First AR 15 YEEEEEEEEEEE

[phaseshift]

Just placed my order at G&R Tactical for the BCM M4 Carbine Mod 2 gonna have it shipped to Peninsula Guns and Tactical to do the FFL transfer, they quoted 100 + 25 + taxes for the transfer(a little steep but thats okay). Been waiting for them to get BCM in stock.

[Rhythm of Life]

Buy a variety of ammo and see what your gun likes, shoot that.

I know my 308 loves XM80C, so I shoot it.

[phaseshift]

Buy a variety of ammo and see what your gun likes, shoot that.

I know my 308 loves XM80C, so I shoot it.

How do you know it likes it? No jams?

What ammo should I use for break-in and range work and what ammo should I use for self defense?

[DropTheHammer]

Congrats on your first AR, they are a lot of fun.
As far as ammo goes, these days ou will be paying too much but you still get what you pay for, the xm193 is decent ammo, but you will get more precision with the 1 in 7" twist out of a heavier grain round, I would reccomend black hills mk262 as one of the better rounds on the market, but it is expensive at $1/round and also hard to find. I also think that $.70/round for the xm193 is too much but on par with a lot of CA gun stores. Also, if you buy your ammo from riflegear you will be paying tax, I have recently used other out of state places like midway, ammo to go, and target sports and found decent 55gr 5.56 for around $.50/round and not have to pay tax or shipping with larger orders.

[Rhythm of Life]

How do you know it likes it? No jams?

What ammo should I use for break-in and range work and what ammo should I use for self defense?

"likes" refers to accuracy in my post. I can coverleaf with it. Of course no jams. Shoot what ever you buy. Any HD rounds are good as long as you put a hundred or so though it to make sure it cycles. On all my guns Ive never had a problem with HD rounds not working. they all fire, eject and cycle.

Its pretty hard to find bad ammo seriously. Pistols may be more finicky due to differences in feed ramps but the way centerfire rifle rounds are they are pretty much similar.

[glock7]

How do you know it likes it? No jams?

What ammo should I use for break-in and range work and what ammo should I use for self defense?

every rifle will have some sort of malfunction at some time. buy whatever ammo is around and shoot it. pmc, remington, winchester, prvi, federal for range time and 5.56 for zeroing, that's generally what is recommended, but you can go with whatever you like, i reload so i usually set it a little "hotter" than your standard factory rounds. don't over think it, just go shoot it. congrats, enjoy that bcm. i'm a bcm guy myself, good kit.

[BillyGoatMachine]

From your title I thought it had something to do with the senator!!!

[6mmintl]

I will expect to see you the first Sunday of the month at Chabot gun club for the 200 meter offhand silhouette rifle match for you to try out your new baby.

[phaseshift]

thanks guys! I can't wait till it gets to the shop....then I have to wait until I can take it out of jail arggghh.

I read somewhere that I should put nothing but federal ammo through it for the first 200 rounds or so.

Still trying to decide which ammo to go with though

[m16]

Not sure where you read that or why anyone would recommend it.

I put 300 rounds of 75gr Hunting Shack 5.56 through my BCM as soon as I got it, and I'd have to say it is the most accurate chrome lined barrel I have ever owned.

I was firing off a bench with a bipod but at 100 yards my groups weren't much bigger than what I can shoot out of my 16" Lilja.

[Manpants]

thanks guys! I can't wait till it gets to the shop....then I have to wait until I can take it out of jail arggghh.

I read somewhere that I should put nothing but federal ammo through it for the first 200 rounds or so.

Still trying to decide which ammo to go with though

Congrats but I don't know who is filling your head with that nonsense about Federal. Federal is ammo not health food. It runs hot (5.56) and it runs fine. I wouldn't consider it having any magical properties. Ask your rifle what it should shoot the first 200 rounds. Oh wait. It's a gun not a princess. You can ask 100 people how you should break in an AR and you could get 100 different answers. The only thing you should do is take it home. Clean it. Then go to range and shoot the piss out of it (IMHO).

Some Nancy's like to take their non match grade AR and put 1 round at a time through and run a bore snake or patch and repeat for some ritualistic "break in". Not really needed at all. Maybe shoot 20 or so an run a patch if it makes you feel better. But then again, I fit into that 100 different answers category.

[MrPlink]

Wtf is running a patch down a CL barrel gonna do?
Break in is nonsense on barrels.

As far as ammo, feed whatever you want.
BCM middy's with 14.5in barrels are known to be picky with under powered ammo, everything else should be fine

[BrassCase]

Noveske has a break in ritual that they talk about on their web site. That is the only place where I have seen one. I have a couple of AR's with SS barrels and another with a CL barrel. They didn't come with break in instructions. I put 100 or so rounds through them and then cleaned them as usual. I don't understand how you can break chrome in or SS for that matter. If anything I would expect something about getting the barrel up to a certain minimum temperature and not exceeding an upper temperature level and then letting it slowly cool to normalize it after installation in an upper. But that shouldn't be necessary either.

[m16]

Barrel break in makes sense if you have a hand lapped barrel and are chasing accuracy.

I didn't believe in it at all until I bought a barrel from Dan Lilja and he explained why you should at least strip the copper out when you first start shooting it.

That said, I didn't follow the "one shot, clean the barrel" method, I would go 25-30 rounds and then clean out the copper and I did this three times but I would never do this with a chrome lined barrel because it is pointless.

[phaseshift]

Thanks for all the replies guys, its all appreciated. I apologize for my noobish questions. In terms of grains what type should I look for?