Realistic 55 gr FMJ BT accuracy in plain AR

Have you shot groups with other bullets? It may be worth figuring out how good your AR can shoot with accuracy-focused ammo. If you've got a 2.5 MOA gun shooting SMK's, then you can decide whether it's worth trying to chase further with the FMJ's.

I have 20" Bushmaster HBAR with 1:9 twist barrel.

With various 55 gr FMJ factory ammo and plinking reloads, it groups around 2" and less than 1.5" with better ammo like Black Hills (Blue box).

I have gotten very good accuracy using this load in several ar's a-2230 25.2 grs Hornady 55 grain fmj 2.250 oal. It's seated above the crimp grove but I have always had better accuracy with out crimping anyway. This load is slightly into the nato loading range.

It's possible. I haven't achieved it yet but I'm getting closer. The darn $6/box PMC Bronze 55g fmjbt factory loads keep shooting sub 1 MOA but I can't get better than about 1.5" with my reloads.

At 100 yards

The PMC factory loads (right) were through my 35 year old 20" AR with a $30 BSA Deerhunter scope mounted atop the fixed handle


The 748 reloads are through my 16" Ruger American Ranch with a $30 Simmons Scope that I took off my Optima V2 Muzzleloader


This is using .224 55g fmjbt w/c seated to the middle of the cannelure and not crimped using PMC brass.
Bob's bullets (223bulkbullets) @ $83/k

Might try different 55gn FMJ loads just to get a baseline. I have had some really impressive groups from old “yellow box” Norinco 55gn FMJ.

I haven't tried to many Hornady bullets, but a friend does with a 16" DelTon gets about what you report, but with a Savage Axis he gets .6 at 100 yards (MOA all day) consistently, so the bullets are capable, but 4x is not a lot of magnification. BTW he's loading around 23 grains of H335. I used to get some 55's locally, I don't know who made them, I think Montana Gold, but not sure, but I got 1.5 with an M&A 20 1in7 rifle when I was better at shooting. `On a good day I get 5" at 100 yards at best nowadays, since I refuse to trade in my A2 sights, so I would be very happy with your group!

Hornadys seem to be good as far as FMJs go, but I would say it's time to treat yourself to a better box of bullets.
1 box of 100 might not be enough to find the best load but should be more than enough to give you an idea if a better bullet would help.

Rocky Mountain reloading often has good deals on pulled bullets of different types that may not be much more than the 55gr FMJS.
RMR offers THR members a 5% discount with a code. (free shipping)

The bullets you are using are know not to be the most accurate. I shot out a barrel trying to get those to shoot 1 moa. They will average around 1.5-2 moa at best depending on the barrel. If you want accuracy you need to shoot a better quality bullet. Now these are great plinker/blasting rounds since they are cheap. My match barrel AR's will only give me a 1.5 moa at best with these cheap bullets. The same barrel/AR using a 52gr SMK will shoot <1 moa with little very little effort. It quite common to get 5 shot groups all touching if you do your part.

Try some Hornady 55 grain spire point. They can be found for the same price as FMJ's and are considerably more accurate in my rifles.

If that was a 5-shot group, I'd be saying you need to look elsewhere... but a 20-shot group, from what is essentially a entry-level mass-produced AR? I'm good. That's not to say you shouldn't try a different bullet just for fun... You didn't mention the twist on the barrel, if it's a 'target' barrel, it may be 1:7 like my Colt H-Bar, which does not really like 55grn bullets and produces accuracy similar to what you found. Maybe give some 62grn bullets a try...

My HBAR Rock River rifle 20-inch I use for 3-Gun competition will keep Priv Partizan M193 clone under the 3 MOA dot in my Leupold Mark 4 CQ/T 1-3 x 14mm at 200 yards. That's more than good enough for the competition I shoot with it.

I have match rifles that will shoot match ammo at 1/4" all day long but you throw a FMJ 55 through it and the groups open up to 2-3" It can shoot some small groups but there will always be a spread if I shoot enough bullets. 20 round groups at 2.9" is amazing in my opinion.

Walkalong said:

With FMJ? I'd love to see that. Yes, the Hornady 55 Gr FMJ is better than most, but it's still a FMJ.

