Which of these is more accurate?

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gun'sRgood

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There's a 20% off a single box of Winchester ammo. My local GS has 500count boxes of Winchester's AR15 in 5.56 M193, 55gr and flies at 3180 and M855, green tip, 62gr with speeds of 3060. The only concern here is which do you find to be more of an accurate round. I'm also told that you can get this rebate online from Winchester.
 
Neither and both.....i dont expect MOA from fmjs, but more often than not youll get acceptable accuracy for most things those bullet types are good for.

Each rifle will respond differently to specific ammo as well so youll really need to try it yourself and see.

You MIGHT consider your barrel twist in deciding, but again in my experience its a crap shoot as to what a particular gun will like.
 
LoonWulf said:
gun'sRgood said:
M193, 55gr ... M855, 62gr

which do you find to be more of an accurate round
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Each rifle will respond differently to specific ammo as well so youll really need to try it yourself and see ... consider your barrel twist
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If your barrel twist rate is 1:9/1:12, then go with M193 - https://www.ammunitiontogo.com/lodge/m855-vs-m193/

If your barrel twist rate is 1:7/1:8, then go with M855

LoonWulf said:
Neither
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While my stock of M193/M855 shot OK out of my 20" 1:9 HBAR and 16"/18" 1:8 .223 Wylde around 2.5"-3.5"+, commercial Remington/Black Hills 55 gr FMJ outshot both out of my 16"/18" 1:8 .223 Wylde match barrel ARs, around 1"-1.5" groups at 100 yards.

So if you are looking for smaller than 2" groups, try different commercial ammo to see which shoots better for your AR before buying a lot to stock up.

If reloading, I prefer 69/75 gr Boat Tail Hollow Point bullets from RMR for accuracy - https://www.rmrbullets.com/product-category/rmr-in-house/?filter_cat_1=218
 
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About equal IME. Different barrels and twist rates might disagree though.

Just to make things simple I stick with M193 because it's safer for my AR500 targets, all I need to see and know is that my shots went "Ping!" afterwards or not. Better than going back and forth up to 500 yards and seeing if anything hits paper or not. However if the M855 is cheap enough, I'll buy for drills that at closer distances I wouldn't even shoot M193 for safety reasons and AR500 destruction. I'm not worried about defeating armor, I no longer do that job for a living.
 
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If you are shooting a varmint gun at 500 yards they are both a waste of money and barrel life. If you are shooting a 16” AR with a red dot, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
 
I generally find 55 grain to be slightly more accurate than M855. But I havent done a real test in probably close a decade. This was with rifles that were benched on bags/bipod and with higher magnification scopes. If you are using irons, a red dot, or a lower mag scope and not shooting off of bags or bipod, you wont be able to tell the difference.
 
Ok, thanks guys. There are five pistols in various lengths and seven rifles. And friends get to share with us. No where near what one gun likes. Just thought it was worth asking. I'd think the >mass and >density would win. Guess we'll just try both and see.
 
gotboostvr said:
The 62gr will do slightly better in the wind, but neither load is particularly accurate.

If you have a 1:12 or slower barrel, go with the 55gr. If you're shooting steel plates, or at an indoor range, also go with the 55gr. The green tip won't be allowed at most indoor ranges and will eat up a steel gong.
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Thanks. You win the best response award! Stayed on message. Kinda rare. Many appreciations!
 
gun'sRgood said:
There's a 20% off a single box of Winchester ammo. My local GS has 500count boxes of Winchester's AR15 in 5.56 M193, 55gr and flies at 3180 and M855, green tip, 62gr with speeds of 3060. The only concern here is which do you find to be more of an accurate round. I'm also told that you can get this rebate online from Winchester.
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In a fit of economy and speed, have you ever pulled bullets out of factory FMJ rounds and seated varmint or target bullets? I'm pretty sure I tried it, but don't remember what the reason might have been. Maybe I found myself without varmint ammo for a Saturday woodchuck hunt or informal target shoot.
 
