First AR, what ammo?

[AlpineWeiss]

Wow, lots of great info here thanks all!

So, this should be good to go then yes?

http://www.natchezss.com/Ammo.cfm?contentID=productDetail&brand=FA&prodID=FAAE223BL&prodTitle=Federal%20American%20Eagle%C2%AE%20-%20.223%20Rem%2055gr%20FMJ%20100/Box

I am assuming it is brass and not steel.

I'd put that in my AR.

[ky2970]

Idiots? Why the need for name calling? Oh yeah, I forgot, it's Calguns.

Genuinely just tired of people screaming, "Don't use steel case! You'll destroy your guns!" It's been repeatedly disputed with good cause.

Yes, it is true that steel cased will wear your barrel down faster. But the money you save to purchase the amount of rounds it takes to reach that point is enough to buy a new upper. I like new uppers. Also, just a little personal side note. I don't feel wasteful not reusing the casings.

what do the colors mean on surplus ammo tips

The most likely color you'll encounter is green. XM855 - bimetal penetrator ammo which is a no go on a lot of outdoor ranges and at matches with steel targets.

[BrassCase]

For good everyday prices and great selection try http://sgammo.com When Target Sports has a special it is very good deal https://www.targetsportsusa.com/default.aspx. A good AR should be able to munch through steel or brass. Personally, I happen to prefer brass.

[BigPimping]

What ever ammo you can score these days.

[captbilly]

Doesn't anyone use precision ammo

I have done a number of ammo tests, looking for accuracy and velocity variation. Most cheap ammo exhibits both poor accuracy and large velocity variation (meaning long range accuracy will be even worse than than short range ammo). Some cheap ammo also burns very sooty. Reliability can be just fine with cheap ammo, but I have never found any cheap ammo (steel or brass case) that will shoot accurately.

In my testing most cheap ammo would do 1.5-3MOA. Fiochi was both inaccurate and extremely sooty. PMC gave 2-3 MOA, surplus military gave 3 MOA and very large velocity variation (as much as 200 fps). On the opposite end I got 0.5MOA 10 shot groups with 69gr SMK HSM match ammo (as well as extremely small velocity variation of 7-12 FPS). Though I have gotten similar results with .308 Federal match ammo their .223 match ammo didn't do that well (about 1 MOA, and few 10s of FPS variation). PPU match ammo was decent (a bit over 1 MOA and reasonably consistent velocity) especially considering it's cost. I have not been able to test Black Hills .223 match ammo yet (have a bunch but no time to set up the chrono and test) but I have heard very good things about it.

If you aren't a great shooter, or don't care that much about accuracy then almost any ammo will shoot reliably, but if you want to find out how well you can shoot (or how good your rifle is) then you need to stay away from the cheap stuff.

[Donk310]

I shoot whatever is cheapest. 55 grn, 62 grn.. Fiocci... Federal... Privi... Wolf. I DON'T GIVE A F^(#, and I have fun doing it. Don't let anyone scare you away from steel cased ammo. If your Colt can't shoot steel cased, then maybe your next one should be a Daniel Defense.

[Junkie]

A tighter chamber can help accuracy, but also lead to cases sticking easier when there's carbon buildup. Like pretty much everything, there's a tradeoff.

Similarly, if a rifle is gassed perfectly for fairly high power ammo (193/855 at minimum), it'll be undergassed with Wolf etc. If it's gassed right for Wolf it'll be overgassed with the good stuff. It won't be horribly overgassed, but it will have more recoil. If you're willing to only shoot the good stuff you can get the gun working perfectly for it.