Hornady 81624 75gr 5.56 Now With Cannelure

[14point5]

I recently found Hornady Superformance 75gr 5.56 ammo for sale and I jumped on it because I had read how scarce the true 5.56 75gr stuff is and I knew of the 5.56 TAP with the T2 bullet reputation.

After I placed my order, I went to the internet and started searching for more information, and much to my dismay, I learned that, although most 223 varieties of Hornady 75gr products and the elusive TAP 75gr T2 ammo have great reputations for accuracy and terminal ballistics, the Superformance Match 75gr 5.56 (81264) offering was generally found to be crap. Many users who tested it had 4" groups at 100 yards, as opposed to the expected 1 MOA performance. Also, the 81264 offering came with a 75gr non-cannelured bullet, not sure if it was T1 or something different, but it was not T2.

Here is what the initial offering looked like:



Most "in the know" AR shooting enthusiasts expected the long awaited Superformance 5.56 75gr ammo to be a civilian equivalent of 5.56 TAP with the T2 bullet, but it fell well short.

Here is a link to a previous M4carbine.net thread about this ammo:

http://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=65279

Well I was pretty disappointed. As I read on, I realized that threads about this ammo mostly died out about a year ago, and I found a thread on a smaller board that claimed a Hornady rep told one user that they were pulling this ammo back and reworking it before it would be available again. That post was dated Feb 2011.

I emailed Jason @ Hornady to ask if this problem with the 81264 product had been resolved, and I got no reply.

Rather than try to cancel my order, I figured I would wait and see. Today my ammo arrived and I opened it up to find, to my delight, that the bullet has a cannelure. I have not pulled a bullet, but there has obviously been a change in the bullet used in this offering.

Proof is in my pics:





The headstamp is "HORNADY 5.56 NATO" and bullet obviously has a cannelure, as of December 2011 (retail purchase date). I don't know if the bullet is T1C or T2.

Now the question is, "Does it shoot 1 MOA like is supposed to?"

I may be able to get out to a 100 yard range later this week. My most accurate rig is a Noveske 14.5" lo-pro light with an ACOG. I'll give it a try as soon as possible. I can test it in my Colt 6940 with an ACOG also, but I don't have a match grade 20" barrel rig with a 10x scope.

Anyway, it is good to see, at least, that Hornady has made a change and I hope this is good stuff.

[TRIDENT82]

Interesting, nice pics and report

Look forward to hearing your accuracy results.

FWIW, I've shot a ton of the SF vmax 53gr., and it's a freaking laser beam. It shoots amazingly flat. So the total SF line wasn't a bust in my eyes, just the civilian T2

[bp7178]

Using the "hold one up to the computer screen" method, it looks just like the ogive of the Hornady TAP 5.56mm T2, and even has the same headstamp.

I had heard, and by that I mean read on the internet, Hornady was switching to the T2 projectile in light of all the complaints of poor accuracy in the Superperformance stuff.

[Snake Plissken]

Check the velocity; that's what matters with these loads.


Regardless, 4" at 100 yards is still far more than what is needed for defensive purposes. It will work fine. Although if you think 75 gr T2 is still god-tier status defensive ammo then you need to try reading the rest of the stickies here as there is just better ammo. Federal Fusion/Gold Dot bonded JSP loads and Barnes TSX loads are simply superior. Hornady has become an overused brand.

[markm]

Originally Posted by bp7178

I had heard, and by that I mean read on the internet, Hornady was switching to the T2 projectile in light of all the complaints of poor accuracy in the Superperformance stuff.

It looks like the old Superperf has a bullet with a secant ogive and the OPs shipment has a bullet with a Tangeant ogive. Accuracy probably would suck with the original bullet since it's loaded to mag length, but the BC would be much higher.

I bet if the old ammo was loaded longer the accuracy would be much better. Since most won't shoot this ammo to 500 and beyond, Hornady is better off with the lower BC bullet.

