"Mexican match" 5.56

[M90A1]

I use a press mounted bullet pulling die, then give the brass a light kiss with a VLD debur tool, replace the powder charge, seat the OTM, and put a light Factory Crimp on the round to ensure decent neck tension.

If it's XM193, I'll save the bullet and drop the powder charge at least one full grain... Then I'll put those components in used brass for blasting.

I understand what you're doing, but why don't you just start with primed brass? The whole point of Mexican match was to just pull a bullet and replace it with a better bullet, without having to go thru all the other stuff. At least, that's what I'm doing. Replacing the 55gr or 62gr ball bullet with a better bullet of the same weight, hoping to get better accuracy without going thru the whole process you've outlined. I won't end up with true "match accuracy", but that was not the intention to begin with.

see here:
http://www.theboxotruth.com/educatio...ch-ammunition/

[markm]

There's no ammo other than Federal GMM (that I know of) that comes with an acceptable propellant. So pulling the bullet and subbing it while retaining crappy ball powder will indeed help a certain amount.... but why not fix another problem at the same time?

[M90A1]

There's no ammo other than Federal GMM (that I know of) that comes with an acceptable propellant. So pulling the bullet and subbing it while retaining crappy ball powder will indeed help a certain amount.... but why not fix another problem at the same time?

Sure, you could do that, but then, you're not making "Mexican match", which was intended to be a simple process. Now that I think about it, I probably shouldn't have used the "Mexican match" description, but instead just asked if anyone had good results replacing ball bullets with better quality bullets. I suppose it's not match ammo if you don't start with match ammo. With 7.62 we started with M118. Big difference from starting with M193 or M855. I'll shut up now and do my own experimentation.

Thanks all............

[markm]

Sure, you could do that, but then, you're not making "Mexican match", which was intended to be a simple process.

I hear you. But changing the bullet will often mean adjusting the charge anyway...

[markm]

I did an experiment once with Herterz 62 gr ammo. I mixed and matched and subbed everything. And to your point, M90A1, subbing in a 69 gr SMK directly over all the existing components really did the round a world of improvement. Since that ammo is mild anyway, a heavier projectile over the existing load worked good.

With Russian .223, I found that they do everything pretty good, except the bullet. Subbing the bullet took the ammo from 4 moa to 1 Moa.

[M90A1]

I did an experiment once with Herterz 62 gr ammo. I mixed and matched and subbed everything. And to your point, M90A1, subbing in a 69 gr SMK directly over all the existing components really did the round a world of improvement. Since that ammo is mild anyway, a heavier projectile over the existing load worked good.

With Russian .223, I found that they do everything pretty good, except the bullet. Subbing the bullet took the ammo from 4 moa to 1 Moa.

Now, that's what I was looking for. I'll continue on with my plan to replace 62gr M855 bullets with the 62gr OTM bullets I got from Midway a while back, and see what happens. I hope it doesn't work too well, 'cause the bullets don't seem to be available any longer.

Thanks markm.

[markm]

That should work ok. I think the 62 gr SS109 is a longer bullet, so the 62 OTM should sub well without pushing pressure too high.

[M90A1]

That should work ok. I think the 62 gr SS109 is a longer bullet, so the 62 OTM should sub well without pushing pressure too high.

I don't think I'll have any problem with pressure, except for probably losing a little. The pic below shows l-r, an XM855 bullet, a genuine M855 bullet, and the 62gr OTM bullet I'll be using. Surprising how much difference there is in the length of the all lead-core OTM bullet and the lead-steel core of the 855 bullets. As long as I don't run into feeding problems with the shorter coal with the OTMs, I think I should be ok. Too, I'll be running all three bullet types across a chronograph, so I'll know what difference shows up in velocity, etc.

I won't really be shooting these past 400 yards, so the lack of a boat-tail shouldn't hurt.

Oh yeah, I weighed them all on a digital scale and they're all 62gr., even though you wouldn't think so to look at them.

[markm]

Sounds like an ideal round. I'd love to get a bunch of that herterz. I like shooting cases that I don't have to tumble and reload.

[hamour]

I have done it to make hunting ammo with two bullets and two brands of M855

Federal and IMI

Bullets substituted were Nosler 64 gr BSB and Federal 62 gr Fusion

Both brands of M855 made good hunting ammo when this was done. The Federal fusion bullet seems to be more accurate but not enough to matter at 5.56 hunting or defensive shooting distances.

Have not put any target bullets in yet.

I find it an excellent way to make better use of my ball ammo in 5.56. 308 or 30-06. They all see improved accuracy and make good deer killing ammo.

I took some Nosler 155gr CC HPBT and did used them to Mexican match some HXP Ball and came up with this type of group from my Scout Scoped M1
This is typical improvement just by changing the bullet