Source of M855 Ammo

[alamogunr]

I've been waffling around buying some ammunition for the AR. Finally, the recent events have prompted me to get serious. Does anyone have a better, more reliable source than the following:

https://www.wideners.com/additem.cfm

It is listed as Bulk Packed Lake City M855 5.56/223 62gr Ammunition. $399/M

Admittedly, I will pay shipping and sales tax(Tennessee resident).

[GabbyM]

I'd buy a thousand new General Dynamic cases from Sinclair. 1m cci mag primers. Aliant AR--Comp or there ball powder. 1M Sierra 65gr SBT-GK bullets. Then load to SAMI max not NATO max. But that's just me.

[3006guns]

+1 on Gabby's suggestion. You're a reloader or you wouldn't be here, right? Once fired cases are reasonable, bullets are reasonable, even powder/primers are reasonable and becoming available again.

Why not pace it out like a lot of us? Buying components and reloading over a period of months will net several ammo cans full for a lot less money. Think of it as a savings account.

[dragon813gt]

Why do you want that inaccurate round? You can buy a good bit of components for $400. Load some SMKs up and you'll have a really accurate round.

[alamogunr]

I'd buy a thousand new General Dynamic cases from Sinclair. 1m cci mag primers. Aliant AR--Comp or there ball powder. 1M Sierra 65gr SBT-GK bullets. Then load to SAMI max not NATO max. But that's just me.

OK! These posts make sense. I have a pretty good amount of .223/5.56 1 brass and dies. I also have both .22 MP molds but have never gotten into casting tiny boolits. I might as well buy J#$&ed bullets since I would be using that type anyway if I bought the subject ammo.

I looked on the Sinclair site but couldn't find "General Dynamics" brass. Is it there under another name? I don't think I need it but I'm curious.
Powder Valley has Alliant AR-Comp but couldn't find Sierra 65gr SBT-GK bullets. Is there another choice just as good?

You mentioned ball powder. Is AR Comp a ball powder? The Alliant site doesn't specify type. Is there a ball powder recommended for .223? It meters much better than other types.

Also, are mag primers required? I have quite a few SR primers.

[alamogunr]

Why do you want that inaccurate round? You can buy a good bit of components for $400. Load some SMKs up and you'll have a really accurate round.
What is a SMK?

[GRUMPA]

What is a SMK?
Seirra Match Kings..

[oneokie]

H-335

[aspangler]

H-335
+! on the H-335. Works great for me.

[Remiel]

gander is having a sale for a 312rd case of federal 855 green tip for 150.00

[Mauser48]

I just bought 1000 of the ss109s from wideners today to load. It was $124 out the door. I will be using w748. I hear people have good results with w748, h335, h322, and tac.

[Scharfschuetze]

I hear people have good results with w748, h335, h322, and tac.

I've had great results in the .223/5.56mm with 748 and H335 in both AR platforms and bolt action rifles using SMKs, Nozler or Hornady match bullets from 52 grains through 75 grains. A couple of thousand prairie dogs as well as a good number of X and 10 rings have all fallen prey to these combinations.

In military matches requiring issue ammo and rifles, I've always found the green tip ammo to throw a flyer or two in every 10 round string when shooting at 300 yards or further. That's probably due to some of the compound bullets not being perfectly balanced. Given that, I'd also just buy good components and load 'em up for best performance and optimized for what ever your end target will be.

[GabbyM]

OK! These posts make sense. I have a pretty good amount of .223/5.56 1 brass and dies. I also have both .22 MP molds but have never gotten into casting tiny boolits. I might as well buy J#$&ed bullets since I would be using that type anyway if I bought the subject ammo.

I looked on the Sinclair site but couldn't find "General Dynamics" brass. Is it there under another name? I don't think I need it but I'm curious.
Powder Valley has Alliant AR-Comp but couldn't find Sierra 65gr SBT-GK bullets. Is there another choice just as good?

You mentioned ball powder. Is AR Comp a ball powder? The Alliant site doesn't specify type. Is there a ball powder recommended for .223? It meters much better than other types.

Also, are mag primers required? I have quite a few SR primers.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/136219/general-dynamics-reloading-brass-223-remington-box-of-250-bulk-packaged

There's the General Dynamics brass. I gave you the wrong vendor. Memory these days is untrustworthy.
This is new brass at $200 per thousand. I've never used it and it's a limited commercial release or at least advertised that way. Prepping once fired military brass is a lot of work and the brass is highly stressed from the high pressure load.

