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Posted: 12/7/2005 12:00:43 AM EDT
| Hey i have a few questions, but before i ask away, i have read the ammo tacks and the ammo oracle thing...Maybe im just a retard and dont get it.... Im curious about how you know what grain to get. While talking to the local gun shop guy, he said all he shoots is 55gr. When i was reading some of the post about home defense ammo, i saw a lot of people using 75gr. What is the difference in noobie terms between the different grains. I was looking at getting some of the Hornady TAP PD and saw it with 55, 60 and 75. What is best for a 1:9 and 1:7 twist and why? Also for someone that is just getting into their first AR what are some common ammo that is used for plinking and targeting.....Thank you so much for any help! |
Wow bunch of questiosn in there.
Depends on what I'm going to do. 55gr is the most plentiful and the cheapest; it's great for plinking or close range (under 100y) practice & training. Heavier match bullets (68gr, 69gr, 75gr etc) turn out to be very good for devensive use, and are excellent at longer range (up to 500yards) target shooting. If you want to go hunting then you're most likely going to be looking at a soft point in the 60gr range (say 60gr-64gr); if your varmint hunting then you want to look at the lightweight hi-speed rounds (like the 45-50gr loads).
Grains is basically the weight of the bullets. Generally the higher the weight, the lower the MV and the longer the bullet will be (note there are exceptions to this).
First off if you're going to buy TAP only buy the 75, the other TAP loads (55 & 60gr polymere tipped) were varmint bullets and don't have the penetration required for a defensive load. 1:7 will shoot 75gr just fine and is a great choice for that twist. However, 75gr only works in some (about half) of the 1:9 twist rifles. If it works in yours then you're good to go. If it doesn't then skip the lighter TAP loads and buy up some 68gr Heavy Match from Black Hills or 69gr Sierra Match Kings (SMK) from Black Hills or Federal.
Most anything 55gr. Mil-surplus has dried up (South African M1A3 used to be great ammo for plinking), and domestic M193 (Winchest Q3131 & Federal XM193) are tough to find. Other 55gr plinking options include PMC and Federal's "American Eagle" 55gr. For plinking of close range blasting Wolf's not too bad (just dirty). Though some people really don't like the stuff and it causes issues in some rifles. |
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+1 to everything Forest said and +1,000 for doing it politely and with style. At the top of the forum is a sticky that will take you to the Ammo Oracle. Go read it top to bottom, it is worth the time and effort. For 99% of what shhooting I do, any surplus or current production 55 grain FMJ round (Federal XM193, Q3131, etc.) is just dandy, with Federal XM193 being my favorite. There are some great sites out there for getting ammo in bulk: www.ammoman.com www.midwayusa.com www.cabelas.com And many, many more!!! Btw, welcome to ARFCOM; now, go shoot your rifle! |
| Hoorah to the above. For a noobie just getting into AR's I recommend going to Walmart and buying some of the Winchester 40 round value packs in 55 gr. FMJ. They cost about $7.73. I believe them to be a good starter round and you don't have to dump a lot of money into rounds right away (especially after spending the dough on your AR). Don't confuse them with the 40 round packs of varmint rounds that are 45 gr. It seems that many people on this site confuse the two. If they don't have them keep trying back. I know alot of us buy them out when they are in stock. |
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Thank you Forest for being cool about answering those questions...To the other guy, i did read the ammo-oracle but beeing so new to this alot of that stuff was just overwhelming. Sometimes there is so much info. its hard to process. I've heard of people saying to shoot crappy ammo to break in your rifle, but no body that said what they recommend, and same for plinking and targets. The think i dont understand about PD loads is, if your ever in a situation were you need to shoot, you have an F'n AR15 with probably more than 1 30 rd mag. No unless there is a whole army, do you think it really matter what kinda of ammo you use? If you unload a 30 rd mag on someone it aint gonna be pretty no matter what ammo your using. Edit for <cringe> clip |
if you're ever in a situation on AR15.com and you write "clip" twice in the same post, it ain't gonna be pretty either. AR15's accept magazines. delete clip from your vocabulary unless you are a writer on some cop show like CSI: Miami. ar-jedi |
it's cool. get yourself a case of Federal XM193 (not XM193PD) or a case of Winchester Q3131 or Q3131A. these are 55gr pretty-much-military-M193-equivalents. both are high quality for SHTF or plinking, and if your rifle doesn't operate perfectly with these types then there is a problem with your rifle. these cartridges are equally happy in prehistoric 1/12 twist, or current 1/9 and 1/7 twist barrels. don't bother with XM855 (SS109 62gr w/penetrator core) right now. the good stuff, 68/69/75/77gr OTM/GM/SMK etc is generally used for a) serious social purposes in SPR-type AR's or b) match target shooting in precision rifles with expensive optics. these are costly rounds to play around with while learning about your rifle. hence, my advice is to run 500-1000 rounds of XM193 or Q3131/A through your rig before spending ANY money on match quality stuff. XM193 and Q3131/A will be plenty accurate for what you are doing initially, and if the world ends it's not a bad zombie stopper as well. ar-jedi |
While shot placement is more critical, yes I think it does matter. You may only get enought time to fire 1 round - it had better be a round that maximizes what the round is capable of if you want to stop the threat as quick as possible. |
+1 You are fooling yourself if you think you will be able to fire away on a bad guy with as many rouds as you would like to to get the job done. Most self defense shootings are 5 rounds or less. I mean would you feel better armed with a 100 round drum mag of .22 rim fire? You could always just fire an extra 30 or 40 rounds into the bad guy right? 
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Ya your right.....I guess i never thought about that......I guess i really should order that M203, thanks for the advice. hahaha j.k but you are right |
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