Thread: 5.56 or .223 ?
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Old 09-03-2017, 01:37 PM
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ChattanoogaPhil ChattanoogaPhil is offline
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Originally Posted by Glock5857 View Post
I know the M&P15 Sport 2 comes with a barrel rated for 5.56 ammo, but what do most people shoot for target ammo ? .223 ammo is a little bit cheaper than 5.56. Is there any benefit in shooting 5.56 ammo over .223 or vice versa ?
Depends on what you buy. If it's Federal, there's 55gr Federal American Eagle .223, Federal AE 5.56 and Federal 5.56 LC XM193.

From a 16in barrel, I can't tell any difference between 55gr Fed AE .223 and LC 5.56. And the specs show no difference either at 3240fps. I'll have to put them through my chronograph to see but my guess is that they are very close. The 55gr Fed AE 5.56 is rated with a lower muzzle velocity at 3165fps.

I've also got some PMC Bronze 55gr .223 that shoots incredibly soft... I mean... soft soft soft. It's rated 3200fps (which PMC reports from a 24in barrel) but the velocity tests out of a 16in barrel that I've seen show around 2700-2800fps which tells me why it's so soft shooting . On the other hand, 5.56 LC XM193 typically stays above 3100fps from a 16in barrel. I think most 5.56 is tested in a 20in barrel and is typically loaded to a higher pressure.

So... ya know... it's not too straight forward.

Last edited by ChattanoogaPhil; 09-03-2017 at 02:24 PM.
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