[bp7178]

Originally Posted by Snake Plissken

Check the velocity; that's what matters with these loads.


Regardless, 4" at 100 yards is still far more than what is needed for defensive purposes. It will work fine. Although if you think 75 gr T2 is still god-tier status defensive ammo then you need to try reading the rest of the stickies here as there is just better ammo. Federal Fusion/Gold Dot bonded JSP loads and Barnes TSX loads are simply superior. Hornady has become an overused brand.

This isn't a thread on terminal ballistics. No one said T2 is/was a "God-tier" product. Where you got that from I have no idea.

In paying premium ammo prices, I expect premium preformance, and that includes accuracy.

Hornady has other loadings that use the T1 and T1C bullet and are much more accurate than the Superformance w/o the T2 bullet. The standard 75gr Match loading is very accurate and uses the T1 projectile.

[markm]

Originally Posted by bp7178

In paying premium ammo prices, I expect premium preformance, and that includes accuracy.

Yeah... that bullet pictured in the first pic would probably be depth sensative and need to be loaded custom to a given barrel.

We loaded some VLDs like that to mag length in 300 Win Mag and the group openned up too large to measure.... I'm talking bullets completely off the paper, cardboard, and Frame!

Just amazing out depth sensative those secant bullets can be.

[TehLlama]

Originally Posted by markm

It looks like the old Superperf has a bullet with a secant ogive and the OPs shipment has a bullet with a Tangeant ogive. Accuracy probably would suck with the original bullet since it's loaded to mag length, but the BC would be much higher.

I bet if the old ammo was loaded longer the accuracy would be much better. Since most won't shoot this ammo to 500 and beyond, Hornady is better off with the lower BC bullet.

For the price they were asking up front, I would agree with bp7 that accuracy wasn't where it could have been - all the 2008 lots of 75gr Hornady Match stuff with T1 rounds are more accurate than I could shoot my old CMMG M18. .8" groups at 55yds isn't laserbeam accurate, but more than adequate for what I was trying to do.

I agree with the assessment that BC isn't the important part here - anybody shooting far enough (500m plus) and concerned about bullet drop that much probably ought to be hand loading SMK's, and I doubt the difference between the T1 and T2 at that distance is going to be critical - there are going to be limitations, and I think if they had the accuracy where they needed to the lower BC would have been a nonissue for 99% of their market.

[bp7178]

I don't think the .04 difference in BC is going to matter when one is 1 moa ammo and the other 3-4 moa.

Generally, 5.56mm ammo isn't the most accurate anyway, and heavy OTMs don't strut their stuff until you get past 100 yards.

However, more than one long range shooter has mentioned the T2 is some of the most consistent ammunition, and surprisingly accurate even at 5.56 velocities.

I'd be very courious if the (new) 5.56 Superformance loading could match the accuracy of the TAP T2 load.

[jwfuhrman]

Part of the prize package I got at the Pro/Am in August was a box of both the 223 and the 556 75gr Superformance..... And that's tsome of the most disappointing ammo I've ever shot. 3in at 100yds from both 223 and 556. I gave up on Hornady bullets and ammo. I shoot strictly 69gr SMK's from my 3gun now, as at 100yd I have a .82in group using a ballistic calculator to measure the group sizes. 10shots in 10 different groups, all 1in and under with .82 being the best.

Maybe I'll try some of the new 75's as long as I can find them with cannelure

[Belmont31R]

The first SP 556 75BTHP that came out was junk.


When I emailed Hornady about it Jason Hornady accused me of having a flinch and they tested the ammo before selling it.


Then I showed him this and he retorted I shouldn't take things personally.

[markm]

Originally Posted by jwfuhrman

Part of the prize package I got at the Pro/Am in August was a box of both the 223 and the 556 75gr Superformance..... And that's tsome of the most disappointing ammo I've ever shot. 3in at 100yds from both 223 and 556. I gave up on Hornady bullets and ammo.

