Archive for the 'Ammunition' Category

Before you dive into the video (and it’s a very good and informative video), I have some remarks.  Ignore them if you want to dive straight into the video.

First, QC is a subset of QA, QA being a function of not only QC testing, but engineering, management oversight, problem reporting and resolution, and so on.

Second, the word accuracy is the most misused word when concerning firearms.  Most of the time a rifle can be made accurate by adjusting the iron sights or optics.  What most people refer to when they say a rifle is accurate or not accurate is precision.  A small group on the target at the point of aim is both accurate and precise.  A large group at the point of aim is accurate but not precise.  A small group not at the point of aim is precise but not accurate, but can be made to be accurate by adjustments.  A large group not at the point of aim is both inaccurate and imprecise.  Accuracy can be adjusted into a rifle.  Precision cannot.  Precision is a function of the rifle and ammunition.  Precision has to do with repeatability and statistically similar outcomes with increasing sample size.

And that last point is important.  The Daniel Defense rifle did well compared to the Block II rifle, but they both suffered from imprecision.  They are not 1 MOA rifles.  Or are they?

With the right ammunition they both can be, as can be a lot of rifles that don’t shoot 1 MOA or better.  Mass produced military ammunition isn’t high QC grade ammunition.  To get good AR-15 ammunition requires buying those $1.50 – $2.00 rounds of .223 made by Hornady and other manufacturers who spend time and money on QC.

Both QA and QC costs money.  It costs as much as the component does in most cases.  If you want your rifle to be a 1 MOA or better gun, shoot high-QC ammunition.  That means the powder has been metered, the bullets are not out-of-round, the center of gravity (CoG) is located at the centroid or thereabouts, etc.  If you want to practice rapid fire, or fire under movement, purchase bulk military grade ammunition.  If you want to shoot with precision (smaller groups), buy high quality ammunition.  It will cost money.

Yes, barrel harmonics has something to do with all of this, as does machining tolerances, but the main point here is that good ammunition changes everything.  He proves that right up front in the video.

I had never really thought about this.  It makes perfect sense, although if you hunt in the South, the temperatures just don’t get as cold as they do where he is shooting.

Nonetheless, it makes sense to sight your right in with ambient temperature about the same as when you expect to be hunting.  Carrying ammunition close to your body as he suggests would also be an option.

On another note, I like that shooting range with the CCTV monitor there so he could turn around to view his target.  I’d like to shoot there.

Very nice and informative video.

Ammo.com has a lot of great articles. We’ve been following them on social media. You may find the Resistance Library interesting. On to the AR Calibers article:

5.56 Is Great, But…

Let’s be honest about one thing, the 5.56 NATO/223 Remington is a battle-proven cartridge that has valiantly served the US military for decades. The 5.56’s effectiveness is well documented, and it is one of, if not the, most popular centerfire rifle cartridges in North America.

Yes, the 5.56 NATO is awesome. It has low recoil, a flat trajectory, is inexpensive, and has more varieties of ammo than you can shake a boomstick at.

But sometimes you want to shoot something different out of your AR, and that’s ok. One of the greatest aspects of the AR-15 rifle is its versatility, as many caliber conversions can be accomplished with a simple upper receiver swap. However, with so many different rifle calibers available, some shooters might be confused as to which cartridge is best for their AR-15 or AR-10.

In this article, we are going to break down the top 13 best AR calibers that aren’t 5.56 NATO so you can understand which one will best suit your shooting needs.

If you can’t wait, the best AR caliber is .22 Long Rifle, however if you want to see the full AR caliber list then keep scrolling.”

The article breaks down; the best overall, home defense, long-range, varmint, hunting, and more. It’s well worth a look.

Field & Stream.

There is a 150-grain hunting bullet that at 100 yards will penetrate at least 23 inches and expand as much or more than either with similar bullets. Not only that, but it will do so while producing just 13 foot-pounds of recoil energy when fired from a 7-pound rifle. That’s 6 and 11 foot-pounds less than the .308 and .30/06, respectively. So, what is miracle cartridge? It’s the .30/30 Winchester.

How could the ancient .30/30 possibly outperform two 30-caliber cartridges that are considered by many to be the best big-game cartridges of all time? The answer is simpler than you might think. With conventional bullets, the higher velocities of the .308 and .30/06 cause more bullet erosion, which reduces weight, and in turn, penetration.