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you are ABSOLUTELY correct. I didn't call him a liar when he told me, but I did kinda hint at it : We went out and he shot a couple mags at 110 yards, all center to center at 3/8", no fliers. He proceeded to do this all day. He did use a rest, but yea, Hornady 55 FMJ. When I run out, Im probably switching. The thing that got me, was the load was so light. Around 2900FPS out of the 22" barrel. Im getting 3000 out of my 16.

Well,
Better luck today. I upped the 748 load to 26.0g. Some data books say that is the max load while other say you could push it up to 26.5g. I originally stopped short at 25.7g but today I only loaded 10 rounds and got these groups. 55g fmjbt from 223bulkbullets.com, Winchester 748, CCI small rifle primer, PMC brass reloaded about 4-5 times. 16.125" Ruger American Ranch (old style with the 5 shot mag) on sandbags at 100 yards, 2910 fps average MV. 1" center circle.



On my 20" AR platform, I noticed that holding the gun on the sandbags made a difference on the group size. Resting the gun on the bags and putting my left hand on the stock gave me a better group than putting my left hand around the magwell. 24.7g H335, same bullets, 20" AR 100 yards, average MV of 2980fps. You can see the 16" Ruger doesn't play well with the same loads my 20" AR likes. You can also see the vertical stringing of the thin AR barrel as it heats up.



This is probably about as good as I'll get with fmj's and it's much better than I had intended. I originally just needed something I can shoot with using the stock AR peep sights but I wanted to make sure it was my shooting that was the limiting factor and not the ammo. 2-3" is probably all I can do with open sights at 100 yards so this combination is probably good enough and there is no need to do any more tweaking.

That’s pretty awesome for in the wind. You can probbably knock an inch of that left to right drift off.

Most people find shooting even a 10 shot group VERY taxing and the results will show on the target. This is why most 'braggin'' groups are only 3 or 5 rounds at most. Shoot more and they'll normally open up so you are doing well IMHO. You might find a little improvement with a sight level mounted on the rifle being that the scope is so high over the bore on an AR that even a slight cant will throw the bullets off farther than a normal bolt gun. And a 4X at 100yds is pretty coarse for fine target work so some sighting error has got to be creeping in despite you doing a good job on your end. Keep working at it....practice does indeed make perfect. And perhaps cut down the groups to 5's for a little bit as this might allow you to concentrate better and also keep heating to a minimum which should allow you to judge your loads a bit better.

Honestly, with 55 FMJ I would expect about 2" groups. Maybe 1.5" out of my 20" free-floated gun, and 2"-2.5" out of my 16" carbine.

Blue68f100 said:

The bullets you are using are know not to be the most accurate. I shot out a barrel trying to get those to shoot 1 moa. They will average around 1.5-2 moa at best depending on the barrel. If you want accuracy you need to shoot a better quality bullet. Now these are great plinker/blasting rounds since they are cheap. My match barrel AR's will only give me a 1.5 moa at best with these cheap bullets. The same barrel/AR using a 52gr SMK will shoot <1 moa with little very little effort. It quite common to get 5 shot groups all touching if you do your part.

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^^^^ This ^^^^
I have not tried the 52 SMK, but I have found the Hornady 55SP bullets to be more accurate than the 55 FMJ BT, and don't cost that much more.

Fine Figure of a Man said:

Try some Hornady 55 grain spire point. They can be found for the same price as FMJ's and are considerably more accurate in my rifles.

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Mine, too.

FWIW, I get better than 1 moa with the Hornady 75 bthp. They can be had for around $0.14 each in quantity, on sale. I grab them up for that price. The 55SP I can find occasionally for around $0.08 - $0.085 each. If I were to never shoot past 100 yards, they would probably be all I would buy. I am a member at a range where I can shoot out to 600 yards and beyond, so the 75bthp bullets are preferred. If I only had peep sights and never shot past 300 yards, I would not bother with the extra expense.

rsrocket1 said:

Well,
Better luck today. I upped the 748 load to 26.0g. Some data books say that is the max load while other say you could push it up to 26.5g. I originally stopped short at 25.7g but today I only loaded 10 rounds and got these groups. 55g fmjbt from 223bulkbullets.com, Winchester 748, CCI small rifle primer, PMC brass reloaded about 4-5 times. 16.125" Ruger American Ranch (old style with the 5 shot mag) on sandbags at 100 yards, 2910 fps average MV. 1" center circle.

