I just got my first AR.  Now I need to get some ammo.  I am looking at Federal American Eagle 55GN FMJBT.  I can pick up 500 rounds for $90.  From reading around this seems to be about the best budget ammo there is.  Clean and pretty accurate.  I figured that this would be a good way to break in the barrel plus get some brass, since I will be reloading.

What do you guys think???

I think you should read the Ammo Faq posted at the top of the Ammunition forum and search for Troy's post on why [b]NOT[/b] to reload Federal brass.

Mike

Added: here I found it for ya: [url]http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=16&t=72967&w=searchPop[/url]

Thanks a lot Wilson.  I just read the post.  American Eagle is definitely out of the questions.

You know of any ammo that is good to reload??

We use nothin but Remington once-fired from here:[url]http://www.blue-star-inc.com/rbrass.htm[/url] and since most of our plinkin ammo is Q3131A from [url]wwww.ammoman.com[/url] we don't bother to save it.

Mike

The winny brass (Q3131 or Q3131A) is good to reload, but you'll have to get ya a swagger device to remove the mi-spec primers and then drill the primer holes out for civi application, believe Remington makes a low-end brand name which would probably work for what ya want. Just not a priority w/ us as our reloading is done for our CR 6724s and long range AR applications.

You might want to check on some Remington .223 cases. I have had great luck loading them.  
You could also pick up some Ultramax ammo in
55GR. FMJ. It is loaded with once fired LC brass and is available in  55GR SP and hollowpoints,or Nosler Ballistic tips.
This brass reloads well, and has the primer crimps already removed.

KyARGuy