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Posted: 8/28/2011 4:57:20 PM EDT
| What makes the difference. Just ordered some WPA 62gr. 223 and it's considered plinking. Pls. explain differences. THX. |
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Reliability. Bullet quality and construction. Reliability.
Think of using cheap ammo for SD like shopping for the cheapest brain surgeon. Do you really want to take the chance? Having a feed problem punching holes in overly aggressive paper targets is one thing. Having one when a gang of Hoodies is busting down your front door is another. |
| To expound upon bullet construction, you should look for the heaviest quality hollow point your rifle will stabilize. This is just my opinion. Others may have other advice. If you have a 1/7 twist barrel, look at Mk262, which is a 77 grain OTM round. You can get it at ammunitiontogo.com. Also look at Speer Gold Dot or MK 318, which are both good at barrier penetration, if that would be an issue for you. Both of those would be OK in a 1/9 twist barrel. Hornady TAP is also good. |
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Quoted:
Reliability. Bullet quality and construction. Reliability. Think of using cheap ammo for SD like shopping for the cheapest brain surgeon. Do you really want to take the chance? Having a feed problem punching holes in overly aggressive paper targets is one thing. Having one when a gang of Hoodies is busting down your front door is another. This man knows of what he speaks. |
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There are several different types of ammo for the 223 rifle
Plinking- usually FMJ often but not always steel case. I would include cheap hollow points here as well but I consider them varmit/plinking ammo. NO quality control Mil spec ammo- the green tip mil surplus always FMJ. brass case. Designed to penetrate, thats about it, but they are great for that. SD- round like hornady TAP offer better bullet constrution than the mil surplus stuff, designed to fragment very quicklydepending on design. Often have special coatings in the brass to prevent stuck cases, and are heavily QCed. These are designed not to over penetrate but destroy as much tissue as possible. Hunting (medium game)- there are many rounds for the 223 I think are only good for deer. My thought is 68-72 grain expanding bullets are not the best choicefor SD as the expansion is slower than true SD rounds like TAP. Hunting rounds are designed to expand slowly and penetrate deeply or sometimes to go through game. Match -rounds like mk 262 are match rounds designed for paper punching. Granted mk262 is 77 grains and used by the .mil whenever they can get thier hands on it. It is not a self defense round it is a match round. These are designed to give repeatable accuracy. All of these rounds will kill they are bullets they just behave differenty once in the target. Some are a better choice than others. |
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As previously mentioned, there are the obvious differences such as HP v. FMJ, etc.
Now, for the not-so-obvious differences. Quality (not plinking) ammo is very precise from one round to the next. In other words, much more variability is removed between rounds. Bullets, which can differ in weight up to a tenth of a grain, are individually weighed and sorted into lots. Powder measurements are more consistent. Primer seating depths are more consistent. All of this improves accuracy. All of this takes more time, which is why you pay the extra money. If you have the tools, take some plinking ammo and some SD ammo to the workshop. Weigh the cartridges on a precision scale and note the variability in weights. Use a micrometer to measure overall lengths and primer seating depths and note the variability. Look at the differences in group size. There will be greater variability (and less QC) on the plinkng ammo. |
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