Unnatural

Quality maybe, what are the bullets?

Just because it's a 1:9 twist barrel don't guarantee every 62gr bullet will perform. I'd say that with any other weight bullet as well. Barrels can be funny. That's why it's a good idea to try several flavors of each weight.

There are other flavors of M855 besides Federal... IMI, Pioneer... check MidwayUSA and see. Velocities vary and that could have something to do with it. Maybe Federal just didn't hit your barrel's accuracy node.

I'm talking about velocities of various 62gr ball.

Your comment lead me to figure the Federal 55gr stuff was accurate at that speed in your barrel, unlike this particular flavor of 62gr.

Here's an analogy I think most of us can relate to. Not trying to be a smart a--, I take both beer and ammunition seriously.

Go to your local beer aisle and buy 3 6 packs of different makes and similar price. Put them in your fridge and invite some buddies over for free beer. Usually one will disappear first. They are all a quality product, produced in a very similar manner, with near identical ingredients, but one will be decidedly "better" to your friends.

Rifles are the same way. Some like a lager, some like a pilsner, some like some lagers, some pilsners, but will spit the rest all over the ground. The simple answer is that your rifle didn't like that particular lot of that load in those conditions. It MAY like 55s better than 62s, or it may be just in that loading. Only more experimentation will tell. Faster twist = heavier bullets is only a guideline within their "acceptable" ranges of weight to twist rate.

I have never considered "green tip" to be match grade ammo- too much going on inside the bullet jacket, like concentricity of the steel core, that can radically affect accuracy.

View attachment 840130
All of my AR's have been 1 in 9 and I always shoot 55gr.
Ball or V max stuff.
Trigger job and they work as decent chuck poppers.
Yotes too
I got right around an inch w scope max'd at 7X, over my coat at the range (winter.......sucked to not have coat on LOL).
Buddy gets a bit bigger group but puts em behind the shoulder.

Labguy47 said:

Truth be told it was the only ammo available in all 3 weights. Only thing else I can get my hands on is WWB 55gr ball. Blazer on the rare occasion.

Click to expand...

That's why I recommended checking out MidwayUSA, although they're not the only online option... wider selection.

62s are a fairly inaccurate st

.455_Hunter said:

I have never considered "green tip" to be match grade ammo- too much going on inside the bullet jacket, like concentricity of the steel core, that can radically affect accuracy.

Click to expand...

I agree with this. The 55gr FMJ can have decent accuracy, but I have never seen a lot of steel core that shot very well in any rifle I have. It's a long, long way from match ammo.

Labguy47 said:

And that’s what has me scratching my head, also why I generated this post to see if anyone else has run into this. Is It the barrel? The ammo? Or just me?

Click to expand...

IMO, Random 8 nailed the explanation in post #10.

Shoot enough and sooner or later you'll run into this.

And just because some talk about how inaccurate 62gr is... well, it was originally made for military use in the M-4. Front line troops know and the rest of us can kinda imagine. It's not bad ammo so much as it may or may not be the right tool for the job you're attempting.

Labguy47 said:

It’s the same as what we used back in the day in our M-16s. We weren’t upgraded to M4s when I was in. We did have night vision though.

Click to expand...

Okay, so it's a bit older than I was aware of.

Labguy47 said:

Went shooting to see what the S&W M&P AR15 in 5.56 NATO 1:9 twist I am getting better groupings with 55s than 62s.
I can get 2.5” grouping at 75 yards sitting with iron sites using 55s. 62s gave me area of pie plate. Why such a difference?
I’m hoping someone will be able to give me some ideas.

Click to expand...

Steel core 62gr projectiles are known within AR circles to have sub-par accuracy. I use 55gr bulk most of the time or load my own with Sierra GameKing 65gr SBT. These have excellent accuracy from my M&P Sport and every other 5.56x45 AR15 I use.

Someone could probably make a little money offering a sampler box of cartridges.
Say fifty rounds from five manufacturers for people with new rifles. Keep people from collecting half eaten boxes of the stuff their new gun doesn't like.

How about Hornady 75gr HPBT (with or without cannelure)? Customer reviews included good-to-excellent results in barrels with 1:7, 1:8, and 1:9 twist.

Green tip leaves a lot to be desired in accuracy, not to mention terminal performance in organic matter. It's not even fair to judge a rifle based on what it does with green tip. Consistency varies greatly lot-to-lot. I have seen M855 make a MK12 rifle that fires 1 MOA or better with 77 grain MK 262 into a 4 MOA gun. Similar results with M4's using the improved UGR, and other rifles.

One is in an accuracy node. The other isn't.
In a 9 twist I'd expect to be able to stabilise 69s or even 77s. Find a friendly local hand loader and see what they can do for you.