Hi everyone. I tried a few search criteria and didn’t find what I’m looking for.
My question: What effective 5.56 ammo would you always have on hand in bulk?
– I have a couple hundred rounds of quality personal defense ammo (like TAP 75gr), but I can’t afford to purchase 4-5 thousand rounds of that right now.
– I also keep a couple thousand rounds of cheap Wolf or Tula around and replenish for my training ammo as it shoots well out of my rifles.
But I need something more in the middle just in case there’s a rainy day or something. What quality, effective ammo do you stack deep for that purpose? I was going to buy a bunch of Privi M193 as I thought it would fill that role nicely. Then I saw the sticky in this forum section questioning its effectiveness and am rethinking that.
There are some 62 gr - 69 gr HP and SP loads from Wolf, Brown Bear and Tula in the $6.00 - $6.50/20 range. You can get the bonded SP Federal XM223SP1 for $10/20. Have to read through previous posts to see how thos compare but I would think a 62 gr SP would be better then 55 gr or 62 gr FMJ while still be a lot cheaper than most ammo that is better performance. Kind of a balance between cheap enough to buy in bulk but still better then FMJ.
Hornady steel cased 75gr TAP will “probably” be a better choice over XM193 or M855. Plus, it tends to run a little cheaper than the military brass loads.
The M193 are more well known quantities, the IMI, Fed, PPU, and LC offerings are pretty common and that helps resale a lot if that becomes relevant to you.
When places like Wideners has IMI 193 for the price listed above, that’s hard to beat. I only picked up 5 cases…
You just need reliable ammo. If you are digging into the 4k in your basement you are in a VERY bad place and the type of ammo is probably not going to change your chance of getting out alive.
I don’t think you can expect bi-metal jacketed (steel jacket, copper washed) HP or SP to open up like copper jacketed bullets.
I have two thousand rounds of Winchester Ranger(RA556M855K)62 gr green tip on hand if the need should ever arise…In my estimation it’s the very best green tip to bear the nato stamp…
I don’t think you can expect bi-metal jacketed (steel jacket, copper washed) HP or SP to open up like copper jacketed bullets.
I’ve often wondered how how well it performs against automotive windshield glass and sheet metal. Not looking for anything that “expands” but for something that simply remains intact after passing through and capable of achieving adequate penetration afterward.
I beleive this capability is important for what I’ve come to refer to as an “Emergency Preparedness Rifle” intended for general-purpose defense use during a breakdown in law and order.
It would be great if inexpensive “bi-metal” Russian ammo could fill this niche as a complement to M193, which itself is inexpensive.
I would surmise that even the least expensive .223 loads like Wolf could suffice for general-purpose defense use during a breakdown in law and order.
If it goes bang and cycles your rifle 100% thats half the battle, if the bullet can penetrate auto glass and door metal and defeat light cover and still poke a hole deep enough to cause some damage all the better.
I had the opportunity to shoot a few abandon farm vehicles (Early 60’s era) and the Wolf 55gr H/P’s and FMJ used punched through the door panels into the cab without issue. Nothing scintific about shooting up some old 60’s era vehicles but I would suggest the body metal used in those days were much heavier then whats used today.
Russian Steel cased ammo may not be the best when compared to other loadings but is it better to have 33 loaded magazines if a SHTF event is coming then only being able to load a few magazines of the good stuff due to price.
Exactly right on the goes bang and cycles 100%. But I have seen too many times where Wolf or other Eastern European Steel cased ammo did not function close to 100% and led to some nasty malfunctions like stuck cases in Western guns. The last thing you need in a SHTF situation is to have to get a cleaning rod and pound a case out of a barrel.
I’ve found IMI M855 to be the best M855 available, even as compared to US MIL issue. The last 1200 round case I went through (LOT # 00235/K) had no deformed rounds. I would have expected to find a good number of unusable rounds in the same amount of LC. IMI M855 averages 2.5’’ CTC 100M groups out of my 16’’ 6920 and 2’’ CTC out of my BCM SS410 (5 round groups). This is exceptional for M855. These rounds are my go to for training and bulk storage. Obviously, I prefer 77gr SMK’s / 75gr HPBT loads and use them regularly, but I’m not rich enough to stockpile these.
Thats why any ammunition used needs to be proofed in the rifle or pistol it may come into use with. I just so happen to have a few AR’s that are total whores for Wolf and have never missed a beat over several cases. Anyones mileage may vary but I have had excellent function to date and while I recommend Wolf for nothing more then paper punching if push comes to shove then it can poke holes in hostiles too.
I have two Bushmaster AR’s and have run literally thousands of rounds of Wolf ammo through both of them without a hiccup. I still use it for training and plinking. Got about 9000 rounds of it left at the moment, and will probably buy more when that gets low. And if I ever get down to that being all I have left, I will be too busy being incredulous at the fact that I am still alive to be worried about the fact that I am using Wolf ammo for defense.
fwiw, I had two rounds of Wolf 62 gr. HP keyhole at 20 yards yesterday from a BCM 1/7 twist LW midlength. they impacted among the other rounds but at only 20 yards, standing rapid fire, that’s not much of a feat.
this was near the end of a 500 round training class while the barrel was quite hot, and it had not been cleaned for a few hundred rounds previous to that but still I was amazed…