Federal XM223SP1 62gr Bonded

[Altair]

Here are a couple pics of the loaded ammo. I tried to get a closeup of the tip to help people understand what is being descibed but I'm not very good with a camera.



I fired some of these through an 11.5" and a 16". Here's what I got:

11.5" CL 1:9
2310fps, 139 ES, 44 SD

16" CL 1:9
2706fps, 191 ES, 53 SD

I lost alot of velocity in the 11.5". Enough that I'm not confident these would be very useful for one. They must be using a fairly slow powder that just doesn't build speed well in short barrels.

The 2700fps from the 16" is about what I expected from a .223 pressure load. My 62gr TSX handloads (using TAC and Barnes' 5.56 pressure data) get 2700fps from the 11.5" and 2850fps from the 16".

I was not impressed with the extreme spreads and standard deviations (my handloads give me extreme spreads under 40fps and standard deviations under 15) but I wasn't surprised. I've found the same exact thing with my Federal 55gr TRU duty ammo.

These were 10 shot strings. Also a word on accuracy, I only shot them at 25 yards and not from a bench so this isn't definitive but at 25 yards my groups were just 1.25" (11.5" with Eotech) and .75" (16" with Accupoint at 4x). I'm guessing in more controlled circumstances I might get the groups to 2"-3" at 100 yards using these barrels. Both barrels I was using were light weight chrome lined barrels, not target or high dollar barrels. Not great but not completely unacceptable either given the circumstances.

Host rifles


I've been doing some water jug penetration testing with TSX's recently and I decided to try one of these. Using 1 gallon milk jugs filled with water I shot a 62gr Federal XM223SP1 round into a row of jugs at 10 yards. This gave an impact velocity of approximately 2670fps.

The bullet passed through 3 jugs and stopped in the 4th. This was midway between the performance of a 50gr TSX (stopped in jug 3) and a 62gr TSX (stopped in jug 5). The bullet expanded to a max diamater of .58" (widest point) and retained 52.4gr (84.5%) of its weight.

Overall, I think that is very good considering the price of this ammo. It is obviously bonded (see photots), expanded well, and penetrated well. I'm not thrilled with the velocity spread, but I think this is definitely a big step up from M193 or M855 with regard to terminal performance.

Front:

Back:

[DocGKR]

Good post!

[Altair]

Good post!

Thanks Doc.

I purchased this ammo based on the information you provided and I got exactly what I expected. Thanks again for all the info you share.

[Altair]

Another update:

It has been said that these bullets were designed for shorter barrels and may be designed for lower velocities. Well, I was working on a RRA pistol for a co-worker so I decided to test muzzle velocity and penetration/expansion from the 7.5" barrel.

Average muzzle velocity was 1923fps. With an estimated impact velocity of 1900fps the bullet penetrated 4 jugs (the same as it did from a 16" barrel at 2700fps) and still mushroomed well. Recovered weight was 61.7gr and expansion was .45" at the widest point.

This bullet seems to work fairly well at the lower velocities. While I wouldn't choose to use a 7.5" pistol, it appears that at 10 yards it would still be a reasonably effective load.

Some pics of the recovered bullet:

[Altair]

I shot some of this through a 22" bolt action Stevens today. Interestingly the average velocity was 2752, only 46fps faster than from a 16" chrome lined AR.

The extreme spread and standard deviation went down (51 and 22 vs 191 and 53 from the 16") and the groups were noticably better. I got 1.5" groups at 100 yards from the Savage, nothing under 2" so far from the AR's.

[Altair]

At the request of another member I measured overall length and pulled one of these apart.

Cartridge Overall Length = 2.220"
Bullet Length = .801"
Bullet Weight = 62.2gr
Powder Charge = 23.9gr

Pic of the bullet and powder:

[5pins]

Very informative posts Altair thanks.

[Ironman8]

Great stuff Altair!

Especially glad to see how well this did out of a 7.5"...effective range will be at least 100 yds with a 10.5" I suspect...

[Altair]

Great stuff Altair!

Especially glad to see how well this did out of a 7.5"...effective range will be at least 100 yds with a 10.5" I suspect...

Based on the test I did this bullet expanded fairly well at 1900fps impact velocity. I got 2300+fps from an 11.5" barrel so if you assume a BC of .28 (that is conservative) this bullet would still expand to about 130 yards from an 11.5". Since it was going a little over 1900fps from a 7.5" it should be going around 2200 from a 10.5", meaning it would be going 1900fps right at 100 yards. Not bad for a 10.5"

From a 16" at 2700fps it drops to 1900fps at around 260 yards.

[eternal24k]

Great thread,
thanks Altair