Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Cheap bulk ammo - 5.56

What difference, if any, will I notice between 55 fmj and xm855 62 fmj?

And this in a 1-8 barrel...

Both of these are about the same price.

Both will probably suck for groups. Both will train and plink fine. Both will penetrate more than enough. If one is closer in weight to your other target/hunting/defense loads, I’d probably rock that one. 1:8 wont know much, if any difference.

If I'm looking for a bulk packaged decent shooting 5.56 load that won't break the bank, what would that likely be?

Edit; Again - 1-8 barrel...

It depends on your definition of what "decent" means. Once you determine what that is and the purpose, then a determination of what ammo to recommend can be made.

Plinking and training, whatever FMJ load you can get cheapest is likely to work well enough. Recently, Wlamart clearanced out their 420 round XM855 cans for $60-$70 and I bought what I could find. More often I am pricing out various sized packages at the stores I frequent or the online stores I use for the lowest prices. Sometimes the 20 round boxes end up cheaper than bulk packs.

For HP or SP rounds, see the above. Fiocchi, Federal, and Remington have bulk packs ranging from 50-200 rounds of 50 and 55 gr bullets often for reasonable prices. The store I work for clearanced out 55 gr Win SP for $5/20 a couple months ago which wasn't bad.

If price rather than bullet is your main consideration then the "best" choice will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and from store/supplier to store/supplier.

I'd kinda like something that doesn't suck, for groups.

If you need specifics let's start at .5 MOA and work outward towards 2 MOA.

which bulk loads won't break the bank?

Bulk ammo that won't break the bank is 2-3 MOA at best. .30/round average

Bulk ammo that shoots 1.5 MOA will run .70/round on average.

.5 MOA bulk ammo would be a miracle.

Best advice is to reload.

Cheap loads + Good groups = Luck most never have

Good luck to you!

John, depending on your rifle, .5 MOA is a tall order. You can check the 24hourcampfire Black Rifle Challenge thread to see what some very experienced guys are getting with their individual rifles. I think you'll find .5 MOA to be a fairly challenging result. To get .5 MOA consistently out of any factory ammo is a tall order.

You got some good advice in the other thread, too. I would check ammoseek.com after you come up with a couple rounds that are well-liked across the board. I believe you were on a good starting track with the XM193. They may not be .5 MOA, but they're pretty consistent. There are others. I keep a fairly good stock of XM855's for training, plinking, and SHTF stash. I do not by any means consider them an accuracy round. Hopefully, some other members will chime in with some different rounds they like.

You might also consider trying some heavies. I just bought a couple thousand rounds of Black Hills and IMI 77 gr Sierra Match King BTHP's to beef up my stock of those and run in my SD get the fugg out of here / away from me BCM 11.5" AR pistol. The Black Hills is top tier factory ammo, and doesn't come cheap. The IMI is an Israeli product, and good ammo. With your 1:8 barrel, they may put you closer to the .5 MOA you seek.

Keep an eye on the holiday sales. This is generally the best time to buy. Labor Day is coming up, so that should present some opportunities.

Good luck and Keep the Faith.

I purchased a variety of cheap ammo, 55 and 62 grs. when I bought my first ARs several years ago. If you have any interest in accuracy, this stuff is a waste of money but it will feed perfectly and fire every time. I also tried three match ammos. These were quite expensive, but shot accurately. Good handloads will do better.

Hmmmm... I have a RAR with a 16" barrel that shoots the cheap [bleep] as good as anything else... about 1/2"

You should submit an entry into the black rifle challenge....

Yes RAR's are famous for this...

Best cheap ammo I've found is Norma TAC, but you have to catch it on sale. Full price does not qualify as "cheap"

IMI 55gr FMJ has a good reputation.
@ $0.66 per round Midway has IMI 77gr SMK, that's with shipping included. I have some on the way now.

For general bulk ammo, I like the 55gr Federal from the Lake City Plant, in the can on strippers from PSA.
$127.39 after rebate for 440 rounds:

https://palmettostatearmory.com/fed...m-nato-55gr-fmj-500rds-xm193lc1-ac1.html

.5MOA? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Look, spend some time shooting. After you've burned about 1K rounds, and get tired of "plinking", then you can get serious about good ammo.

Tula is still the low-price leader and it is what I buy to ring steel plates at up to 100 yds. Don't plan on shooting steel with any 855 variants as the penetrators dimple up the surface too much - and often ranges won't let you use it.

The .5 MOA was for the over thinker who wanted a definition of "decent".

Note that I prefaced that with "if you need specifics".

I'm just looking for cheap ammo that most regular guys think is good enough for what most regular guys use their ARs for.

Meanwhile I bought 3 boxes of Winchester 55 FMJ, 200 rounds per box from a guy looking to sell stuff locally so he can get married.
Got it cheep.

Might be interested in the Tula stuff. Any downside to it?

I’ve had good luck for bulk and keeping close to MOA accuracy (sometimes better) with Fiocchi 40/50/55gr V-Max loads. The 50/55s are better coyote loads, but quite a few hogs have died from them. The 40s blow up instantly on almost anything. They can be found for .35-.38 cents a round. There are some good soft points in that realm, as well. I’d find a load with a hunting/varmint/match bullet, and not expect ANY FMJ load to be much better than 2MOA.

I don't shoot steel cased ammo in any of my good barrels. I save it for AK's and SKS's.

That's because of ignorance. Intelligent people know that it matters not.

Xm193 will run a bit over 3000fps from a 16" barrel. Tula 55gr will do a bit over 2800fps. But the velocity difference is irrelevant at 100yds.

John.. in my opinion, Norma tac-223 is the best of the fmj stuff by far and can be found for decent prices if you are patient. I have shot it consistently under 2”
That being said the biggest sleeper for the price is the fiocchi factory loaded with the vmax. 50gr for me. Catch good sales and it can be had for $18 for a box of 50. I have a few that will put that under an inch.
All day..
If I do my part...

Steel case ammo is pretty hard on barrels because most, if not all of it available now has copper-washed steel jacketed bullets.