855 was designed to penetrate Soviet body armor. Unless one faces an enemy wearing Soviet body armor, there are much better ammo choices.
So if I get attacked by the U.S army they will just all miss and I will be able to walk away?
The colt M4 uses a 1/7 twist right?
I think there is a little confusion here over thinking the commercially available XM855 is the same thing as what the military gets.
The military NATO M855 round was designed to penetrate vehicle light metal/steel up to 3 mm thickness at up to 600 meters, not soviet body armor (although it will penetrate). I don't know where the soviet body armor rumor ever got started.
The American Eagle xm855 62 grain green tip is not the same thing as the M855 the military receives and it is not the improved M855A1. No commercially available XM855 is the same thing the military will have received. Although billed, or thought of, as the military round, the XM855 commercially available that you can buy is not the exact same thing as the military gets no matter how its billed even if from lake city its self.
The military M855 comes in three variations:
1. The M855 - 62 grain bullet with a steel penetrator tip over a lead core in a partial copper jacket.
2. The M855 - Lead free 62 grain bullet with a steel penetrator tip over a tungsten composite core in a partial copper jacket.
3. The M855A1 - 62 grain bullet with a 19 grain steel penetrator tip over a copper alloy core.
You can't buy commercially the real M855 the military receives. The stuff you do see commercially as the xm855 and in the surplus and brownish cardboard boxes and the ammo cans from lake city that you can buy on line and in the LGS's is the stuff thats shoots the maximum 5 MOA (sometimes greater and sometimes less) and generally has been rejected for military use for any number of reasons and/or has not been subjected to testing for military purposes. The military receives the stuff that shoots 4 MOA and under with the average being at 3 MOA (a lot of times though the average is better than 3 MOA). The stuff you buy commercially can still have a NATO headstamp, this only indicates that it was originally destined for military service from production but was rejected for military service for any number of reasons (more frequently its rejected due to accuracy), but if you are buying it commercially no matter how its marked it is still not the ammo the military will have received as it was rejected for military service which is why its available commercially. Ammo rejected for military service is sold commercially so there will not be a monetary loss to the manufacturer. So, although XM855 may be billed as the military ammo and available commercially, and even packaged and marked the same in some cases and even if does come straight from lake city, its only the same ammo in name and not what the military is actually using because if it was actual military ammo you would not be able to buy it commercially. If you do find the actual stuff and able to buy it commercially then its probably stolen ammo because the actual stuff can only be shipped to military/government/law enforcement agencies and not to a retail outlets or other commercial sales places such as the on line retailers or LGS's. Law enforcement and military can receive hand selected lots from the factory that will do better than 3 MOA but its not mass produced like the regular military M855 is. We get hand selected lots from the factory and use it in our M&P15 OR's and routinely shoot 1 MOA with it eaisly. The military doesn't hand select but simply orders using the NSN number which gives them the stuff that shoots 4 MOA and under with the average being at 3 MOA. Sometimes military special ops groups will get hand select but there isn't an NSN number for it and its special order.
I can gurantee you that if it came down to the M855 in capable hands you will not be able to walk away. The M855 will work just fine with 1:7 twist, 1:9 twist, or 1:12 twist, it is not true that you must have a 1:7 twist barrel to stabalize the M855 round.
