GeeDeeTee215
11-30-2014, 03:14 PM
I recently acquired a new BCM 16" mid-length (with H Buffer) and an Aimpoint PRO. The plan is to make this my new "go to" rifle for personal defense. I want to stick to 5.56mm pressure ammo for this weapon since that is what it was built to use, as well as to take advantage of the other benefits having a faster round provides. I'm not a patrol officer and my main concern is selecting ammunition that will perform well through typical household barriers, such as interior doors, wall board, appliances, etc. I also want a load that closely mirrors the trajectory of the common M193 or M855 ammo from 0 out to about 300 yards so that I can get in some good training with a less expensive type of ammunition, as well as to have an ammo reserve that shoots to near the same POI. Whatever "go to" load I choose will likely be kept around in only limited quantities at any given time due to cost. Therefore it would be nice to have a secondary round with similar ballistics so that re-zeroing isn't necessary should I "run dry" and need to grab a magazine of training ammo in an emergency. And by similar ballistics, I mean being able to set up an 8 inch plate at 300 yards, and using my zero for the go to load be able to put practice rounds somewhere inside that 8" circle most of the time when aiming dead center. For my purposes, that more than suffices, especially considering the majority of my focus will be inside 100 yards. I would also prefer rounds that have crimped and sealed primers, as well as bullets that have a cannelure and are crimped at the case mouth to prevent bullet setback. If they also use sealant in the case mouth, then outstanding. Low flash powder would also be desirable, though not absolutely necessary. I want the best performing and most reliable ammunition I can get. But I certainly wouldn't mind a good value as well, all things being equal.
Now, with those requirements being set, here are the loads I have tentatively selected as finalists, with some comments about each:
Federal XM556FBIT3 62 gr TBBC - This is without a doubt my overwhelming favorite. It seems to meet ALL of my criteria. It is crimped and sealed at both ends. It expands extremely well in the 0.46" range. It produces a really nice max temporary cavity of about 4.5". It handles all types of intermediate barriers well. And it should prove a close ballistic match to M855 for training purposes. However, it is all but impossible to find. That little factoid kind of eliminates it from contention even though it is my overall favorite.
Black Hills 50 gr TSX - This looks like another excellent performer. Penetration through all mediums seems ideal. You get good robust expansion in bare gel of about 0.47". And the temporary cavity appears to be quite large, in the 5" range. It seems to offer pretty decent accuracy. The bullet profile looks it will feed reliably. The only downside I can see is cost ($1.50 per round). It is expensive! But it is pretty readily available. And it may not be as good a ballistic match to M193 as other choices, though I can't say that for sure. But based on raw performance, I really like this round.
Hornady TAP 55 gr GMX Barrier #81255 - This is another interesting choice. It looks like a good ballistic match to M193. It expands really well in bare gel (0.50" if Hornady's numbers can be trusted) and it penetrates all types of intermediate barriers quite well. It offers a pretty decent temporary cavity in the 4" range, though this appears to be smaller than most of the other choices. But with 21" of penetration in bare gel, this one might just penetrate a little too much to be an ideal choice. That said, it is readily available and at $0.84 per round, is also one of the most inexpensive among the list of options. Even though it isn't my favorite overall performer, it still makes the list because it does have some qualities I like.
Winchester RA556B 64 gr Bonded JSP - This one seems to be ranked right up there with the TBBC load by DocGKR in terms of performance. As a performer against barriers, it certainly does the job well. It also expands about as well as the TBBC load. And I'm pretty sure it is also well sealed and crimped. But there are a number of things about this specific load that I'm not crazy about. For one, the bullets in this load are the most blunt I've ever seen in a .223/5.56 load. That is a lot of exposed lead up front there. This load looks more akin to something I'd chamber in my Marlin 30-30 than a semi-auto loading rifle! And the aerodynamics of this bullet have to be about on par with a flying brick. Will this stuff reliably feed in an AR? Will it be accurate? Likewise, this load also produces the least impressive temporary cavity of any load on this list, coming in below 4" in diameter. For a round that costs about $1.59 per pop, I'd like to see a bit better terminal performance in unobstructed shots than this load appears to offer. I'm just not as impressed with the Winchester version of the FBI round as I am the Federal TBBC version. And it probably isn't quite as good in terms of a trajectory match to M855 as the 62 grain loads, though it should be quite close. This round is a contender for sure, but I'll admit I am not overly crazy about it for the reasons outlined above.
Hornady TAP 62 gr JSP Barrier #8125N - As with pretty much any list of candidates, there always appears to be an oddball that finds itself in the mix. The 62 gr TAP Barrier would be that oddball that has caught my eye. It is also readily available and coming in at around $0.89 per round, is also one of the more inexpensive choices. It should mate up nicely with the M855 as a companion training load in terms of trajectory. And again, if Hornady's numbers are backed up by independent testing, it appears to provide the most impressive expansion and temporary cavity of all loads on this list. They show expansion of 0.55" in their testing with a max temporary cavity of an impressive 5.5" in bare gel! It also appears to have staked/sealed primers, though I am not sure about sealant on the case neck. I also like the bullet profile better than some of the choices. That said, the round also has some negatives. For one, it doesn't appear to make DocGKR's list of approved rounds. I would assume that is largely because it does so poorly through auto glass, only achieving about 6.5" of penetration after passing through glass. It also appears to have what I would consider marginal penetration in bare gel, coming in at 11.75". That said, I'm not going to eliminate this load from consideration because it comes up a quarter inch short in penetration. And even the poor performance through auto glass isn't a complete show stopper for me, as I'm more concerned about things such as wallboard, plywood and things typically encountered inside homes, which the Hornady load seems to deal with pretty well despite the fact it isn't a true bonded bullet. OTOH, maybe having a round that does well with glass is a capability worth having even if I think it may be a lesser concern?
