Author Topic: Which ammo do you use in your AR 15 or Mini 14 (Read 568 times)

NYH1 · « **on:** March 26, 2004, 04:19:34 PM »

I have a new (Oct. '03) Rock River Arm's AR 15 Tasc rifle. It has a 16 inch barrel with a 1 in 9 inch twist. I have some Federal (Lake City) XM193, M193 55gr. ball ammo. and some NATO SS109 62gr. FMJ. I haven't shot either in this rifle yet. I was wondering what ammo you guys use in your's?

marlinman93 · « **Reply #1 on:** March 26, 2004, 05:36:54 PM »

I've used a number of brands of .223 in my AR15, but mostly I've gone to strictly brass cases. I started out using the Wolf brand ammo, as it sold for $75 per 1,000, but it wreaked such havoc on my chamber I thought I'd never get all the varnish out! Had many stuck casings, and literally tore the rims off some cartridges when the extractor tried to pull stuck cases out! The steel Wolf cases are varnished to avoid rusting, and as the chamber gets hot, the varnish builds up, until the cases wont extract. Took a lot of work with brake cleaner, and a brush on a drill motor, before the gun would finally function normally again.
I now use either S. African, or Federal 55 gr ball ammo. Both shoot well, and with no malfunction problems.

papajohn428 · « **Reply #2 on:** April 17, 2004, 01:33:42 PM »

I have tested a dozen handloads in my new Oly, haven't found any it really likes yet, but it dotes on the bulk W-W 45-grain hollow points, as well as the Hornady Tactical stuff. Brass cases only, and I sort my brass by headstamp. Next to test is my standard charge of BL-C2 or Varget with W-W 64-grain SP's, I need a long range coyote load, and those light slugs just don't carry much thump past 250 yards.

PJ

Wlscott · « **Reply #3 on:** April 18, 2004, 02:22:31 PM »

I am currently testing a 55 grain Nosler ballistic tip bullet over 26.5 grains of BLC(2) in Lake City brass and set off by Federal SR primers.
*This is over the max as per the Nosler book so work up to it slowly.*

Since I can't seem to get the velocity out of this load that I feel I should (Just over 3000 fps) I'll be testing Varget soon with this same bullet.

Mikey · « **Reply #4 on:** April 19, 2004, 04:34:37 AM »

New York Hunter: I regularly use mil-surp production 55 gn in my Mini-14. I have an older one that stabalizes those bullets best (1:9 twist, I think). I stay away from Wolf brand, Igman and foreign manufacture 5.56 ball ammo. My Mini-14 does pretty dang good with the mil-surp stuff, and I can bust left-over clay pigeons at 100 yds without any problems with open sights.

I met a fella at the range on Sunday who was shooting an M-16 type with a shorty bbl and using the new Wolf poly-coated ammo. Even with a rest and a scope I know I could do as well if not better than he was doing and he knew the new Wolf stuff would not give him great accuracy, so he was just shootin' it up. Mikey.