62gr M855 or 55gr M193: Must choose ONE or THE OTHER for 16" bbl 1:7 twist

[SearchMe]

I know. Beaten to death a thousand times.
But our circumstances are different now and worsening by the day,
so it's worth reconsidering.


I want to buy 1000rnds of either 62gr M855 or 55gr M193
I can buy only one or the other, not both.

Barrel: 16" 1:7

Purpose 1: Personal defense at around-the-house distances.
Purpose 2: Potential large-scale societal chaos at urban distances out to 100 yards.
Purpose 3: Potential confict in rural areas (as in Ukraine) out to 300 yards.

WHICH WOULD YOU BUY?

[Uncas47]

Try a couple boxes of each first, then order a quantity. None of us knows what the hell your gun likes.

[SearchMe]

Try a couple boxes of each first, then order a quantity. None of us knows what the hell your gun likes.

Feel better now?

For anyone who isn't a jackass, I'm speaking in general terms, about a typical 16" barrel with a typical 1:7 twist.

I'm asking about comparative ballistic performance and accuracy between those two rounds in general. There are other factors beyond "what the hell my gun likes" such as the steel core and overpenetration.

So generally speaking, which one would YOU buy in light of the "modern concerns" listed above?

[rocsteady]

Try a couple boxes of each first, then order a quantity. None of us knows what the hell your gun likes.

Heh heh. That last line makes me laugh because until now I've put my faith in .30 cal. Per your comments, and the comments of others, I guess I will "buy a box of both" to see if there's any noticable difference for my particular rifle before jumping in with both feet.



So it's not just me then. In A and B above you spell out exactly my connundrum. What I take away from your remarks and from the helpful comments of others here is this:

I need to expand my budget to include BOTH cartridges in order to accommodate doomsday, training and personal defense.

THAT'S THE ANSWER FOR ME.


What cartridge do you recommend for this? A particular bullet weight and shape? A particular manufacturer? Give me a starting point for further research.

Thanks

Feel better now?

For anyone who isn't a jackass, I'm speaking in general terms, about a typical 16" barrel with a typical 1:7 twist.

I'm asking about comparative ballistic performance and accuracy between those two rounds in general. There are other factors beyond "what the hell my gun likes" such as the steel core and overpenetration.

So generally speaking, which one would YOU buy in light of the "modern concerns" listed above?

Sorry, forgot to include this in the quotes above

[GH41]

If I could only have a thousand rounds it wouldn't be either of those. Make mine 77gr OTMs. Having said that I am the proud owner of enough 855 to sink a small ship!

[MegademiC]

Whichever is cheaper for actually quality product.

I lean more towards 193.

[markm]

Whichever is cheaper for actually quality product.

I lean more towards 193.

This! Shitty version of either flavor would suck. I don't know where to find REAL M193.. there's a lot of ammo out there using the designation in the description.

The recent WIN M855 commercial ammo is really good stuff. But it's full retail price anywhere I've seen it.

[SearchMe]

Thanks, markm.

I'll probably buy PMC X-TAC in one flavor or the other. Both are available for around $450 per 1000rnds at present.

[Defaultmp3]

Feel better now?

For anyone who isn't a jackass, I'm speaking in general terms, about a typical 16" barrel with a typical 1:7 twist.

I'm asking about comparative ballistic performance and accuracy between those two rounds in general. There are other factors beyond "what the hell my gun likes" such as the steel core and overpenetration.

So generally speaking, which one would YOU buy in light of the "modern concerns" listed above?

There is no "in general", though. If you're keeping it specifically to stash away for duty use, I would very much see what my gun likes, because accuracy is all that really matters in this context, since the terminal ballistics of both are pretty mediocre. The only real difference I can think of is that M855 can penetrate UHMWPE, while M193 out of a 16" is not going to be defeating steel plates very well. However, accuracy out of my gun would easily trump any body armor defeat, given that there's lots of ceramic armor out there.

All things being equal, I would lean toward M855 for pure duty use, I guess, because of its slightly better ballistic co-efficient and UHMWPE defeat, but I would much rather buy M193 if I was simply stockpiling, so that I could use it for training and use it against steel targets with less concern (assuming proper distance to give the bullet enough distance to be safe with a 55 gr bullet). If this is truly an emergency use only stash, I'd much rather have a smaller stash of quality duty ammo with barrier blind bullets than a bunch of M193 and M855; going through 1000 rounds without any kind of resupply or movement is pretty fantastical.

[Renegade04]

For the purposes you mentioned, M193 would be just fine. I would, however, recommend buying a few hundred rounds of the M855 to keep on hand.

Here is something that may help you.

https://www.gunmann.com/learning/m855-vs-m193/