Again... not surprising with mag length loaded ammo. I'm surprised that Hornady didn't know better than to produce secant bullet ammo in mag length.

[jwfuhrman]

Originally Posted by markm

Again... not surprising with mag length loaded ammo. I'm surprised that Hornady didn't know better than to produce secant bullet ammo in mag length.

Heck even with hand loading their 68's and 75's I can't get the accuracy I can with 69 and 77 SMK's. Plus with using the 69 at 24.5gr of Varget and a 55 FMJBT with the same powder charge, my XTR reticle matches those 2 bullet/load combos damn near perfectly.

I used to use only 75's about a year ago, but in the last year they have dropped off in accuracy big time.

[14point5]

I took the new Hornady Superformance 75gr 5.56 81264 to the range today and compared it to the other Hornady 75gr loads that I have. I started a new thread HERE.

[Nightvisionary]

Originally Posted by jwfuhrman

Heck even with hand loading their 68's and 75's I can't get the accuracy I can with 69 and 77 SMK's. Plus with using the 69 at 24.5gr of Varget and a 55 FMJBT with the same powder charge, my XTR reticle matches those 2 bullet/load combos damn near perfectly.

I used to use only 75's about a year ago, but in the last year they have dropped off in accuracy big time.

I get better accuracy with the 68's but had no luck with the 75's using a variety of different loads. SMK or Nosler custom competition OTM's are the way to go if you are looking for good accuracy. At least from my own experience.

I just tried some of the Hornady non-boat tail HP 75's. Again not great accuracy but I do like getting 3000+ FPS velocity with that bullet weight so I may have to try some different 75 grain bullets.

[bp7178]

Any flavor of factory loaded 69/77gr SMKs which seem to be more accurate?

I was thinking about trying out some Black Hills or Fiocchi Exacta.

[Nightvisionary]

Originally Posted by Snake Plissken

Check the velocity; that's what matters with these loads.


Regardless, 4" at 100 yards is still far more than what is needed for defensive purposes. It will work fine. Although if you think 75 gr T2 is still god-tier status defensive ammo then you need to try reading the rest of the stickies here as there is just better ammo. Federal Fusion/Gold Dot bonded JSP loads and Barnes TSX loads are simply superior. Hornady has become an overused brand.

The problem with the Barnes TSX and all other bonded and solid copper bullets is they are too expensive to load and shoot on a regular basis for most shooters/reloaders. In addition to the expense they are not offered in bulk quantities from manufacturers like open tip match bullets are.

70 grain TSX bullets are around $30 per box of fifty and that is the only quantity they are offered in that I am aware of.

High quality OTM's on the other hand can be purchased in quantities of 100, 250, 500, and 1000 for much cheaper. I just paid 14.7 cents per bullet for 1000 Nosler 77 grain OTM's. That means I can shoot 4 Nosler 77 grain bullets(The same bullet used in the MK262 Mod 0 ) for every 1 TSX.

The Barnes TSX is an excellent bullet and I load it for hunting elk but for me it's too cost prohibitive as a regular carbine load.

[markm]

Originally Posted by bp7178

Any flavor of factory loaded 69/77gr SMKs which seem to be more accurate?

I was thinking about trying out some Black Hills or Fiocchi Exacta.

I haven't seen anything from Black Hills that I'd consider acceptable... I'm puzzled at how they have a good name in ammo.

Fiochi grouped really well for some dude on another site. He tested a bunch of .223 loads.

[bp7178]

Originally Posted by markm

I haven't seen anything from Black Hills that I'd consider acceptable... I'm puzzled at how they have a good name in ammo.

Fiochi grouped really well for some dude on another site. He tested a bunch of .223 loads.

The blue box stuff always seems to test better than the red box stuff in regards to Black Hills.

[markm]

That's strange. I did shoot a box of blue and it was pretty good. The brass wasn't trimmed at all though.

I mean... I stuck it in a case guage an it was WAY long.