Best 5.56 plinking ammo

[Iraqgunz]

FYI- Bushmaster chambers are known to be tight. I would have someone check it with Ned Christiansens 5.56 chamber checker.

Do you have an O-ring added to you your extractor? It's possible that you can have too much extractor tension. You can also have too little as well.

I would check those things first and see what happens.

Just before the ammo crunch of 2009, I purchased a couple of cases of Wolf Ammo in 55gr (camo boxes) and a couple of cases in 62gr. (black box).

The 55 grain ammo ran well (Tula mfg).

However, the 62 grain Wolf will shoot OK for slow fire practicing... But it freezes up the actions of my Bushmaster or Rock River by failing to extract the case during high round counts of rapid fire (getting the rifle hot).

The case repeatedly sticks in the chamber and the extractors go right over the rim of the case. The extractors/springs are in good shape. My belief is that the cases either don't contract enough in the chamber during rapid fire/high heat failing to extract or the Wolf Ammo is over pressured.

This is recent mfg'd Wolf ammo and I've tried cleaning the chamber/rifle, but the stuck cases in the chamber goes on like clock work in either rifle.

I can't recommend this ammo even for plinking.

AuP

[AuProspector]

FYI- Bushmaster chambers are known to be tight. I would have someone check it with Ned Christiansens 5.56 chamber checker.

Do you have an O-ring added to you your extractor? It's possible that you can have too much extractor tension. You can also have too little as well.

I would check those things first and see what happens.

Negative on the O-ring. I thought about installing one but haven't yet. I read somewhere that you can purchase an O-ring from the local hardware store and save about $5 to $8 over the ones from an AR supplier. I've always wondered if there was a difference...especially when everything heats up. Do you know?

From a 'feel' standpoint, the extractors from the Bushmaster and the Rock River seem about the same. A couple of days ago, I was shooting the Bushmaster and the same problem occured with a cold/not cleaned weapon. One shot is all I got from it... same problem. I took the extractor apart and it does not appear to be worn at all.

The tension on my buddy's AR feels the same as mine. I'll scrub the chamber and try it again.

AuP

[DHart]

Here's one example of one of the newer bonded bullets:



How does that look to you?

Looks like it's better to give than to receive.

Humor aside... the bare gelatin and clothed gelatin results are about what you would see from a lightweight 9mm JHP fired from a pistol - similar penetration and similar expansion - not very impressive for a rifle. Of course the fact than an AR can very accurately deliver thirty or so of these rounds in very rapid succession helps quite a bit!

The barrier examples may be slightly better than a 9mm bonded JHP bullet would provide... perhaps. Not sure. Overall, the results look much like small caliber pistol results, not rifle results. Granted, 5.56/.223 is something of a glorified varmint caliber and not a caliber which one would have huge expectations of.

It looks as though the bonded .223 JSP behaves much like conventional pistol JHP bullets - not giving the yaw, then fragmentation, then dramatic terminal damage that one might expect from a heavy OTM bullet if no barrier was involved.

Am I wrong in thinking that if no barrier is present, much more terminal damage is likely to be achieved with the heavy OPM loads (75g. & 77gr. BTHP) than with bonded .223 JSP?

The reason I keep considering barrier vs. no barrier is because for the most part, as a quiet living private citizen/home owner, the likelihood of me needing to penetrate barriers in self defense is very, very low. I am not in the business of chasing down armed criminals who are trying to shoot back and get away. Not that I wouldn't want to have some ammunition on hand that is good for that. Just that given the likelihood of me not needing to penetrate barriers... I'm wondering if the yaw and fragmentation one might expect from a 75gr. Hornady BTHP might give dramatically better terminal effectiveness in stopping an assailant than the Speer bonded JSP shown in Speer's chart. Pistol caliber performance is not real great in stopping threats quickly. But I think early yaw and fragmentation from a 75gr. Hornady may achieve that much more easily?

