One of the biggest complaints about this ammo is that the steel insert is not always centered in the bullet and causes fliers. Go to the AIM surplus sight and look at close-ups of their m855. Huge globs of green paint on the tip, I imagine this could very possibly hurt performance also. Most likely spun off the bullet?
The paint has zero impact on the effectiveness or performance of the round, especially when fired from a service style carbine or LMG.
The military uses different colors on the tips of their rounds to differentiate between the various types of ammo. The only other one I can think of off the top of my head is the orange tipped ones, which designates it as a tracer round.
Orange for the M856, red for the M196, blue for the M862, and black for the M993. I know there is more but that is all I can think of at the moment.
The “paint” is really insignificant. I have personally hit targets out past 500M with M855, so I would say it’s accurate enough.
FWIW-The biggest complaint is actually that the steel pentrator goes through people without causing major damage.
I agree with the paint being a non issue. There’s plenty of match bullets with uneven open tips that shoot silly accurate.
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I don’t know if it is true but I was told years ago that the front of a bullet had little affect on the accuracy but if you even have a minute scratch, nick, or ding any where on the rear edge, it will shoot all over the place.
That imperfection on the bottom “corner” edge of the bullet is supposed to be as bad as a ruined barrel crown. Made sense to me…?
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Link to one of my websites in my favorites: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/4-30-13/appf.htm
Good info on ammunition marking (US) in general, if you scroll all the way down it lists all the color codes (with pictures) of 5.56, 7.62 and .50 BMG ammo.