Ar-15 Ammo

[carbonizer]

Will have a model #6520 Ar-15 in the next week or so.
5.56 or .223
Any info good / bad on which brand of ammo to use would be appreciated.
I will only use this for range target and home personal defense.
Which ammo for each use do you reccomend???
I do not hunt.

[dfariswheel]

Most any of the "military pack" ammo should work well for range use.
Most makers like Remington, Winchester, and Federal make military style ammo in either bulk or plain boxes.
You can also buy surplus US ammo from various places, as well as foreign commercial ammo from various countries.

There's a very wide variety of choices available, so the criteria is whatever is cheapest that functions in your rifle and gives acceptable accuracy.

You can try the Russian steel cased Wolf brand ammo. Some people have very good luck with it, others have jams and broken extractors. There's no way to tell without shooting it.

For home defense, you can use a commercial expanding bullet hunting type ammo which is more effective for defense use.

Here's some very good info on what the best defense ammo is for the AR rifles. Do some reading.
http://ammo.ar15.com/project/Self_De...index.htm#.223

[bill82]

Carbonizer;

What is the bbl twist rate - 1/7, 1/9?????
I have a couple AR's with 1/9 twist 16" bbl and have found 55 grn FMJ the best all around (both target and defense). My Dept (Law Enforcment) has had several shootings over the past 5 years with with Colt AR carbines with 1/9 twist using Winchester 55 grn FMJ and it has worked better than advertised.
Accuracy is right at or a little under 1 moa at 100 yards.
1/7 twist bbl is best suited and designed for 62 and heavier grain bullets. It does not like the lighter weight rounds so much.
In my experience (25 yrs LE, 12 yrs military) shooting a lot of AR/M16, I prefer the 1/9 twist in the carbine (i.e 16" bbl) as it will reliably feed and shoot everything from 52 - 69 grain ( with best groups using 55 and 62 grain).
Just my 2 cents worth. Hope that helps.

[carbonizer]

THanks for your help. Don't know the twist rate yet, it's an older pre-ban that my FFL has been sitting on for 20+ years. When he told me he was selling it (and 15 others) and the price I just told him it's sold without even looking at it!!
After reading up on weights and twist rates now I understand quite a bit more about the science end of shooting.
Once again, thanks for your help, and, stay safe on your difficult job of protecting our citys.

[tomob1]

5.56 or .223

most of the preban ar's are milspec and can handle 5.56 nato rounds (higher pressure than "civilian" .223) barrel and/or receiver will be labeled as such.
agree with above about 55 vs 62gr bullets. agree about winchester as well, but if youre going to shoot a bunch, or if you don't reload, you can save a considerable amt of $$ shooting wolf ammo. it doesn't cause excess wear on the gun as is rumored, but it doesn't do well on full auto.
I just sold 500 rounds for $150.

[smkummer]

Wolf ammo is commonly used in the M16 fired at Knob Creek. If it does cause increased wear on the extractor that is cheap and easily fixed compaired to the 50% or more higher cost of brass case ammo. I don't used it and still manually load brass case ammo for my Colt M16A1 but I have heard that the latest stuff is not as coated and doesn't gum up the chamber as bad as the original stuff.

[carbonizer]

Thanks for all your responses. I have a 1/7 twist rate barrel and I have been doing a lot or research since my first post. Looks like it can handle heavier loads and I plan on trying them along with some others. I did pick up some Wolf 68 grain I think, and hopefully can get to the range this week.

[bravo619]

wolf is good cheap ammo a little dirty but if ya clean your gun like i do after every session it doesn't matter. the heavier wieghts will work fine in your new colt. congrats and shoot her with pride, you've got the best ar15 maker behind you!