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Picher said:
In a fit of economy and speed, have you ever pulled bullets out of factory fmj rounds and seated varmint or target bullets?
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Naw, I'd just reload them. I think there's about 3 5gl buckets of .223 and 5.5.6 brass around here. But I never sell, give, nor trade any home loads. Plenty of friends looking though. Thanks. Novel idea. Thx
 
gun'sRgood said:
Naw, I'd just reload them. I think there's about 3 5gl buckets of .223 and 5.5.6 brass around here. But I never sell, give, nor trade any home loads. Plenty of friends looking though. Thanks. Novel idea. Thx
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I just did it once, replacing with the same weight bullet, but more frangible one. It worked fine, but the grouping wasn't quite as good as when I reloaded cases that had been shot in my rifle.
 
Picher said:
I just did it once, replacing with the same weight bullet, but more frangible one. It worked fine, but the grouping wasn't quite as good as when I reloaded cases that had been shot in my rifle.
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I've gone the long route when I couldn't get/afford powder, primers or soft point ammo.....which has only happened a couple times

Pulled the fmjs, dumped the powder, full length sized the cases, averaged the powder out between the cases and seated new soft points of the same weight and shape.... usually speer bullets because they are cheap.....
They shot just fine, but it was a heck of a work around.
 
I would def. pick 55 grain. It tends to be more consistent lot-to-lot than any M855, it will do fine in any AR or other 223 rifle, it isn't as destructive to steel targets. If you are looking for "real" accuracy (competition, shooting little prairie dogs, etc.) plan on spending much more for match grade ammunition.
 
No formal testing, but my impression was that 55s do better closer in but as distance increases, the 62s start doing better out of my 7 and 8 twist barrels.

Flip a coin. Also consider or find out if 855s are ok where you shoot.
 
So far as ballistic requirements go, the military use of the 7" pitch is due to the length of the tracer round - the M855 62 grain bullet is adequately stabilized by pitches of 9" or faster. The 9" pitch will also work with commercial bullets of up to 69 grains. The 55 grain M193 bullet performs best in the 12 pitch of the original M16 barrels (the 14" pitch proved to be insufficient to stabilize the bullet). There are variations in the actual performance of different barrels, of different lengths, and with bullets of different manufacture, but the above statements are generally true. Another fact is that over-stabilized bullets do not shoot as well as adequately stabilized ones - the M193 bullet does not perform as well in the 7" pitch as in barrels of 9" to 12" pitch. None of the mil-spec bullets can be relied on to give very fine accuracy, as that is not a requirement for them. As a rule, a good AR with milspec ammunition should group in 2 - 2 1/2" at 100 yards/meters. Commercial bullets will almost always do better in a good rifle.

PRD1 - mhb - MIke Barrel maker, retired
 
PRD1 said:
So far as ballistic requirements go, the military use of the 7" pitch is due to the length of the tracer round - the M855 62 grain bullet is adequately stabilized by pitches of 9" or faster. The 9" pitch will also work with commercial bullets of up to 69 grains. The 55 grain M193 bullet performs best in the 12 pitch of the original M16 barrels (the 14" pitch proved to be insufficient to stabilize the bullet). There are variations in the actual performance of different barrels, of different lengths, and with bullets of different manufacture, but the above statements are generally true. Another fact is that over-stabilized bullets do not shoot as well as adequately stabilized ones - the M193 bullet does not perform as well in the 7" pitch as in barrels of 9" to 12" pitch. None of the mil-spec bullets can be relied on to give very fine accuracy, as that is not a requirement for them. As a rule, a good AR with milspec ammunition should group in 2 - 2 1/2" at 100 yards/meters. Commercial bullets will almost always do better in a good rifle.

PRD1 - mhb - MIke Barrel maker, retired
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Well done! Superb reply!
 
It seems like I had more fun woodchuck hunting with my .30-06, 125 grain Sierra bullets, with a hefty-charge of 4064 in my Weaver 2.5X scoped, Bishop-stocked, boat-epoxy bedded, Savage 110. My first attempt at gunsmithing in my
late teens. "Ninety-percent finished" Bishop stock (More like 40%). Hand-filing, sanding, free-floating, epoxy-bedding, free-floating barrel. Not bad for a 16-year old with no skills.

. upload_2022-12-2_8-5-6.jpeg
 
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