Which Hornady TAP round provides the highest velocity, Maximum fragmentation and accuracy at short to medium ranges fired from a 1/9 twist 14.5 inch bbl?

Oh, No doubt.
I used to have a quite a few boxes of BH(Remanufactured)68 gr. Sierra Match King and 69gr. heavy match,and I'll have to say
It's the most accurate ammo I've ever shot out of my M4 at 100 yds.

The reason i ask is I was at the funshow today and I traded some items for 4 "sampler" boxes of TAP, 1 box of 40 gr. 1 box of 55 gr and 2 boxes of 60 gr. Can't go to the range till next week and wanted some feedback on what I should expect.

Hey thanks alot Troy![beer]

Buy a box of the 75gr Black Hills and try it out.  They have better performance than the 68gr loads and may work in your rifle (they do in my 14.5" M4 barrel).

I have been using Hornady's 60G TAP
its not that hot of a round compared to M193
but it tore the hell out of a few skunked beercans and a few 2-3 gallon water jugs
DAMAGE!!!
thats in my 16" Carbine 1:9 twist

They certainly fragment well, but the problem is they fragment too well.....and too fast. These bullets are varmint bullets by design. This means they were produced to be very accurate. Their designs also promote rapid fragmentation (basically on contact). The M193 bullets, as well as the 68 and 75 gr OTM bullets are more suitable to defensive use against people because they don't fragment on contact. Rather, they usually penetrate a few inches before coming apart. This gives them the necessary penetration to reach the vitals and create an effective wound regardless of the angle of the shot. While the 55 and 60 gr TAP would likely work well in direct on frontal shots, it may not work so well if you have to fire at a target from the side or if the bullet must pass through an arm before reaching the torso. While these bullets are hell on varmints and milkjugs, you are better off using a more capable bullet for self defense use.

Without making a CNS hit, the next best means of stopping an attacker is causing massive and rapid blood loss. Going back to what was said previously, the 75 gr OTM bullet will guarantee you the needed penetration along with dramatic fragmentation to achieve this goal. Many blood rich organs and vessels lie deep within the body and this sometimes requires a decent amount of penenetration to reach them. This is why the FBI adopted the minimum 12" penetration requirement for their duty ammo. Expansion or fragmentation is a good quality, but it's always secondary to penetration as it has to get to where it's needed before it can be effective. A shallow wound may be a nasty wound, but it doesn't guarantee a fast stop. This is exactly the reason why people who keep shotguns for home defense should use #1 or larger buckshot. Many people use lightweight birdshot for this role. But many don't realize that some of these birdshot loads only penetrate 4-5". Again, this is far from ideal.

-Charging Handle

OK Troy on your recommendation I ordered a box of Black Hills 68 gr. from Georgia Precision to try out in my Bushy 20" Hbar. Just got in on the last day of the special. 10 percent of to AR15 members and free shipping. Can't wait to try it out.

I"ll test a few TAP rounds at the range and save the rest for some future prairie dog huntin'. As for defense loads, I'm sticking to BH 69 gr. SMK and M193 for defensive loads. I understand Hornady specifically loaded up V-Max bullets for it's frangiblity in urban enviroments and not as much for it's penetration/frag aspects.

good point well taken charging handle
I use those TAP round pretty much for range use and blowing up attacking beer cans and watermelons.
Aside from that My question is wouldnt the 75g bullet be a little heavy for a 16" 1:9 twist? and something like a 68-69 grain be max for that load.
I have yet to try a bullet at those weights but what I had read is that its a bit heavy and may keyhole at long distances?
correct me if Im wrong

70 grains and over are best suited for faster twist rates i.e. 1 in 7 twist. A couple members here have had luck firing 70 gr+ out of a 1/9.