My son is looking for a decent brand of 223 ammo to buy in bulk for practice and maybe some competition. Got any favorites?

He's an E5 in the Army so cheap and decent is what he's looking for right now.

I've only ever bought from Lucky Gunner are there any other sources worth looking at? Thanks.

My brother in law said that Hornady's Frontier brand has a good price.

He buys it by the case.

He is kind of cheap sometimes.

If any of that IMI Mk262 is available, it's not bad. It has some very good lots.

You could look into ReloaderMonkey ammo too

Black hills?

I remember the days of 9.99/50 from black hills fmj.

I really like American Eagle. It's cheap, good quality and pretty darn consistant. I'm really partial to the 55 gr but it comes in other bullet weights as well. I had stopped hand loading for 223 and used this for practice and matches.

Federal, American Eagle, IMI, MEN, Fiocchi, whatever is on sale. Check out the AmmoSeek web site for deals.
I always start my search at SG Ammo and Target Sports,

I'll second SGAmmo and TargetSports (w/ membership for discount and free shipping).

Cheaper than Dirt is another source of inexpensive ammo.

Virgil B.

You really have to shoot samples of the cheap stuff to have any clue.

One poster says uses 55 Eagle for matches... hopefully not the FMJ stuff... FMJ are rarely accurate enough for service rifle competition at top levels.

But then again one should kind of give parameters for actual needs IMHO.

About the cheapest stuff I’ve had truly good accuracy with was Fiocchi HPBT Sierras and tipped varmint stuff, back when it was cheaper than frontier is now. I’m still hunting for a cheaper, accurate load, but I’ve not had any FMJ stuff go much better than 1.5-2moa, and that’s in $600 match barrels and rigs that’ll do sub-1/2 with good loads.

FMJ usually are crap bullets. Hence the issue.

Anyone I see post sub moa with ball loads I offer have you shot a 10 shot group or couple.... even I have had fluke 3-5 shot moa or so groups with some of the ball ammo.

Best ball we had years back was TZZ and FNM. Who knows whats what these days on true ball, and at that it was 2moa, maybe a hair under but not likely in the long run. LC was never much, though I hear some lots of 62 can be ok.

Fiocchi 50 gr V-Max

It comes on sale fairly often and shoots well above it's price point.

Target sports does free shipping on a case.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, I told him the stuff you guys said.

What kind of targets and competition?

He wants to shoot in some carbine matches. Maybe 2 gun carbine and pistol matches too if there is such a thing.

More run and gun than precision I would think. Neither one of us has done any matches like that. You would be able to take a better guess at target sizes and types than I would.

The closest I've come to matches like that is "stress tests" while in the Army which usually set the bar pretty low.

See if the frontier spirepoints will shoot for him.....they’re generally cheap and the bullet has potential

Ball ammo will be fine then.

For that I’d buy cheap 55grain stuff. Brass case from American Eagle, PMC, etc.

Yep AE is great for run and gun stuff. I find it to be accurate for the price. It's good ammo so long as you plan to leave the brass where it falls.

I just picked up 180 rounds of AE 55 grain XM193 for an Armalite HBAR that is showed signs of being real accurate with 55 grain Winchester FMJ. I've got the rail cleared off waiting for sights at the moment. I'll shoot some of the AE when I get a chance and see how it compares.

I like this stuff. It's pretty consistent in my AR and bolt gun.

https://www.targetsportsusa.com/norma-usa-tac-223-remington-ammo-55-grain-fmj-p-4282.aspx

What's wrong with AE brass? The AE I have used was in Lake City brass, which I like.
I guess if you don't want crimped primers you may not like it, but that's no big deal to me.

The stuff I've had was not Lake City brass. True Lake City is very good stuff, but all the AE I've seen the head stamp is Federal, not AE and it's much softer, no where close to LC standards.

Yup. Commercial American Eagle 223 (not 5.56 marked) ammo has always been FC headstamp that I've ever seen, which is sometimes OK for reloading and sometimes definitely not. I used it for a while, until one batch of them was soft enough to blow primers and look like belted magnum cases after firing warmer 5.56 loads. The same loads were, and continue to be, completely sustainable for many reloadings in a different batch of FC brass and in the LC brass I normally use. The factory AE 223 loads do seem a bit on the milder side IMO; enough to make a difference when tuning AR gas systems.

The Federal 5.56 loads on the other hand like XM193 and 855 use LC brass though and that is good stuff. I haven't paid attention but maybe they've slapped the AE label on some of that? If in doubt I'd want to buy the 5.56 loading rather than 223 for a better chance at getting the good LC brass.

Yes, the stuff I have used was the 5.56, both 55gr and 62 gr.. I don't buy much loaded ammo and I was very happy to see the LC brass.

That makes sense then. LC is what I've seen in the 5.56 loads.