AR-Comp is just a powder I like for the 65gr and heavier bullets in 223. I's a short stick powder. I used to use H-Varget and this new Alliant powder replaces that. Aliant has fairly new powders in the ball powder class. Several burn rates that can be matched up to your bullet weight for max performance. You can get almost 100 fps faster velocities from the ball powder and a 69gr bullet. Alliant 200-MR is the one for 69 grain bullets. I use the stick powder for it's greater temperature insensitivity. May be a little cleaner. I'm still burning through a jug of H-335 under 55gr bullets I bought ten years ago. Hornady 55gr bulk bullets in soft point of fmj make decent plinking and hunting rounds. You were looking at M-855 so I suggested the Sierra 65gr GK (game King). When searching for it some catalogs group there bullets as 69gr and over. That drops the 65gr in with the 55's. Sierra uses the same load data for this bullet as for there 69 grain HP-MK. Bullets are in fact design as a paired system to be fired interchangeably. If you are lucky. The game kings either in 55 or 65 grain are very good on coyote out to a quarter mile. Not to be confused with the performance yielded by explosive varmint bullets which are far to explosive and totally lack adequate penetration.

For primers. If you have a stash the n use that. I' like magnum primers in 223 for ball powders. Rem 7 1/2 are a hot primer that could be labeled a magnum. There 6 1/2's were and are for little 22 hornets and bee class cases. I like CCI SR-Magnum. Federals are flat out to soft for an AR-15. WE had a slam fire just last year with them. Round had ben chambered previously and had a existing dent. I've probably ran four thousand Fed primers through AR's However once was enough.

[Larry Gibson]

H335 is an excellent powder in the .223/5.56 for use with 40 - 55 gr bullets. You can easily duplicate M193 ballistics with it at the same psi and time/pressure curve levels. To duplicate M855 ballistics with 60-64 gr j bullet AA2460 or 748 are the powders to use. Both will develop the same velocities and psi's as M855. With the heavier match bullets I favor Varget for both my AR and bolt match rifles. I regularly shoot High Master scores (193 - 199s out of 200) on the 300/600 yard NMC target in our 300 yard prone matches shooting prone with sling using my Savage Comp Match rifle/Redfield Palma match sights with the 69 gr SMK over Varget.

Larry Gibson

[alamogunr]

I've got an 8# jug of DP85 that I bought from Bartlett a few years ago. The label indicates that it is closest to Varget and to use Varget data for reloading. I haven't reloaded much rifle since then so I have most if it left. Any reason not to use it? I don't shoot competition. My target shooting is just me competing with me. I assume it would be OK with 60-69 gr bullets. Comments?

[jrap]

Don't bother buying the new brass. If you need some shoot me a pm and i can get you plenty for $50 a k shipped.

[GabbyM]

I've got an 8# jug of DP85 that I bought from Bartlett a few years ago. The label indicates that it is closest to Varget and to use Varget data for reloading. I haven't reloaded much rifle since then so I have most if it left. Any reason not to use it? I don't shoot competition. My target shooting is just me competing with me. I assume it would be OK with 60-69 gr bullets. Comments?

I’d sure give it a try if it were on my shelf. Eight pounds should yield around 2,000 loads in 223 Rem. Same with primers. Use what you have. Test first but that’s just a good excuse to do some shooting.

What I like to do with large stocks of AR-15 ammo is this. I store them in MTM 100 round plastic boxes. Or pack a 30 caliber military ammo can full of full metal jacket. Keep a nice load label sticker on all containers. Then carefully return all empties to there containers. Sometimes that’s a big zip lock plastic bag that holds the 100 round box plus the loose cases. Keep all records in plain English so my children can understand what they get if I fall out of a boat someplace. Shoot this stuff up at some rate per year to where it all gets rotated out within twenty years. This is easy to do if you load ammo that you will actually want to shoot as opposed to some spray and pray junk. I own a Dillon progressive press that I use on my hand gun ammo. However load all my rifle ammo single hole on an old RCBS Rock Chucker. If I and the grandkids only shoot 500 rounds per year. All my AR ammo will get rotated well short of ten years.

Found out the hard way that brass age hardens. Necks can split while setting in the box. Now any fired brass that may end up stored long term get annealed. This certainly applies to Mil Surp brass that's' been fired in big chambers and blown up like a balloon. To prep mil surplus 5.56mm. I first deburr flash holes with a #1 C-Drill with point ground off. This gets those burrs off that can catch your primer punch and break it. Decap with a Lee universal. Uniform primer pockets with carbide cutter. Iniform flash hole. Tumble clean cases. Lube cases and FL size with no neck expander in die. Trim cases. Deburr necks. Tumble clean lube from cases. Anneal. Prime with hand primer. Store in labeled bags. Necks will be expanded with a Lyman M die of appropriate diameter before loading. If your size die grossly oversized your necks. have it honed out or replace it.