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Sounds like you might want do a little more in working up your loads. Start low and work up, looking for accuracy nodes. I've seen group sizes go from 3" down to under 1" in my one 20" rifle. Generally speaking, the highest velocity does not equal the best accuracy.

On my 20" AR platform, I noticed that holding the gun on the sandbags made a difference on the group size. Resting the gun on the bags and putting my left hand on the stock gave me a better group than putting my left hand around the magwell. 24.7g H335, same bullets, 20" AR 100 yards, average MV of 2980fps. You can see the 16" Ruger doesn't play well with the same loads my 20" AR likes. You can also see the vertical stringing of the thin AR barrel as it heats up.

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Yes, how the gun rests makes a difference. And when I was first getting started, the thing that made the biggest difference was changing the trigger!

This is probably about as good as I'll get with fmj's and it's much better than I had intended. I originally just needed something I can shoot with using the stock AR peep sights but I wanted to make sure it was my shooting that was the limiting factor and not the ammo. 2-3" is probably all I can do with open sights at 100 yards so this combination is probably good enough and there is no need to do any more tweaking.

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Then you used a good approach, IMHO. It is hard to find useful data when it is hiding down in the mud. Eliminate as many variables as possible. Once you figure out what works well, go back to the peep sights.

Toprudder said:

Once you figure out what works well, go back to the peep sights.

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Interesting you make that comment...

I have a old Bushnell Banner 3x9 scope I use when I'm doing load development, it's probably been on most of my rifles that can take a scope. I'm not a scope guy, but it helps take much of the human error part of accuracy testing out of load development. Recently, as I develop 62 and 69grn bullet loads for my AR's, I mounted it on a QD rail so I can swap it off and on my AR's and such... it makes a difference. Once I'm done, however, I'm back to my trusty peeps.

For a 20 round group I do not thing you are doing bad at all with FMJ. I can get around 1" on a good day with 3-5 shots but bump that to 10 shots and I'm not sure I've ever been under 1.75". For 20 rounds I'd say it would be really tough to be under that. I use Hornady FMJ for my plinking cheap stuff, not because they are so accurate, but because they are reasonably priced and accurate enough.

Jeff

Bartojc said:

I can get around 1" on a good day with 3-5 shots but bump that to 10 shots and I'm not sure I've ever been under 1.75". For 20 rounds I'd say it would be really tough to be under that.

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I agree.

OP, keep in mind, depending on the barrel, after 20 or 30 round magazine of shots, your barrel will become soft noodle and your group size will increase.

Even for my HBAR, between 5 round shot groups, I prefer to allow the barrel to cool so I can touch it before firing next group.

Charlie98 said:

Interesting you make that comment...

I have a old Bushnell Banner 3x9 scope I use when I'm doing load development, it's probably been on most of my rifles that can take a scope. I'm not a scope guy, but it helps take much of the human error part of accuracy testing out of load development. Recently, as I develop 62 and 69grn bullet loads for my AR's, I mounted it on a QD rail so I can swap it off and on my AR's and such... it makes a difference. Once I'm done, however, I'm back to my trusty peeps.

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Yeah, I do that on some of my rifles before I swap out the scope for a red-dot. I also use a rail mounted laser and bench rest my handguns when I am working up loads for those. I found out that I need to have the laser aimed about 2" away from the POI, so that I don't shoot my aim point away. A laser doesn't reflect from a hole.

Toprudder said:

Yeah, I do that on some of my rifles before I swap out the scope for a red-dot. I also use a rail mounted laser and bench rest my handguns when I am working up loads for those. I found out that I need to have the laser aimed about 2" away from the POI, so that I don't shoot my aim point away. A laser doesn't reflect from a hole.

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Same for me! Great posts Toprudder. I like to show myself how accurate a rifle can be before I relegate it to peep sight service (my favorite way to shoot), and a scope temporarily mounted for load testing or development is the way to go!

Although I shoot 3-4 MOA prone (with the occasional crazy small cloverleaf group) with my Marlin 60 with Tech Sights, I really enjoy knowing that with a 4X scope on it it’s good for less than 1.6 MOA. Makes me feel like I am holding a finely crafted tool and that makes a big difference when I am judging myself and my shooting with the peep sights. Nobody to blame and a yardstick to measure myself against.