Based on my situation and criteria, which of the above loads do you think best fits my needs? I realize that when all is said and done, any of the loads will probably do the job if I do mine. And many of the performance differences really aren't all that significant. But I'm looking to check as many of those boxes as I can while also getting the most bang for my buck. I am leaning toward the BH 50 gr TSX as best overall choice provided it is a decent match to the M193's trajectory, otherwise the Hornady 55 gr GMX is probably #2 on my list as of now. However, I am open to differing opinions or even different loads should I have overlooked other good NATO pressure options.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions. And sorry for the rather lengthy post. I couldn't really say all I wanted to say without getting a bit detailed.
Now, with those requirements being set, here are the loads I have tentatively selected as finalists, with some comments about each:
Federal XM556FBIT3 62 gr TBBC - This is without a doubt my overwhelming favorite. It seems to meet ALL of my criteria. It is crimped and sealed at both ends. It expands extremely well in the 0.46" range. It produces a really nice max temporary cavity of about 4.5". It handles all types of intermediate barriers well. And it should prove a close ballistic match to M855 for training purposes. However, it is all but impossible to find. That little factoid kind of eliminates it from contention even though it is my overall favorite.
Black Hills 50 gr TSX - This looks like another excellent performer. Penetration through all mediums seems ideal. You get good robust expansion in bare gel of about 0.47". And the temporary cavity appears to be quite large, in the 5" range. It seems to offer pretty decent accuracy. The bullet profile looks it will feed reliably. The only downside I can see is cost ($1.50 per round). It is expensive! But it is pretty readily available. And it may not be as good a ballistic match to M193 as other choices, though I can't say that for sure. But based on raw performance, I really like this round.
Hornady TAP 55 gr GMX Barrier #81255 - This is another interesting choice. It looks like a good ballistic match to M193. It expands really well in bare gel (0.50" if Hornady's numbers can be trusted) and it penetrates all types of intermediate barriers quite well. It offers a pretty decent temporary cavity in the 4" range, though this appears to be smaller than most of the other choices. But with 21" of penetration in bare gel, this one might just penetrate a little too much to be an ideal choice. That said, it is readily available and at $0.84 per round, is also one of the most inexpensive among the list of options. Even though it isn't my favorite overall performer, it still makes the list because it does have some qualities I like.
Winchester RA556B 64 gr Bonded JSP - This one seems to be ranked right up there with the TBBC load by DocGKR in terms of performance. As a performer against barriers, it certainly does the job well. It also expands about as well as the TBBC load. And I'm pretty sure it is also well sealed and crimped. But there are a number of things about this specific load that I'm not crazy about. For one, the bullets in this load are the most blunt I've ever seen in a .223/5.56 load. That is a lot of exposed lead up front there. This load looks more akin to something I'd chamber in my Marlin 30-30 than a semi-auto loading rifle! And the aerodynamics of this bullet have to be about on par with a flying brick. Will this stuff reliably feed in an AR? Will it be accurate? Likewise, this load also produces the least impressive temporary cavity of any load on this list, coming in below 4" in diameter. For a round that costs about $1.59 per pop, I'd like to see a bit better terminal performance in unobstructed shots than this load appears to offer. I'm just not as impressed with the Winchester version of the FBI round as I am the Federal TBBC version. And it probably isn't quite as good in terms of a trajectory match to M855 as the 62 grain loads, though it should be quite close. This round is a contender for sure, but I'll admit I am not overly crazy about it for the reasons outlined above.
Hornady TAP 62 gr JSP Barrier #8125N - As with pretty much any list of candidates, there always appears to be an oddball that finds itself in the mix. The 62 gr TAP Barrier would be that oddball that has caught my eye. It is also readily available and coming in at around $0.89 per round, is also one of the more inexpensive choices. It should mate up nicely with the M855 as a companion training load in terms of trajectory. And again, if Hornady's numbers are backed up by independent testing, it appears to provide the most impressive expansion and temporary cavity of all loads on this list. They show expansion of 0.55" in their testing with a max temporary cavity of an impressive 5.5" in bare gel! It also appears to have staked/sealed primers, though I am not sure about sealant on the case neck. I also like the bullet profile better than some of the choices. That said, the round also has some negatives. For one, it doesn't appear to make DocGKR's list of approved rounds. I would assume that is largely because it does so poorly through auto glass, only achieving about 6.5" of penetration after passing through glass. It also appears to have what I would consider marginal penetration in bare gel, coming in at 11.75". That said, I'm not going to eliminate this load from consideration because it comes up a quarter inch short in penetration. And even the poor performance through auto glass isn't a complete show stopper for me, as I'm more concerned about things such as wallboard, plywood and things typically encountered inside homes, which the Hornady load seems to deal with pretty well despite the fact it isn't a true bonded bullet. OTOH, maybe having a round that does well with glass is a capability worth having even if I think it may be a lesser concern?
Based on my situation and criteria, which of the above loads do you think best fits my needs? I realize that when all is said and done, any of the loads will probably do the job if I do mine. And many of the performance differences really aren't all that significant. But I'm looking to check as many of those boxes as I can while also getting the most bang for my buck. I am leaning toward the BH 50 gr TSX as best overall choice provided it is a decent match to the M193's trajectory, otherwise the Hornady 55 gr GMX is probably #2 on my list as of now. However, I am open to differing opinions or even different loads should I have overlooked other good NATO pressure options.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions. And sorry for the rather lengthy post. I couldn't really say all I wanted to say without getting a bit detailed.