Ammo’s expensive. I can only spend so much a year on guns. I currently have 300 rnds of XM193, 30 rnds of M855 (in a mag in the gun), and 80 rds of 75gr BH OTM. That’s it. I’m afforded the opportunity to spend roughly $100/qtr for the remainder of the year. That means June and December. I had planned to stock up on some good GP/Barrier ammo with that money.
However, at this point, I can’t even afford to take a class, and I think that might serve me better.
Truth be told, I could probably swing one more $200 ammo purchase somewhere in there, but what’s the best bang for my buck?
22lr kit like the CMMG EVO:
Pros: 22lr is so cheap I wouldn’t even have to roll it into the budget, plus I already have tons on-hand.
Cons: It’s dirty, and the recoil and reloads don’t simulate 556 fire
Jump on the steel case bandwagon:
Pros: $200 buys me 1K rounds.
Cons: Concerned about reliability.
Buy the quality ammo and just commit to a dry fire routine. Use the 300 rnds of XM193 currently on-hand for quarterly live-fire range sessions.
Get a box of steel case ammo and try it out. It’s been reliable in my S&W, and makes cheap target ammo. I wouldn’t use it for home defense or anything, but great for plinking.
This may sound odd but shooting isn’t the only component in becoming proficient with a weapon system.
There is a lot more in the manipulation of the gun than just putting as many rounds down range as possible. You can shoot 5 times a weeks and still suck balls at it, not saying you do just saying.
instead of putting money into a conversion kit or shitty ammo I think your better off saving and maintaining quality stuff.
When you get the gun itch work on your reloads, malfunction clearing, position transition, trigger control and so on. You can do most of that in your living room and backyard.
A lot of times when your dry firing at a target you can tell if it would of been a good shot or not. USMC bootcamp devotes almost a week to that specifically.
You could also run dry drills of searching your house in the dark manipulating the weapons mounted light blah blah blah.
I was thinking about this last night actually. Iv never rehearsed that and in a time of need I don’t want to not have a plan.
Seems a lot of people take a lot of weekend training courses and think that’s good enough to get threw until the next one. Take what you paid to learn and practice the shit of of it…
"Amateurs practice until they get it right pros practice until they cant get it wrong"
I’m starting to run low on the ammo I had stocked up, and with everything being out of stock and prices nudging up and up ill be doing a lot more cost effective training so to speak.
Agreed. While my shooting phases come and go with the seasons and moods, my ammo purchases never stop. I did take a break when things got a little ridiculous a few years ago. I’ve got 10’s of thousands (if not more) from 10-15 years ago still. Can never have enough of the brass stuff. I really need to shoot it more, though. I think last year 2 or 3 months went by without even touching one of my firearms.
I’m in the exact same boat and was contemplating going the steel route. I know of stuff like Wolf, WPA, Brown Bear, Tula, etc. but I found this stuff today at PSA and was wondering if it’s any good.
If it helps I’ll be shooting it out of a BCM M4. I’ve seen where people have stated that you shouldn’t run crap ammo through top tier guns (feed the best the best I suppose), but if it’s steel case or nothing at all…
Is there any kind of steel ammo that’s preferred or better than others? I’ve seen mixed reviews of people saying their BCM, LMT, Colt, etc eats anything, then others that say the same guns choke on steel.
A good .22 upper is a valueble tool. I can carry 1000rds of .22 for every 150 rds of 5.56. And I can’t find anyone willing to stand in front of a .22 at 50yds either. Nordic Components makes a great upper (but it is expensive) that will cycle EVERYTHING!! Love mine… same setup as my 5.56. There is a inital cost… but if you are really trying to shoot more… this is a great way to go. Ammo is always the cost factor.
A good AR will eat pretty much any ammo… you should test steel case and use as training ammo if not using .22. If it is reliable in your gun, it is no different than using mil surplus as long as you know your trajectories/velocities of what you are using.
Dry fire is great practice and a great way to train and save some $$ (ammo and gas).
I would say it’s worth a try…I recently got the 2nd of my AR’s and it was a BCM. I wanted to put her to the test so the first 60 rounds down range were Steel. It is cheap, available and even after “gouging” it will still be cheap. Just my opinion, I have one just as I have an asshole…
A good .22 upper is a valueble tool. I can carry 1000rds of .22 for every 150 rds of 5.56. And I can’t find anyone willing to stand in front of a .22 at 50yds either. Nordic Components makes a great upper (but it is expensive) that will cycle EVERYTHING!! Love mine… same setup as my 5.56. There is a inital cost… but if you are really trying to shoot more… this is a great way to go. Ammo is always the cost factor.
A good AR will eat pretty much any ammo… you should test steel case and use as training ammo if not using .22. If it is reliable in your gun, it is no different than using mil surplus as long as you know your trajectories/velocities of what you are using.
Dry fire is great practice and a great way to train and save some $$ (ammo and gas).
So far I have had good luck with Brown Bear ammo. It is a steel case ammo and it has run flawlessly in my 6920. It is pretty cheap also. You might want to give it a try.
i think that just as important is figuring out HOW you’re going to shoot that ammo to make it count. ammo goes a longer way when you account for each shot on paper, and have a plan of practice to get the round count down and the hit count up.
Certain things I see no need to break out “the good stuff” for such as live fire drills at close range where your basically practicing combat reloads, target transitions, or what have you where the increases in quality ammo is not needed over steel cased which does the job just fine. At 100+ yards and trying to maximize accuracy, sighting in, or practicing accuracy? yeah go with the good stuff that hopefully is or reflects what you will carry.
Of course a lot of things can also be dry fired as well to keep up in between live fire and that is where it comes in.
As for 22 conversion. I think it is the smaller niche since its more like dry dire on steroids but more limited in where and how much you can do it. Still various drills can be done just fine with it.
When it comes to steel core not behaving such as cycling issues remember you can do things like play with the buffer (putting in a lighter one to cure weak ammo) to help keep performance relatively the same if it normally would give you troubles.
Not trying to de-rail the OP’s original questions, but with steel ammo, I always hear about the risk of stuck casings. Is this as real of a threat as some people make out to be? Can stuck casings easily be pushed back out with a cleaning rod, etc? Or could it call for much more drastic/professional measures? Not trying to ask too many tedious questions, but I don’t want to put my carbine out of commission by feeding it cheap ammo; if it’s good to go, then I’ll start buying it ASAP!
For target shooting, rabbit hunting steel is just fine and I keep a couple boxes around just for that reason…
I clean my guns after each and every use after shooting steel…
For SHTF stacking I like mid quality ammo like CCI Lawman IMO decent and its not much more than steel.
For SD I keep Vmaxs backed by FMJ in my mags…
Not claiming nothing or that what I do it best its just what I do…
I don’t know about the steel cased as I’ve never fired one, but I know a lot of people that do. Anyhow… I’m an advocate of putting bullets downrange, clear and simple. For me, that’s why I’m involved in this hobby… and it is a hobby for me… No shoot, no joy… There’s not much point in having a bunch of weapons if I don’t run them… I’d buy ammo… ever how I could… JMO… Ron