Please understand, I'm not arguing with you at all... I'm just looking at the results and thinking about it critically. Perhaps I'm all wrong here... I'm brand new to the AR and .223/5.56 (but have decades of pistol caliber and shotgun experience), but that chart looks like 9mm pistol results to me. I would hope to see better results than that from 5.56, but I may very well have my expectations set too high.

[Jake'sDad]

But I think early yaw and fragmentation from a 75gr. Hornady may achieve that much more easily?

What exactly do you believe "early yaw and fragmentation" is going to accomplish that this bullet doesn't?

[DHart]

What exactly do you believe "early yaw and fragmentation" is going to accomplish that this bullet doesn't?

Compare the 9mm and the .30 cal carbine's controlled expansion diagram to the 5.56 75gr. OTM yaw and fragment diagram here:



Looking at Doc's charts showing typical fragmentation, temporary, and permanent crush cavities from 5.56 bullets that yaw and fragment, one can see a very dramatic and devastating level of destruction... much more than you would find from a mushroomed JHP that stayed fairly intact.

[Jake'sDad]

Compare the 9mm and the .30 cal carbine's controlled expansion diagram to the 5.56 75gr. OTM yaw and fragment diagram here:



Looking at Doc's charts showing typical fragmentation, temporary, and permanent crush cavities from 5.56 bullets that yaw and fragment, one can see a very dramatic and devastating level of destruction... much more than you would find from a mushroomed JHP that stayed fairly intact.

I think you're assuming since the bonded core bullets retain much of their weight, there is no yaw and fragmentation from them.

Again, perhaps Doc can illuminate us on what he thinks.

[DHart]

I think you're assuming since the bonded core bullets retain much of their weight, there is no yaw and fragmentation from them.

Again, perhaps Doc can illuminate us on what he thinks.

No, I'm assuming that since the bonded core bullets retain most of their weight that there is just relatively little fragmentation as compared to the rounds that are designed to work via yaw and fragmentation.

I would be interested in hearing Doc's views on this.

[Jake'sDad]

No, I'm assuming that since the bonded core bullets retain most of their weight that there is just relatively little fragmentation as compared to the rounds that are designed to work via yaw and fragmentation.

I would be interested in hearing Doc's views on this.

My leaning would be the projectile that retains a majority of it weight, expands to 50-65 caliber and penetrates to 15"+, over small fragments that may not penetrate more that 4"-6" but I'll be interested in what Doc says as well.

[DHart]

My leaning would be the projectile that retains a majority of it weight, expands to 50-65 caliber and penetrates to 15"+, over small fragments that may not penetrate more that 4"-6" but I'll be interested in what Doc says as well.

I sure don't mind .45acp +P Ranger terminal ballistics. Especially if I can launch 30 of them, with rifle accuracy, MUCH greater range, and M4 semi-auto speed before needing a reload! No argument from me on that.

[Iraqgunz]

You don't need an O-ring. I just wanted to know if you were using one. I suspect that your chamber is tight and that is causing the problem. You can scrub it all day and it won't help.

You need to track down a chamber reamer as I mentioned to find out if the chamber is tight or not.

For the record everyone of my AR's will digest steel case ammo. The common factor being that I have true 5.56 chambered barrels.

I have had enough BM experience that I am fairly certain your chamber is too tight.

I would get a Colt or BCM extractor spring and insert (don't use the O-ring) and repalce your current one.

Negative on the O-ring. I thought about installing one but haven't yet. I read somewhere that you can purchase an O-ring from the local hardware store and save about $5 to $8 over the ones from an AR supplier. I've always wondered if there was a difference...especially when everything heats up. Do you know?

From a 'feel' standpoint, the extractors from the Bushmaster and the Rock River seem about the same. A couple of days ago, I was shooting the Bushmaster and the same problem occured with a cold/not cleaned weapon. One shot is all I got from it... same problem. I took the extractor apart and it does not appear to be worn at all.

The tension on my buddy's AR feels the same as mine. I'll scrub the chamber and try it again.

AuP