely absent.
Just a Big Hairy American Winning Machine
Joined:
Jan 2006
Posts:
1934
EE: 100% (22)
USA
|
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. |
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!
|
|
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:[email protected]. 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 |
| I have purchased team memberships for others who have contributed to the site like this. I am saddened that I am not in a position to do so now. Your work is greatly appreciated and I hope that you continue to be a part of this site. |
"I bought you a Leatherman because after you fixed my four-wheel drive with your pocket knife I wanted to see what else you could do"
What is tinfoil today, is NEWS tomorrow.
Joined:
May 2004
Posts:
7893
EE: 100% (191)
AZ, USA
| Isn't it strange how a rifle will prefer some loads to others even though they use the exact same projectile? That's why I love reloading! |
"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
-Ben Franklin
-Ben Franklin
ARFcrastinator extraordinaire says, Howdy!
Joined:
Jan 2008
Posts:
3250
EE: 100% (26)
VA, USA
|
For newbies seeing this post, take note:
First, thanks for an amazing and time-consuming job of posting all the great info! I appreciate what you've done... In the 80's, I helped a guy zero some rifles he had. Two of his rifles were Colt H-BAR 20" rifles. He had about five different brands of ammo to test. Colt H-BAR #1 had a 1" group (on average) with Black Hills Ammo (don't remember what flavor, but it was reman.) This same gun had a 4" group (or worse, on average) with some Federal soft point (new ammo) Colt H-BAR #2 had a 5 1/2 " group (on average) with the same Black Hills Ammo used above (which was a big shock to me) And yet this same gun had a 3/4" group (on average) with the Federal soft point used above. And I shot 5 groups of 5 shots to come up with the averages...it wasn't just one or two groups. So ammo that shows up as "very accurate" with the original poster's ammo, may be accurate with your rifle, or may not be. Just something to consider before you buy 1,000 round case of "the most accurate" ammo. |
Impotentes Defendere Libertatem Non Possunt
“Those without power cannot protect freedom”
Visit: http://www.freedomforceinternational.org/
and watch: AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME
“Those without power cannot protect freedom”
Visit: http://www.freedomforceinternational.org/
and watch: AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME
Range Report - .223/5.56 Ammo Test (Pic HEAVY) (Page 1 of 3)
AR Sponsor