What type of 5.56mm ammo do you have on hand?

[SigSauerP226]

Interesting read, but you gotta read the whole article. All of his experience is with NATO (FMJ) rounds. Last paragraph he mentions Chris Kyle turned him onto some soft point 5.56 and it performed much better than the NATO stuff. He shot some deer with it and really liked how it performed. I remember reading another article about the Mk 262 ammo and how it's not a typical hollow point that mushrooms, but the open tip breaks off on impact and sends the bullet tumbling. The guy in that article said he and others shooting BGs with those were way more impressed with it than the NATO stuff, as well. Get you some good ammo, not FMJ, if you're shooting something other than paper and steel.

[Barang]

Yeah. Reading that has me wondering about the true effectiveness of the Mk 262 ammo.

OTOH, a friend of mine has said for years that he used to hunt deer (whitetail I imagine) with his AR-15 and would drop them where they stood with a well placed shot---through the spine near the neck or shoulder---using 55gr handloads. But of course those were soft-point bullets.

shot placement is always the best in bringing down a target. but in combat, targets are moving and shooting at you. i'd take heed of what the author said, bring the heavy/heaviest sp/hp rounds. he has the logs to prove it.

[joe_gman]

I keep a lot of 55gr. .223 for plinking and range use. Have a few boxes of 64gr. ranger soft points if needed.

[Rogerbutthead]

The combat medic who wrote that article talked about shooting people in the chest and watching them still in the fight - so the idea I had that his logs were supplying information that was being studied incorrectly - seems to be wrong.

I was thinking of those aircraft that came back from missions in WW2 with lots of damage to certain parts - leading people to believe those parts of the plane needed to be reinforced - instead of realizing that aircraft hit in other parts weren't coming back - so they were considering reinforcing the wrong parts of the planes. https://www.trevorbragdon.com/blog/w...wrong-solution

Taking a 223 square in the head at short range and surviving? Fired at an angle and deflected off the skull - ? Too bad more information was not provided on that part of his story.

Any ammunition choices recommended - ?

[aklon]

Precisely 2,687 rounds, mostly 55 grain XM193 except for 100 rounds 62 grain SS109.

[smle-man]

that was pretty interesting to hear from somebody that saw so much.
he might be saying afghan soldiers and gang bangers aren't good shots as much as small calibers don't kill with one shot.
his example of a one shot kill .45cal was center sternum out the spine.
he didn't say anyone survived the same shot with 9mm.

that said, 5.56 isn't a one shot killer, perhaps because the military knows a dead soldier is one less combatant firing back, but a wounded soldier is 1-3 combatants not firing back, because they are dealing with the wounded guy.

Then the military should be using .22 LR weapons. Lots of wound potential.

[Donk310]

A couple of trips to the gym a YEAR is all that is needed to make the M1A NOT heavy.

[theLBC]

Then the military should be using .22 LR weapons. Lots of wound potential.

lol, i don't think the .22lr has enough gas to cross the battlefield,

.223 ain't all that much bigger, but has a lot more behind it.

[jarhead714]

62 grains and heavier for me. Love the Federal GMM 69s. Have green tips stacked fairly deep but I’m another M1A guy. Nine 20 round magazines (1 in the rifle) with the H or Y harness and an azzpack isn’t all that heavy. Just flops around a little is all.

You get what you pay for with all ammunition. I’ve tried Federal black and green box cartridges that had me questioning giving up shooting altogether the groupings were so poor.

[dozer wright]

M1As are heavy. I’m grabbing my AR-10 with 25 round mags.

I'd bet a Ar 10 vs M1a is Very close in weight. Ar 15 depending on accessories is 7 to 10 lbs M1a Socom is 9.5 lbs with a empty mag.

[jarhead714]

I'd bet a Ar 10 vs M1a is Very close in weight.

I should think nearly unnoticeable.

[wolfmann]

Being new to the AR this year I have been running whatever to see what works best,yeah a old fart CAN learn new tricks.
I have used a AK with 30 round east german mags for the house since the early 80s and yeah the Garand is heavy and long for the house so I stick to the short suff,Mossberg 500 18inch and sleep with whatever pistol I feel like at the moment.Now I have 3 ARs I built this year so I am having fun learning a new platform.
Tacticle rifleman on you tube has real world usage of 556 and other calibers,he should know as a Green Beret.
Forgotten weapons on youtube has him shooting a M14 full auto.

[Bobby Ricigliano]

I have a few magazines loaded with Speer Lawman softpoint ammo, and a few more loaded with Hornady TAP rounds. Other than that I buy whatever I can find cheap as long as it is brass cased and feeds / functions reliably.

[Colt]

Since the boating accident, nada...

[Ki6vsm]

You're talking fmj and target bullets out of 14.5 and 11.5 inch barrels, with a round that counts on high velocity. I don't have that restriction, so I have 16 and 20 inch barrels using bonded soft points, and barrier blind bullets when I need to punch through something.

That's also the reason why short barrels like that never appealed to me. Mine are in the 16-20" range.