Requesting input on 5.56 practice ammo

[Robinson]

For handguns I pretty much have it down -- I select practice/training ammo that serves as a good analog to the ammo I carry.

But I'm a newbie when it comes to selecting 5.56 ammo for practice, especially since I haven't chosen any type of defensive ammo yet. What types of 5.56 ammo do you use, and do you select it based on how well it matches your defensive or duty ammo?

I see a lot of 55gr stuff, but I'm not sure if that is the best way to go. Maybe something in the 62-64gr range would be better for all around use? Or does bullet weight only matter for longer distance shooting? My shooting will be at 100 yards or less.

Thanks!

[Cdub_NW]

I practice with 55gr fmj only. Every school, class, course, etc that I have been to or hosted/taught I use 55gr FMJ. Unless you are practicing long distance precision or require frangible/softpoint for a specific range requirement to be met, stick with 55gr fmj as practice rounds. You will get all the function you need out to reasonable distances (500 yards and in) with ease. Just be sure to re-zero or know your zero shift when you switch to defense/precision/hunting loads on your setup.

[Magsz]

For handguns I pretty much have it down -- I select practice/training ammo that serves as a good analog to the ammo I carry.

But I'm a newbie when it comes to selecting 5.56 ammo for practice, especially since I haven't chosen any type of defensive ammo yet. What types of 5.56 ammo do you use, and do you select it based on how well it matches your defensive or duty ammo?

I see a lot of 55gr stuff, but I'm not sure if that is the best way to go. Maybe something in the 62-64gr range would be better for all around use? Or does bullet weight only matter for longer distance shooting? My shooting will be at 100 yards or less.

Thanks!

I buy whatever shit will probably go boom without going BOOM.

Depending on your chosen self defense or duty round, the point of impact will be close enough where it wont matter unless you're pushing past 200 yards.

My duty round is 55 grain Speer gold dot. Point of aim, point of impact is the same with 55/62 grain practice trash compared to the duty round. I'm sure I would see more of a difference in point of impact IF I was running magnification on the gun. With a 2 MOA dot, it simply doesn't matter.

Buy ammo, shoot...a lot.

[GJM]

PMC 55 grain .223 is my practice ammo of choice. Stoeger says the same.

[WobblyPossum]

I also think 55gr FMJ will be fine for practice. That’s primarily what I practice with as well outside of work. My issued duty/defensive ammunition is a 62gr soft point .223. That’s what my work rifle and my personal ones are zeroed with. The point of impact shift between that and whatever generic 55gr .223 or 5.56 I’m practicing with isn’t noticeable enough to affect anything within 100y. Buy whatever practice ammo you can get large amounts of for the least amount of money.

[Robinson]

I'm liking what I'm reading.

[GJM]

111156

[Suvorov]

I have found that the ballistic difference between good brass cased 55gr 556/223 ammo to be very close to the 64gr SPs I have for scenario X out to 300 yards. The difference in POI is well within my “wobble”. Thus I zero with the 64 grain good stuff and then shoot the 55gr fodder. Within 100 yards you will barely notice the difference unless you are bench shooting.

Honestly I have had good luck with everything from PMC to Fiochi to Eagle to Privi. Just find the best price for non sketchy brand ammo and go with it. Steel cased ammo I have found to be generally lower powered resulting in more noticeable shifts in POI as well as difficulty cycling the rifle.

[Stone]

Wolf gold, 223 has always gone bang for me and its warm at 3300fps. Weight is irrelavant when it come to 556 training unless its at longer distances like you said. Stay away from remanufactured ammo, most of it is dogshit...

[spence]

100 yards and in? I don’t see there being much difference. Beyond that, I’d raise questions. I don’t see a significant difference of zero with most any 55 gr. I know, it’s not a duty variety load, but my defensive load is PMC .223 55 gr SP, and it’s very similar to any ball load I’ve run. At 300 yards, the difference is, however, quite significant.

[Wake27]

Another vote for it not needing to be a big consideration. I usually get the cheapest brass cased 55gr .223 as true practice ammo, sometimes that’s AE or PMC, right now it’s Igman. I have some quality (MEN) 56gr 5.56 as the bulk defensive round. It’s not so expensive that I will feel terrible using it as basic practice ammo but since it’s slightly higher pressure, it’ll cycle the gun more reliably and reach out a little further than the .223. It also groups pretty consistently. I used this stuff in an LPVO class and was reliably hitting out to 450m. At about 550-600m, it was going subsonic and becoming unpredictable from what I remember (this was also out of a 12.5 FWIW).

For defensive use, I have a mix of 75gr Gold Dot and 77gr IMI OTM. Pre-Covid, I did have a stash of 75gr AE ball that had nearly identical POI as the GD out to at least 50, maybe even 100. It also grouped very well so I shot it at distance a few times, but it was kind of slow IIRC. That stuff has been hard to find since though.

[jeep45238]

Anything non-reman made in a Nato country, or any steel case, has been more than sufficient for me out to 500yds or so. Wolf has consistently been around 2moa ammo, and in a standard DI AR, the cost savings on ammo can pay for a new barrel easily (the jacket is typically copper mixed with zinc, which erodes barrels faster) and still be out ahead. Not so much for a boutique rifle or proprietary design that isn't supported with off-the shelf parts.

My current cans are filled with Wolf, IMI, Winchester, and whatever else I was able to get on sale for a good price/per round, after shipping/taxes are involved.

If it doesn't run on steel, it doesn't deserve brass :-P

[ST911]

I see a lot of 55gr stuff, but I'm not sure if that is the best way to go. Maybe something in the 62-64gr range would be better for all around use? Or does bullet weight only matter for longer distance shooting? My shooting will be at 100 yards or less.

