What ammo should I buy?

[cresci_2000]

I just bought a bushmaster carbon 15. I'm not to sure on what round i should be using. 62 grain or 55 grain. I will be using it mostly for target shooting.

[spencerhut]

It does not really matter that much. Get some el cheapo Walmart 5.56 WWB and go shoot. anything from 50 to 68 grain should be just fine for practice and plinking and run and gun. If you are really serious about accuracy, get several different brands and do some testing. If you don't want to mess about, start with some Black Hills Gold, Midway has a few different type in stock.

I'm sure someone will disagree with me. These questions usually end up in 55g or you are a moron vs 77g or you are a moron.

[ETD1010]

Get the cheapest, 55gr plus ammo you can find (aside from factory reloads) and you'll be fine... heck, even some of the factory reloads are perfectly fine.

[sunborder]

Unless you are shooting long range bench rest competition, it is unlikely you will notice the difference unless you get an ultra-crap batch of ammo. Once you have several thousand rounds through the gun, or similar weapons, you will know enough about the kind of shooting you do to ask more specific questions. For most applications, even with crappy ammo, the rifle will shoot straighter than you are capable of anyway. When you start getting into any long range or bipod/benchrest type shooting, that changes things a bit.

[Tweak338]

I just bought a bushmaster carbon 15.

sorry, but why not go with an OLL?

as for ammo for plinking, any 55gr cheap ammo.
Privi, wolf, barnual, ect.

ETA:
PMC bronze looks like the cheapest reloadable .223 at the moment..

[glockman19]

55 or 62 either, or. I stay away from the cheap Wolf stuff myself. I shoot Lake City, Federal, American Eagle, Remington UMC & Winchester Q3131.

Check out midwayusa.com

[kris&bela]

Both will work! The 55 grainer seems to shoot more tighter on my 20" bushy w/ scope.

[kakpataka]

http://www.ammosource.com/223-Rem-and-5-56mm-Ammunition-s/31.htm

Depending on what you wann ause teh ammo for, plinking or serious practice, tyr this. even their cheapest ammo is something you can use where accuracy i s needed. you might wann a order in buly , shipping is like 9.00. I ve bought from them , not .223 though. due to very high demand( literally) it may take a week or so before they can ship. Call em first.

[Paratus et Vigilans]

First, figure out WHERE you plan to shoot it, and be sure to buy ammo that is acceptable there. Many ranges ban the use of Wolf as well as any ammo with bullets that react to a magnet (i.e., steel core). It would be a real bummer to load up on some kind of ammo only to find that the only convenient place you can shoot will not allow you to shoot the kind of ammo you just bought!

Second, the Carbon 15 (assuming it is a factory upper) is chambered for 5.56mm NATO and has a 1/9 twist barrel. This means that you can shoot .223 Rem as well as 5.56mm NATO ammo (brass is headstamped with the NATO symbol of a cross within a circle) with a wide range of bullets, from 50 gr. up to 69 gr., with good stability. General rule of thumb, use the lighter weight bullets for varmint hunting (52 gr.), use the 55 gr. for plinking and target shooting from 25 to 300 yards, and if you're trying to really "get out there" to 500-600 yards, then the Black Hills 68 gr. and 69 gr. BTHP are what you'll want to try. The 1/9 barrel you likely have is too "slow" to stabilize the heavier long range 77gr. bullets, so don't go there. You need a 1/8 or 1/7 twist barrel for that kind of bullet. On the other end of the spectrum, if you get below a 52 gr. bullet in a 1/9 twist barrel, it's likely to come apart in flight, so I'm told - - no personal experience there - - I take the word of others more experienced than myself on that point. The real dinky bullets (below 52 gr.) call for the slower twist 1/12 barrels you tend to see on the dedicated varmint guns.

Third, since the rifle is new to you, it's a good idea to start out with decent new factory ammo until you get to know how the rifle runs. I started out my Carbon 15 with Federal's American Eagle in the red box, 55 gr. FMJ. It ran fine with it. It now eats mostly my own reloads, and does so happily and all day long! After you get comfortable with your rifle and it (hopefully) has demonstrated a level of reliability with "good" ammo, then if you are inclined to go for bargain ammo and reloads (your own or commercial), you will have a benchmark to return to in the event you start having failures to eject or failures to feed with the bargain stuff. Do be careful about buying bargain ammo . . . your health and safety are worth more that you're going to save on some cheap junk ammo of questionable provenance.

Get out there and enjoy! Happy shooting!

[hybridatsun350]

sorry, but why not go with an OLL?

That's what I was thinking, but oh well. If you don't care about pinpoint accuracy and you don't mind a dirty gun, go with Wolf. It's cheap and it cycles and shoots well, but it isn't all that accurate and it's dirty.

[WokMaster1]

sorry, but why not go with an OLL?
as for ammo for plinking, any 55gr cheap ammo.
Privi, wolf, barnual, ect.

ETA:
PMC bronze looks like the cheapest reloadable .223 at the moment..

Tweak, it's a start. once he unhinge his rifle to load/unload for the 50th time, he'll change his mind.

Some people test the water by dipping their toes in but some just cannonball right in. The end result is that everyone gets into the pool & have a great time.