Hey gang.

I just bought my Core15 M4 rifle a few hours ago (WOOOOOO) and between that and running a few errands for my wife I didn't have time to stop anywhere and check out ammo or accessories. So after Expendables 2 tomorrow morning, I'm definitely going to the range and out to get a few magazines.

Anyhow, I'm pretty familiar with ammo for my S&W 15-22, as in what's good and what to stay away from. But how about the .223? What some good ammo besides Hornady. I got a flyer from Dick's today in the mail and they have advertised Remington .223 box of 20 at $7.98. Is this good or ****?

Sorry if it's been asked before, but I tried the search and didn't get anyhting.

One question:
You bought a $870 rifle and you don't know what ammo to feed it??

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Laissez les bons temps roulez!

Actually I only paid $600 for it. Buddy owns a gun shop and I got a massive discount. I'm a novice to guns like I mentioned in other posts. I only own Mossberg 12ga, Glock 40 which I carry, and a S&W 15-22. If I knew what ammo to feed it, I wouldn't of asked. Sorry I don't know a lot about guns like some of you.... we all have to start somewhere. But apparently some people don't think that way, or at least you don't.

I'd be willing to bet that Rem. ammo is worse than some and better than most. I also wouldn't hesitate to shoot it in my AR. Sounds like a fair price too at $0.40 a round. Get some and see, then let us know.
Good luck, stay safe and happy hunting.

Sorry, it wasn't called for on my part.

Okay! The best way to figure out what works is to buy what you can afford and go out and try it. Each gun is unique to it's appetite.
When you do try different blends, make sure you clean the bore back to off the rack clean, fire some foulers of the ammo you're testing, then shoot groups off the bench.
Or, you can buy some inexpensive .223/5.56 ammo and go out and have some fun shooting the poop out of targets.
It's up to you. Your CORE should eat about anything. Keep it clean and lubed.

Hobie

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Laissez les bons temps roulez!

Step 1) go buy a couple boxes of good Hornady to zero with.
Step 2) go to Walmart
Step 3) buy as much Wolf/TulAmmo as you can afford and shoot the **** out of it. Make sure to lube your AR liberally. Especially the rails that guide the BCG.

If you're just plinking at the range it's hard to beat russian ammo. It's not as accurate as other options but it's cheap and fun. I feed my 5.56 a steady diet of Russian ammo when I'm just shooting steel or other reactive targets.
When I'm hunting yotes I like the 68gr heavy stuff or XM193 on whistle pigs.


Tapatalk ate my spelling and grammar.

Congrats on your AR. Dick's around here, one state over, usually has a deal that if you buy 10or more boxes of rem .223 they drop the price to $6.98 a box (like buying by the case). Remington UMC 55gr.

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15T,15-22,5946 & some not S&W

I've had good luck with PMC Bronze and PMC X-TAC 5.56 (M193).

This post brought to you by me and my Droid X, guess which one is smarter!

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Improvise, Adapt, Overcome

I'll throw in an obligatory plug for freedommunitions.com. 500 rounds of their reloaded .223 55gr FMJ comes out to $168.30 with shipping to WV (I put in 25317 as a ZIP code). That comes out to 34¢ a round.

Buying 250 rounds comes out to $87.75 (35¢ a round) shipped.

There are a number of forum members here who have shot their ammo with great success. I went through 1000 rounds of their reloads and had no problem shooting sub-2" 100 yard groups.

This is 15 shots of the 55gr FMJ reloads at 100 yards with my M&P 15 Sport and a Simmons 5-21x 44 Mag scope:


I'd still be shooting their ammo if I hadn't started reloading my own. With mil-surp powder I can get my rounds down to 16¢ a shot.

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- Bill

Me, for general plinking I use military surplus bulk.
For real world applications, Speer Gold Dot 64 grn.
Congrats on the new toy!
One thing, and I don't mean to preach, but clean it before you shoot it.

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Hold my beer and watch this!

This is what I do, except I skip Step 1.

I zeroed my cheapo red-dot with TulAmmo at 25 yards, and it is accurate enough (8 inch Steel target) out to 200 yards. It also is works out to 400 yards with the proper hold over.

If youre looking for plinking ammo just find the cheapest that works for you and your rifle.
Wolf
Federal black box
PMC
Remington
PPU white box
MFS

For SD
Hornedy
Black Hills
PMC X-tec
Winchester Ranger bonded soft point

For Accuracy
Hornady
PPU match
Black Hills
Federal white box

Just remember there are more then whats listed. This is just of the top of my head and each rifle is different. You may find your rifle is most accurate or reliable with the cheapest of ammo and lest accurate with the most expansive. Try as many as you can in as many different weights as possible.



Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

I also put a plug in for Freedom Muntions, you can order it over the internet @ Freedom Munitions.com. the shipping is reasonable and quick. I also put in a plug for buying the wolf/tulammo/brown or silver bear ammo's they are cheap and if you are not going to reload the steel cases do not matter. Make sure to clean your rifle after use. Freedom also will let you send in your shot up brass cases for some discount or something. I have bought 1k freedom and 1k federal xm193. But like Bill I also reload my own. When I first bought my rifle I shot up at least 1k of the Wolf/Tulammo/Brown and Silver Bear.

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Grover Oathkeeper

As far as what ammo? I've run just about everything through my M&P and she hasn't complained yet. Cheap stuff. Good stuff. Steel case stuff....whatever. With steel case ammo just keep her well oiled. But to break it in or get a feel for accuracy, why not spend the big bucks and get the very best so you know what she's capable of? Then for "inventory", whatever you can afford.

I know many people use FreedomMunitions...(as did I for a time) but I can honestly say I got a raw deal from them after having been a customer for some time. Was a bit surprised and disappointed. No longer a customer.
No need to counter argue. This was my experience and hopefully yours remain better. Just means more of their ammo for you Reloading or buying new are my options now.

I recommended the freedom just for cheap burning up ammo as I am starting to see the russian stuff go up in price. No counter argument here, I am shooting it up and as I get it done I am reloading the brass.

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Grover Oathkeeper

Freedomunitions and Palmetto State Armory, check for their deals

Palmetto State has daily deals and every couple months has free shipping. This spring they had a week or two of free shipping and one of their daily deals was MFS steel cased ammo for $3.50 a box. I bought as much as I could without the boss lady yelling too much.
I've put over 500 rounds down my rifle without issue. It usually shoots pretty good. I like to set a Do-All healing top hat at 25 yards and walk it back to 100 (my local outdoor ranges max). It's fun and I have yet to miss the target with the MFS. Every mag I get a flier or two with the Wolf and TulAmmo bbut at under 5 bucks a box locally I don't complain. I just use Hornady for hunting.

Tapatalk ate my spelling and grammar.

He ask for help...not criticism.....let's take this forum back to where it once was....classy.

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Lt. Dan, what R U doing here?

Nice job...thanks for sharing.

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Lt. Dan, what R U doing here?

[QUOTE=Hobie1;136666525]One question:
You bought a $870 rifle and you don't know what ammo to feed it??
Hobie has apologized and we are back to where this forum usually is. Welcome and no questions are considered dumb. Most of us started with not much AR knowledge. I, like yourself, went from a 15-22 to a 15 Sport. I to will second the vote for Freedom Munitions when you get time. But for your short term, my buddy bought like 500 of the UMC and every one went bang without a hiccup. So, go have fun and enjoy your new rig. Every time you shoot it, or see an accesory for sale you will probably have another question. Try the search function first, then ask away. Lots of very knowlegable folks here to help.

I think the emoticon turned it into a more of a friendly ribbing than an insult, but that's just how I saw it.

Anyways, just picked up my first ever box of .223, some federal from Walmart for like 38 bucks. Can't wait to finally shoot it on Sunday! Also picked up 500 Winchester .22lr's for the cmmg upper. I think I'll be adding palmetto to my daily site visits if they have deals that good!!

What did the .22lr's cost you?

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Lt. Dan, what R U doing here?

Don't worry bout it. Some here are just more arrogant than others.

Buy whatever you can find cheap, other than WOLF or TULA or anything steel cased.
55gr will be a fine target load. If you find 62gr cheap you can try some of that also...
Remington will be fine... PMC, PPU ( prvi partisan) Winchester white box ( usually too high)
Just shop price for hitting the range for fun!
Have fun with it!

Personally, I just do not like using steel cased in my Rifles... that part would be up to you to do your due diligence and decide for yourself.

They were 24.97 for 500 rounds of the SuperX (36 grain, 1280 FPS, hollow point, copper plated). They come in a cool wooden box which has a large cardboard box containing 10 50 round boxes.

Picked up two more today. :-D

For me, the best buy is Silver Bear with Brown Bear a close second. The last time I bought some some it was something like $130 +- plus shipping.
My M&P runs this stuff like crazy and it makes for some good, cheap training ammo. Before you jump off the deep end and buy 1000 or so of anything, you want to make sure your AR will run the ammo that is the cheapest. Some AR platforms won't run steel case ammo (most Russian, including Silver and Brown Bear).

Shot 200rds of the Federal .223, 100 rd boxes from Wal-Mart, with no issues a few days ago. It seemed to shoot a little hotter than the normal stuff I usually use. (Federal, American Eagle and PMC X-Tac in 5.56.)

I just picked up 2100 rounds of Federal Champion 22lr for $85 at Cabela's and it came in a nice o-ring sealed plastic ammo can!

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Grover Oathkeeper

"Don't worry bout it. Some here are just more arrogant than others."

