I just picked up a few boxes of what I thought was going to be the factory loaded 155 AMAX TAP for Personal Defense (black box) available to civilians.  What I got instead was red box LE 155 AMAX.  No big deal just a question for those in the know.

I noticed that the red box (LE) was listed at 2815fps and the black box (FPD) is listed at 2785fps...is there something magic about that additional 30 fps?  Why would the LE be loaded differently than the civilian version?  I know I won't see that kind of speed out of my 20" AR10 but should I have any concerns about higher pressures with the LE?

Any other thoughts on the differences would be appreciated.

Quoted: 30 fps isn't significant; most likely it was just that batch that happened to run a little faster. There IS a difference between Hornady's 5.56 and .223 loads using the same bullet, but that's another issue. -Troy

Any thoughts on why the red box ammo uses brass casings instead of the "black" coated brass?  Also makes me wonder about the "low-flash" powder used on the new black box ammo versus the red box...

Call Hornady and ask them. They will tell you what kind of powders are used in any of their loads.






If you do please post  what you find out!

Quoted: Call Hornady and ask them. They will tell you what kind of powders are used in any of their loads. If you do please post  what you find out!

I'll give them a try tomorrow.  In my past experience with them, they tend to be a little vague and dance around the question rather than give a straight simple answer.  

The gentleman I spoke with said that the red box and black box are the exact same load including the low flash powder.  He said they use brass casings on the LE red box so they can tell the tax exempt LE stuff from the commercially availble black box.

Sounds good to me.