"Just in Case" 5.56 Ammo?

L

LinuxHack3r

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Looking to buy some 5.56 ammo for "just in case". Looking at Palmetto State Armory and Cheaper Than Dirt. Open to suggestion. The guy at the LGS was trying the other day to sell me something along the lines of "MKE Turkish 62 grain Nato spec.". I believe it is probably M855. $375 OTD after 10% sales tax. Well I read about this ammo, I don't see very impressed with it.Open to suggestions of all kinds, as long as it is the good stuff. Not wanting to go cheap, but it also cannot cost an arm and two of my legs.

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dont know much about .223 specifically, but i do know that if you are looking for cheap ammo, Wolf and Bear are two brands that are notoriously cheap (both in price and quality). they will probably be steel cased and not maintain any kind of serious accuracy. expect 2-3% misfires/duds.

if you are looking for "just in case" ammo, you should probably just bite the bullet and pay a little more for quality. when the zombies are at your door, you do not want to have a misfire.

or, load your own. pays for itself after a few hundred rounds.
 
Silver Bear 62 Grain HP is good stuff. Reasonably accurate, reliable, and good terminal balistics.

abs223hp62.jpg


It's in short supply right now though. Was selling for about $210 per 1K. You can still find some for a higher price.
 
What is "just in case" ammo? If it is for some sort of emergency situation, then what does it matter if it is brass cased? It isn't like you will be picking up your spent brass for reloading.
 
What is "just in case" ammo? If it is for some sort of emergency situation, then what does it matter if it is brass cased? It isn't like you will be picking up your spent brass for reloading.
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Some ARs won't eject steel cased ammo reliably.
 
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Just in case of what?

Needing to shoot everyone in the tri-county area?

If you are gonna bet your life on it, you may as well get the good stuff. I keep a few hundred rounds of Winchester 55 grain JSP and a couple battle packs of M855 on hand in case I find my self thrust into the end scene of a 80's action movie.
 
in case I find my self thrust into the end scene of a 80's action movie.
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If that happens, you can guarantee that all of the rounds will undoubtedly spark on impact but won't ever hit anything that you aim at....
:p
 
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And hopefully, you rifle which shoots this "5.56 ammo for "just in case"", will work reliably w/ any ammo also- just a thought.
 
Some ARs won't eject steel cased ammo reliably.
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Maybe so, but then again, some ARs don't do well with certain brands or models of brass-cased ammo either.

If you are gonna bet your life on it, you may as well get the good stuff.
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Right. If you think you need ammo for some possible self defense event where your life is on the line (and for most of us, this isn't likely to happen more than once or twice, if at all), the you should get the ammo that works best in your gun and ideally has good termnal ballistics. Often times, this ammo is going to be the more expensive ammo, at least compared to budget ammo. That isn't to say that price determines quality or reliability. There is some very good lower cost ammo to be had. Crosshair says Silver Bear does well.

Personally, I have had the best luck with surplus Lake City ammo, both XM193 and M855. They aren't the cheapest, but they certainly are not the most expensive and for me, they seem to run well in every AR15 I have owned.
 
Social probabilities for us civilians? Don't sweat the bullets, since proven reliability is far more important. Most any bullet will work in a social situation--which IMO is probably well inside a hundred yards.
 
I buy the cheapest stuff I can find that has reloadable brass. I shoot it for fun and practice then reuse the brass to handload to my own personal specs. I end up having a lot of fun, plus I get ammo that is on par or better than the most expensive stuff out there and end up paying less.
 
Natchez Shooters Supply has a great price on Federal and American Eagle Brass cased @300 for 1000 w shipping to my door it's $330
 
Looking to buy some 5.56 ammo for "just in case". Looking at Palmetto State Armory and Cheaper Than Dirt. Open to suggestion. The guy at the LGS was trying the other day to sell me something along the lines of "MKE Turkish 62 grain Nato spec.". I believe it is probably M855. $375 OTD after 10% sales tax. Well I read about this ammo, I don't see very impressed with it.Open to suggestions of all kinds, as long as it is the good stuff. Not wanting to go cheap, but it also cannot cost an arm and two of my legs.
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I have read mixed reviews; some like it and some don't. I bought a relatively small quantity of this American Tactical ammo myself but have not fired it yet. I want to see if it will function as my "when the SHTF" ammo.
 
Just my opinion but if you're only going to have a "small amount"(1000 or less) of ammo for a 223, I would make it 55 grain soft point or a mix with some HP. Even 5.56 fmj is not going to penetrate most body armor so aiming for the appendages is the best choice. SP or HP will likely cause more damage at long range than generic fmj for this and is much better if you have to use it for hunting. I have quite a lot of surplus fmj set aside for emergencies but figure to acquire plenty of current issue plus weapons with the go fast position on the selector from "government sources" if it comes to that.
 
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