Point of reference from some LPVO shooting today. At 100yds, all training (FMJ, lead free, frang) ammo stayed on an 8x11 sheet of paper at 100 yards against the duty load zero. Some stayed inside the black of a B8 bull. Farther out it mattered more, but if you're not going beyond ~200-300 depending it doesn't matter for most purposes.

[TGS]

Rifle is zeroed for 62gr 223. Going to 75 gr 223 seems to still be good enough for getting hits out to 300 on a steel torso plate. Haven't compared with 55gr just because I have so much 62gr and 75gr built up.

Unless you're going for precision shooting, I agree with everyone else.

[GyroF-16]

For defensive use, I have a mix of 75gr Gold Dot and 77gr IMI OTM. Pre-Covid, I did have a stash of 75gr AE ball that had nearly identical POI as the GD out to at least 50, maybe even 100. It also grouped very well so I shot it at distance a few times, but it was kind of slow IIRC. That stuff has been hard to find since though.

*** Thread Drift ***

May I ask what drives your selection of 75 and 77 gr for defensive use?
I’ve always thought of the longer, heavier projectiles as optimum for longer-range precision, and lighter 55/62/64 gr SPs for closer (i.e most defensive) work.
What am I missing?
And is this with the 12.5” barrel you mentioned?

[Wake27]

*** Thread Drift ***

May I ask what drives your selection of 75 and 77 gr for defensive use?
I’ve always thought of the longer, heavier projectiles as optimum for longer-range precision, and lighter 55/62/64 gr SPs for closer (i.e most defensive) work.
What am I missing?
And is this with the 12.5” barrel you mentioned?

I settled on this stuff a while ago, so things may have changed and/or my memory may be off. I also don't obsess over ammo, I picked these as rifle rounds and 124gr +P GD as the pistol round and after deciding there, I have nearly zero desire to try something else out. Just like with the caliber wars, I don't subscribe to a magic one bullet solution and expect that any round fired at a human will be best served with several follow ups which is part of why I like 9 and 5.56 vs .45 and .308.

All that said, my recollection is that the heavier rounds perform fairly consistently out of shorter barrels. They may be slower than some of their lighter counter parts but the 75gr GD was specifically designed around SBRs I think, and 262 is just an easy gold standard that has performed well across a ton of real world testing. I have 10.3 all the way up to 14.5 pinned and hopefully will get an 18 sooner rather than later and these just felt like easy button options that will perform pretty well across a wide range of situations.

[Robert Mitchum]

Hornady Training Full Metal Jacket 223 Remington Ammo 50 Round Box - Brass Casing

Just picked up 2,500 rounds

$23.49 Box: 50


Caliber: 223 Remington

Grain Weight: 55gr

Bullet Type: FMJ

Case: Brass

[jeep45238]

For what it's worth, I was sending approx 2 MOA groups off a sling at 400y over the past couple days with basic Winchester 55 grain.

We all want laser beam ammo, but frequently we aren't in environments that support the laser beam. As long as the ammo isn't the limiting factor in our shooting, then I don't see an issue with using pretty much anything that rolls my way.

[BobM]

Hornady Training Full Metal Jacket 223 Remington Ammo 50 Round Box - Brass Casing

Just picked up 2,500 rounds

$23.49 Box: 50


Caliber: 223 Remington

Grain Weight: 55gr

Bullet Type: FMJ

Case: Brass

I bought a lot of that at my department when it was steel cased, it worked well and was surprisingly accurate.

[Molon]

I bought a lot of that at my department when it was steel cased, it worked well and was surprisingly accurate.
That's because the Hornady 55 grain FMJ projectile is the most consistently accurate/precise domestically manufactured bullet in that category. It's also available as a reloading component.



Hornady 55 Grain FMJ Training


https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/28568/hornady_55_fmj_training_box_01-1985433.jpg


This load is topped with Hornady's 55 grain FMJ-BT bullet; the same bullet that is available as a reloading component. This ammunition is loaded in steel cases. When chronographed from the 20" Colt Barrel, this ammunition had a muzzle velocity of 3008 FPS with a standard deviation of 24 FPS.


A 10-shot group fired from my Lothar Walther barreled AR-15 at a distance of 100 yards had an extreme spread of 1.25".


https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/28568/hornady_55_grain_FMJ_training_10_shot_gr-1985434.jpg




....

[1911Nut]

PMC 55 grain .223 is my practice ammo of choice. Stoeger says the same.

I've had excellent results with this ammo for practice and training courses. Good stuff.

[Molon]

PMC 55 grain .223 is my practice ammo of choice. Stoeger says the same.

The PMC Bronze 55 grain FMJ load produces acceptable accuracy for a load in this category, but velocity often runs ~ 200 FPS slower than a true mil-spec M193 load.



PMC Bronze 55 Grain FMJ


I evaluated the accuracy (technically, the precision) of the PMC Bronze 55 grain FMJ ammunition using my 20” stainless-steel Lothar-Walther barreled AR-15. This barrel has a 223 Wylde chamber with a 1:8” twist.

Three 10-shot groups fired in a row from my bench-rest set-up at a distance of 100 yards had the following extreme spreads:

2.22”
1.82”
2.15”

for a 10-shot average extreme spread of 2.06”. The 30-shot composite group had a mean radius of 0.72”.

The smallest 10-shot group . . .



https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/28568/pmc_bronze_55_fmj_10_shot_group__02-1599971.jpg



….

[GJM]

I zeroed a 11.5 BCM upper at 50 yards this afternoon, using an Acro and 3x Eotech magnifier, with a HUXWRX 7.62 Ti flow suppressor. Then I shot three shots suppressed and three shots without the suppressor.

Suppressed

128537


Unsuppressed, the group moved slightly higher and left

128538