I immediately realized that I was rude in my first response and apologized. Am I arrogant? I hope not but one minor mis-step by me doesnt qualify me as such. Do a search on me and you'll find that I'm nothing of the sort.

Once again, sorry MartMayhem86 for disrupting your thread.

Hope you've got to shoot the heck out of it!

Hobie

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Laissez les bons temps roulez!

Still on my 1st extractor on the Sport, 2nd extractor on the DPMS. Sport- about 9,000 total, 7500 is Wolf/ WPA. The DPMS is around 7,000, it's almost exclusively Wolf. Clean them, and run them.

For hunting, I like the Federal Fusion for the accuracy. But no way for target shooting or training courses. Anything over .20 cents a round is getting to be too much.

Do you have any particular reason for not liking steel case ammo? Something that you have personally come up against as far as proof that it is harmful or damage done to your rifle? I hear a lot of "he said / she said" stuff, but little first hand experience accounts.

I'm not arguing at all. Just learning. I saw a guy not long ago firing Tula 223 get a spent round stuck in the barrel. It wouldn't eject. First time I saw it but they (range officers) said they see it fairly often with steel case ammo and AR15's. I also have no idea if he cleaned his rifle regularly, or if it was a new rifle and that was the first time he fired it (I think that was so).

So far, I've gathered this about steel case ammo.....
1). some rifles like it some don't. (Various reasons, tolerances, care?)
2). Cleaning after every few 100 rounds of steel case ammo seems to help
3). keeping the barrel lubricated seems to help
4). The higher the rate of fire, the more likely the jam (heat buildup)
5). Steel case ammo has a thin anti corrosion coating. Brass does not.

(Please feel free to correct any incorrect statements)

I have yet to hear of any instances where damage to a S&W M&P was specifically traced back to steel case ammo. Have you? I have 1000 rounds of Tula 223 and use it for the range, but it's also my shtf ammo.
I'm no longer working and with a very limited budget so I can't just plunk down for what I'd prefer. My ultimate choice would brass and doing my own reloading.

A&D Great little response and I have to agree with what you have said. You seem to have pretty well nailed it on the head. I am not afraid of the steel cased ammo and it has shot well in my Sport and my homebuilt. I do believe that the anti-corrosion coating that you refer to can under hot circumstances bake off and stick to the chamber walls and a good cleaning every so often cures that. I have only done a mag dump on one occasion and that was to burn up some tula plus just to do it. I fired some brass afterwards and never noticed anything coming out of the chamber either on my brass ammo or the patches that I wrap around my a .38 caliber brush to wipe out my chamber after using a chamber brush and the talon lug cleaning tool. I would not be afraid of the ammo for the SHTF situation, in fact I think with the coating that the ammo would probably outlive the shelf life of standard brass uncoated ammo. I have regular ammo for a shtf scenario but after thinking about it, having some of the coated stuff might not be a bad idea, it is way more waterproof than my reloads ( I think, not sure how well my factory crimp die seals the powder and primer). any way this has been my $.02 on the subject and the opinions given have been my own. YMMV

Batman...you say some AR platforms have a problem with the steel cased ammo. I have yet to hear of a S&W AR with this affliction.

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Grover Oathkeeper

I have had three failures to eject with Tula. I don't have a sport it's a mill spec m&p15A. so to be safe I buy nothing but freedom. fear the free! they shot great and clean. today resupplied my stock pile 1,000 55g 223 for $335 to the door.

Well, I finally managed to take the Core15 to the range last week. It was all bare-bone stock. I bought all kinds of different ammo to test ( PMC .223, Federal 5.56, American Eagle .223, A few tracer rounds to let off at night, and some Hornady for home protection). I think I'm going to stick with PMC and the 5.56 Federal... it seemed to take a liking to those.

I'm going back to the range in a few hours actually and I'm taking my Nikon P-22 off of my 15-22 and going to throw it on the M4, at least until I get the Primary Arms EOTech w/ magnifier.

Thanks for the help with ammo suggestions guys. I'll be sure to post some photos as soon as I'm able to.

Just a friendly heads up. Carefull with those. Too many and they'll have your barrel ate. They do run hot. Now and then is ....ok. Myself,I don't shoot them at all. Had my "jollies" with them in the Army on their dime and their weapon.

Congrats on your new "toy".

I admit I bought a 20 round box of tracers. I have 16 of them left. I took them out back one day when we were shooting to see the trajectory path of the bullet. It goes out there quite a ways but when it starts its downward turn it goes down in a hurry. You can lob them like an old M79 grenade launcher but after about 3/4 of a mile they just wont go any further unless maybe you have a tailwind. LOL

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Grover Oathkeeper

i run American Eagle or Remington for plinkin... just under 7 bucks for 20 rounds, but comes with brass cases, not that steel case stuff...

with my AR i can rapid fire a full 30 rounds at 100yrds and do about 4 MOA... i could be around 2 MOA if i slow down but where is the fun in that!

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