Ammo Choices

[AllAmerican]

Failure2Stop

LMTs are great.
The DD Lite rail is excellent choice.
I would, however, recommend other options over M855/SS109, but that should be addressed in the ammo forum if you are interested.
Good choices on the hardware.


Failure2Stop... I would like to take you up on your offer to recommend ammo options for my LMT Defender. I thought the 2 I picked were some of the best?
What do you think???

[Saginaw79]

I am not the person in question but I agree, especially for SD

Ball is for stocking in bulk for a bad day or range use as their are much better performing SD rounds than ball

I use TAP for SD in my ARs

[AllAmerican]

I am not the person in question but I agree, especially for SD

Ball is for stocking in bulk for a bad day or range use as their are much better performing SD rounds than ball

I use TAP for SD in my ARs

Where do buy it? I think that is what the deputies use here.....

Thanks

[Failure2Stop]

From what I have seen and experienced (I have not conducted scientific experiments, am going off of public domain info, especially that from Dr Fackler, Dr Roberts, and Buford Boone) I agree with the general FBI criteria and that outlined by experts in the field (I am not).

#1- Hornady 75gr 5.56 TAP (excellent external and terminal ballistics).
#2- Black Hills 77gr Mk262 Mod 1 (almost as good as the 5.56 Hornady).
#3- Hornady 75gr .223 TAP (similar to 5.56 TAP, but loaded to SAAMI pressure instead of the higher NATO pressure, giving lower velocity with a different bullet)
#4- Federal 62gr JSP (good performance through glass, decent on bare gel, not huge permanent wound cavity, but very consistent and very short neck, quite pricey)
#5- M193 Type 55gr, loaded to NATO pressure (decent performance at close range also cheap enough to conduct high-volume training with duty ammo).

Ammo to avoid for HD/Duty use-
Varmint bullets (light weight and/or ballistic tip) - generally provide inadequate penetration to ensure rapid incapacitation. Great on varmints though.
LeMas type "Magic" bullets. Simply varmint bullets loaded to high pressure.
M855- inconsistent terminal performance (not all that great when it performs well either), high cost to benefit ratio. Does not penetrate soft armor any better than other 5.56, is still not effective against hard armor.
Non Nato pressure M193 type (55gr FMJ) - good for practice if you get it cheap, but unreliable terminal performance.

I am not a scientist or doctor. This list is based off of my understanding of the subject, my needs, and the recommendations of others that know more than me. Hopefully some of them will weigh in as well, though this has been covered a few times already.

[Saginaw79]

Where do buy it? I think that is what the deputies use here.....

Thanks

I actually bought mine from cheaperthandirt.com, afa that type of ammo goes they are priced right though a lot of their other stuff is overpriced

Thy usually have both TAP(LE ammo though anyone can buy) or TAP-FPD(non LE version of TAP)

I prefer the regular red box TAP, but FPD is good stuff as well

You can also try ammunitiontogo.com as well

[AllAmerican]

Thanks guys for the information, I am going to get some samples of some ammo that I don't have and see which ones my gun likes to eat the best....

[markm]

M855- inconsistent terminal performance (not all that great when it performs well either), high cost to benefit ratio. Does not penetrate soft armor any better than other 5.56, is still not effective against hard armor.

Agreed! M855, although a high quality ammo, is a mediocre performer in accuracy and from some accounts terminal balistics.

I just run M193 (Xm193) across the board and don't worry about a thing.

[AllAmerican]

I got some SS109 from Ammotogo.com, seems the other ammo is getting hard to get. I have some Tap ordered. Ammoman has some different ammo and seems reasonable, but I have not bought enough on line to know for sure. I'm going to check with Cheaper than dirt today. The ammo I bought came on stripper clips. I understand you can keep PMags loaded with the dust covers on for a long time, that is what I planned on doing, I have a dozen.....
Any other ideas where to buy Tap? It is really expensive at the local gun shop.
I don't mind buying bulk if the price is right!
Thanks!

[AllAmerican]

[QUOTE=Failure2Stop;153226]From what I have seen and experienced (I have not conducted scientific experiments, am going off of public domain info, especially that from Dr Fackler, Dr Roberts, and Buford Boone) I agree with the general FBI criteria and that outlined by experts in the field (I am not).

#1- Hornady 75gr 5.56 TAP (excellent external and terminal ballistics).
#2- Black Hills 77gr Mk262 Mod 1 (almost as good as the 5.56 Hornady).
#3- Hornady 75gr .223 TAP (similar to 5.56 TAP, but loaded to SAAMI pressure instead of the higher NATO pressure, giving lower velocity with a different bullet)
#4- Federal 62gr JSP (good performance through glass, decent on bare gel, not huge permanent wound cavity, but very consistent and very short neck, quite pricey)
#5- M193 Type 55gr, loaded to NATO pressure (decent performance at close range also cheap enough to conduct high-volume training with duty ammo).


Question: The large grain rounds you quote above like 75 and 77 grain...
Do I have to have a larger chamber for these?? My barrel just says 5.56.
Thanks again

[Failure2Stop]

Question: The large grain rounds you quote above like 75 and 77 grain...
Do I have to have a larger chamber for these?? My barrel just says 5.56.
Thanks again

You don't need a "larger" chamber per se, but if you are shooting NATO ammo, you want a NATO 5.56 chamber.
With an LMT you are good to go.

[AllAmerican]

You don't need a "larger" chamber per se, but if you are shooting NATO ammo, you want a NATO 5.56 chamber.
With an LMT you are good to go.

Great! Thanks for the info!