5,56 Ammo

[SIGFAN86]

Care to elaborate?

It's a very dirty powder when burnt. The cases also have a tendency to rust very quickly

[GeneCC]

If you can get past all the pretended bad information on the net your best bet for cheap plinking ammo is something in the steel cased variety.

Allegedly steel case ammunition increases bolt thrust force. I don't have any data to support it.

[GeneCC]

Get into reloading, you can make 55 grain for 20 cents all day long.
If you like the 75 grain variety you can load those for 30 cents

Those are component costs? Your time charge will vary.

One thing for sure, you will absolutely know what's in your rifle. That peace of mind is valuable.


If you have an AR you're talking of keeping things towards the hot end to insure good function, though with carbines this may not be so critical. In rifles the man had to go hotter because of energy budget issues.


What are you fixing to do? If you just shooting at "stuff" I'd stick with conventional hunting rounds. Less chance of ricochet than with the steel penetrator in an SS109 popping loose and coming on back. Midway's Dogtown bullets are decent as are Factory Seconds. I've bought factory seconds, they're butt ugly but shoot fine. Other vendors may sell factory seconds on hunting rounds.

Another is Armscorp. These come from the Philippines. The FMJs do not have great accuracy but are good enough for shooting.

Prvi Partisan makes reloading components that are affordable. Prvi Partisan is based in Serbia.


The sky's the limit if you want more accuracy. How much money do you want to spend?

[SIGFAN86]

Those are component costs? Your time charge will vary.

One thing for sure, you will absolutely know what's in your rifle. That peace of mind is valuable.


If you have an AR you're talking of keeping things towards the hot end to insure good function, though with carbines this may not be so critical. In rifles the man had to go hotter because of energy budget issues.


What are you fixing to do? If you just shooting at "stuff" I'd stick with conventional hunting rounds. Less chance of ricochet than with the steel penetrator in an SS109 popping loose and coming on back. Midway's Dogtown bullets are decent as are Factory Seconds. I've bought factory seconds, they're butt ugly but shoot fine. Other vendors may sell factory seconds on hunting rounds.

Another is Armscorp. These come from the Philippines. The FMJs do not have great accuracy but are good enough for shooting.

Prvi Partisan makes reloading components that are affordable. Prvi Partisan is based in Serbia.


The sky's the limit if you want more accuracy. How much money do you want to spend?

Seek out redeye reloading, either on Facebook or their website. I know the owner. He is a standup guy. Does a lot of buyouts of reloading companies and sells the components less than most on the net.

[Brick]

maybe not the cheapest. But if you want factory ammo, give IMI "Razor Core" 69 gr (Sierra Bullets) HPBT-Match or 77 gr. flavor a try.

[Yellowfin]

My dad gets great results with IMI razor core.

[MD66948]

I don't put steel cases through an aluminium rifle.

Just my $0.02.

[Hodgie]

I don't put steel cases through an aluminium rifle.

Just my $0.02.

If your barrel, carrier and bolt are made of aluminum then you may want to save a few more bucks for upgrades because standard ammo is going to destroy your gun pretty quickly.

[SIGFAN86]

If your barrel and carrier and bolt are made of aluminum then you may want to save a few more bucks for upgrades because standard ammo is going to destroy your gun pretty quickly.

He doesn't put steel barrels in aluminun guns

[Hodgie]

He doesn't put steel barrels in aluminun guns

I bet he won’t let his chocolate interface with his peanut butter either.