Could be a significant difference, might not.
Going with better ammo reduces variables in terminal ballistics.
I’d rather hammer somebody with M193 than any 9mm, but I would take 75gr 5.56 TAP over M193 any day.
Get over your self bub. I have more of an issue with someone keeping a mini-14 as a “car gun” rationale being if it gets stolen it wasn’t expensive while dreaming of popping “gangsta thugs”.
Maybe a better idea would to be responsible with your firearms to prevent their possible theft, not trying to mitigate losses by using low cost platforms.
There is metric shit-ton of information on this site about terminal ballistics. I’m not going to debate someone on the virtues of 55gr FMJ rounds over 75gr 5.56mm TAP rounds.
No dreaming, in Houston it’s a definite possibility. So is car burglary and losing one of my AR’s to a crook because it might group a bit better way out past center field is not a welcome proposition.
If you’re “defending” yourself beyond about ninety feet in an urban or semi-urban situation, you got big problems. Big legal problems or big practical problems, depending on which way things go.
Will, is the XM193 55 grain and the M855 62 grain the only thing available in your area?
I would look at the good Doctor’s recommendations and see what is available in your area.
I use the standard TAP 75 grain load as opposed to the T2 since I find that the standard TAP 75 grain groups within an inch of my practice ammo at 50 yards, and at household distances it hits the same point of impact.
I have other stuff, but the TAP is what I depend on. I also have some MK318.
No, but I have to find some place that stocks something else, such as something listed on the Doc’s list. That, or some place can order something for me. It’s not banned or anything like that, but few people buy anything but bulk M855 around here it appears from my searching around locally, so that’s what they stock, and mail order a no no in MA.
It’s doable, but like everything in The People’s Republic of MA, a PITA and costs more! :dance3:
If you’re concerened about someone breaking into your car why on God’s green earth would you keep a rifle in there? Not to mention the practical difficulties of employing a mini-14 from a car…
But as to the topic, I have a case of 5.56mm TAP T2 in bound. I plan on trying the .223 flavor as well. In general .223 ammo will group better than compareable 5.56mm offerings. I’m just wondering to what degree in my particular rifle.
I shoot 75 gr. TAP (.223, not 5.56) out of a 16" BCM midlength and get 1 MOA regularly at 100yds.
I’ve noticed this with handloads. I chronoed some of my loads, and the tightest grouping 55 grain loads out of my ARs are running about 170 feet slower than M193 spec. That’s pretty close to civilian/SAAMI .223 velocity.
Mk 318 Mod 0 SOST in my HD/patrol mags.
The following comes from a sticky thread from the good Doctor about 55gr M193 ammunition.
https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=26905
8/23/11
For those folks who think the 55 gr M193 FMJ is a great 5.56 mm load for self-defense, the following quote was written by Dr. Martin Fackler, the man who has done more research on the M193 than anyone else on this planet:
Quote:
“In 1980, I treated a soldier shot accidentally with an M16 M193 bullet from a distance of about ten feet. The bullet entered his left thigh and traveled obliquely upward. It exited after passing through about 11 inches of muscle. The man walked in to my clinic with no limp whatsoever: the entrance and exit holes were about 4 mm across, and punctate. X-ray films showed intact bones, no bullet fragments, and no evidence of significant tissue disruption caused by the bullet’s temporary cavity. The bullet path passed well lateral to the femoral vessels. He was back on duty in a few days. Devastating? Hardly. The wound profile of the M193 bullet (page 29 of the Emergency War Surgery—NATO Handbook, GPO, Washington, D.C., 1988) shows that most often the bullet travels about five inches through flesh before beginning significant yaw. But about 15% of the time, it travels much farther than that before yawing—in which case it causes even milder wounds, if it missed bones, guts, lung, and major blood vessels. In my experience and research, at least as many M16 users in Vietnam concluded that it produced unacceptably minimal, rather than “massive”, wounds. After viewing the wound profile, recall that the Vietnamese were small people, and generally very slim. Many M16 bullets passed through their torsos traveling mostly point forward, and caused minimal damage. Most shots piercing an extremity, even in the heavier-built Americans, unless they hit bone, caused no more damage than a 22 caliber rimfire bullet.”Fackler, ML: “Literature Review”. Wound Ballistics Review; 5(2):40, Fall 2001
I would have replied but earlier but hadn’t been on the site till now.
Will did so in a very effective manner BTW.
I took the comment to be that anything other than a Mini 14 and M193 ball ammo was a waste of money, which is patently ridiculous.
The superiority of the AR and many other proven .223/5.56 system to the Mini is so well documented that I shouldn’t have to mention it.
Doc’s documentation of the shortcomings of M193 for defensive use are also well known.
My comment was more towards the “Seriously? On this site? How about read a bit more before posting such BS”
I have had to carry ball ammo as my carry load by default of it being issued. I can live with that and drive on. This does not make it best for one to carry if they have a choice.
Carrying cheap guns in one’s trunk so as to only arm gangbangers with a lower end gun is a whole 'nother failure in logic, so is thinking one will be able to even get to said gun in an emergency.
To stay on topic;
Will, what kind of gun to do have? If you are not just dead sure you have a 5.56 chamber then I’d go with a .223 level of ammo.
Out of my Colt’s the 55gr Federal Bonded shoots very close to where M193 and Federal AE 55gr ball shoots, at least out to the 100 yard line.
Well said sir.
I’m using a Colt 6940.
Frangible only really comes apart when it hits steel.
Good choice. You’ll obviously be GTG with 5.56 ammo then.
I’d use 55gr ball for training, then buy some 55gr Federal Bonded or Speer Gold Dot for serious use and call it a day.
I can’t argue with that. Was not looking to start the hair splitting conversation on one rnd vs another per se, just curious as to what people actually kept in those go to mags they keep close by for zombies and things that go bump in the night.
My AR is personally owned but is also my patrol rifle.
We currently issue a non-catalog Hornady 60gr SP loaded to 5.56 specs that they make on contract for our highway patrol. It tests basically the same as the 62gr Barrier TAP.
I buy my own 62gr Federal Bonded so that I have that available on the street, but at home I swap mags and keep 69gr BTHP Federal match loaded up just because I have a bunch left over from a previous buy.
Black Hills 77 Grain Sierra Match King Hollow Point Moly
Hornady 60gr. SP…
eta…I personally use BH’s 5.56 50gr. TSX in all my SD/HD mags to answer the op’s question. I was posting the above pic for the gentlemen who referred to the Hornady 60gr. SP round.
I keep a couple of hundred rounds of Speer Gold Dot 64gr on hand for duty use, dispatching game, and as an immediately available combat load.
However, at $1 a shot, it becomes a little pricy for a bulk loading. I have shot a number of deer and other small game that had been injured by vehicle impacts with M855 and M193. I’ve noticed that the wounding effect seems to be good for that task. Cutting into the wound track I see a good deal of fragmentation trauma time after time. In the back of my mind, I’ve always thought that it would be wise to stick with a 16" carbine instead of SBR so that I get the most benefit from using FMJ ammo. However, I have also done my own windshield testing and even the M855 isn’t that great as a barrier blind load. If I could only have one load free of charge, it would be a bonded expansion load like the Gold Dot. All fragmentation(FMJ/OTM) 5.56 are heavily dependent on AOA and penetration depth meaning that occasionally a glancing hit or a skinny Somolian gunman torso hit is more likely to just poke a .22" hole. But hey, it seems that every aspect of life in the US is getting more expensive, so I plan ahead to work with less. I tend to load up on M193/M855 and save a small amount of barrier blind loads for duty use.