Looks like Wolf is going to suit me for fun stuff. How about if things ever get serious?

I'm figuring four factors to consider:
1. accuracy
2. terminal ballistics
3. reliability
4. long-term storage

For consideration of factor (1), this will be for a 16-in barrelled, mid-length gas-system Armalite.

For factor (2), I'm thinking general mob-control applications.

I realize factor (3) is likely to be specific to the individual firearm.

As far as factor (4), this ammo would be analogous to the HydraShok I carry daily in my Glock 26. I buy it, I keep it, and I pray eternally to never have to use it.

Hopefully most of this ammo will still be sitting around unopened someday in the distant future, after I have peacefully passed away overnight in my sleep.

Then there's the obvious follow-up question: How much?

Thanks for any recommendations.

This has been asked and answered numerous times. Search the site and you'll find plenty.

Also, go confer with the ammo oracle:

Linky

I reccomend dumping the Hydrashock as it fails to penetrate after passing through clothing.  Look at the Speer Gold Dot and Winchester Ranger T lines.

Look at 75 and 77 grain loadings for your AR.  5.56 pressure if you can find them like the Black Hills MK262 and Hornady TAP 5.56 loads.

Quoted: I reccomend dumping the Hydrashock as it fails to penetrate after passing through clothing.  Look at the Speer Gold Dot and Winchester Ranger T lines. Look at 75 and 77 grain loadings for your AR.  5.56 pressure if you can find them like the Black Hills MK262 and Hornady TAP 5.56 loads.

Remington Gold Sabers are good, too.

I asked this question a while back, myself, and it was recommended that M193 55-grain should be used, which I have no problem with, but I also keep a mag full of Hornadys too.

You need 5.56, not .223 for SHTF
X/M193, X/M855, BH 75 gr OTM is all good stuff for when the stuff is flying.

Quoted: You need 5.56, not .223 for SHTF.

It depends on what specific chamber your rifle has.  Shooting .223 in a 5.56 chamber is okay.  Shooting 5.56 out of a .223 chamber is not okay.

From the Ammo Oracle:

"In the 1950's, the US military adopted the metric system of measurement and uses metric measurements to describe ammo.  However, the US commercial ammo market typically used the English "caliber" measurements when describing ammo.  "Caliber" is a shorthand way of saying "hundredths (or thousandths) of an inch."  For example, a fifty caliber projectile is approximately fifty one-hundredths (.50) of an inch and a 357 caliber projectile is approximately three-hundred and fifty-seven thousandths (.357) of an inch.  Dimensionally, 5.56 and .223 ammo are identical, though military 5.56 ammo is typically loaded to higher pressures and velocities than commercial ammo and may, in guns with extremely tight "match" .223 chambers, be unsafe to fire.

The chambers for .223 and 5.56 weapons are not the same either.  Though the AR15 design provides an extremely strong action, high pressure signs on the brass and primers, extraction failures and cycling problems may be seen when firing hot 5.56 ammo in .223-chambered rifles.  Military M16s and AR15s from Colt, Bushmaster, FN, DPMS, and some others, have the M16-spec chamber and should have no trouble firing hot 5.56 ammunition.

Military M16s have slightly more headspace and have a longer throat area, compared to the SAAMI .223 chamber spec, which was originally designed for bolt-action rifles.  Commercial SAAMI-specification .223 chambers have a much shorter throat or leade and less freebore than the military chamber.  Shooting 5.56 Mil-Spec ammo in a SAAMI-specification chamber can increase pressure dramatically, up to an additional 15,000 psi or more.

The military chamber is often referred to as a "5.56 NATO" chamber, as that is what is usually stamped on military barrels.  Some commercial AR manufacturers use the tighter ".223" (i.e., SAAMI-spec and often labeled ".223" or ".223 Remington") chamber, which provides for increased accuracy but, in self-loading rifles, less cycling reliability, especially with hot-loaded military ammo.  A few AR manufacturers use an in-between chamber spec, such as the Wylde chamber.  Many mis-mark their barrels too, which further complicates things.  You can generally tell what sort of chamber you are dealing with by the markings, if any, on the barrel, but always check with the manufacturer to be sure."

Thanks for the replies and especially for the steer to the oracle, from which I consider my questions fully addressed (although still feel free to chime in if so inclined).