You might argue that the higher impact velocities of the latter tend to create more tissue damage. That’s true, and if sufficient penetration is reached by all three of these, the ones fired from the .308 and .30/06 might in fact put an animal down faster. But not any deader, and none of that is quantifiable. What really counts is penetration …

In his 1970s book, The Hunting Rifle, Jack O’Connor talked about an old hand he’d encountered who’d hunted Wyoming, Montana, and the Yukon, and typically took 17 or 18 elk with a single box (20 rounds) of .30/30 ammo. He told O’Connor that a moose, lung shot with a .30/30, would run about 75 to 100 yards and die. Well before that, African professional hunter Wally Johnson took a .30/30 Winchester to Africa and used it to kill lions. The effectiveness of the .30/30 Winchester on big game should never be questioned; it has more than a century of proof sanctioning it.

Given the untold numbers of deer taken with Winchester Model 94s and Marlin 336s over the last century, it should come as a bit of a shock that some of today’s younger hunters will ask: Is the .30/30 good for deer hunting? Um, yes. For decades and decades, it was consider the deer cartridge.

Right on.  Preach it!

The normally reliable Ron Spomer did a recent video favorably comparing the 300 Blackout to the 30-30.  It’s so wrong in my opinion that I’m not even linking it.

The 300 BO has a 125 grain bullet travelling at 2215 FPS.  The box of 30-30 I’m looking at now shows a 150 grain bullet travelling at 2390 FPS.  25 grains and 175 FPS is enough difference to make a difference.  Remember, the energy computation squares the velocity.

Slav Guns has this fun video of unboxing of his new Savage 110 Switchback, which apparently was only built in a limited run and only available through Sportsman’s Warehouse.  He obviously intends to remove the action and put it inside a chassis.

One commenter remarks, “I’m waiting for the Ruger Predator.”  I didn’t know they were intending to build a 6mm ARC bolt action gun, but he might have meant the Savage 110 Carbon Predator, which is available in 6mm ARC.  He said that the Savage 110 Tactical was being built in a 16″ or 18″ barrel, defeating the point of the 6mm ARC.  The Savage 100 Carbon Predator is also being built with a 18″ barrel.

Right now not even the Savage web site shows this in 6mm ARC, while Shooting Illustrated says it is.

Field & Stream has an article up on low recoil deer cartridges.  Their list is as follows.

• .223 Remington
• .224 Valkyrie
• .243 Winchester
• .257 Roberts
• .25-06 Remington
• .260 Remington
• 6.5×55 Swedish
• 6.5 Creedmoor
• 6.8 Remington SPC
• 7mm-08 Remington
• .30-30 Winchester
• 350 Legend

It’s beyond me how you could write an article on the best low recoil deer cartridges and not mention 6mm ARC, using a bullet twice the weight of the 5.56/.223, essentially the same velocity, with only slightly more recoil.

Perhaps it’s the lack of viable bolt action rifles in this round, but you can still use an AR for the hunt.  Grendel Hunter has as many or more 6mm ARC uppers as they do 6.5 Grendel.

I remain disappointed at the slow adoption of this cartridge.

This is a timely and informative video.  I had suspected that the increased bullet weight caused enough decrease in muzzle velocity to cause a wash between the two bullets in terms of energy, but until this video I hadn’t researched it or convinced myself.

American Hunter.

Finding a rifled choke tube isn’t particularly difficult for most common thread patterns, such as the Remington RemChoke, Benelli Crio Plus, Beretta/Benelli (Mobil), Beretta Optima HP, Browning Invector and Invector Plus, and Winchester Win Choke. At this time, Browning appears to be the only gunmaker that sells them direct to consumer (as accessories); there’s no need to fret, as aftermarket companies, and particularly Carlson’s Choke Tubes, cover those mentioned above and then some. Options in 12 gauge typically outnumber those in 20.

As with choke tubes offering varying degrees of constriction, rifled models are, at times, available in flush-fitting and extended configurations, though the latter are now conventional. I haven’t found one length to outperform the other, but the extra length of an extended model definitely aids the installation and removal process. Given that many slugs—including those featuring a sabot—can be used with fully rifled barrels and rifled choke tubes, it’s unsurprising that the twist rate of both are similar, if not identical. For instance, a 1:35-inch twist rate is commonly employed in 12 gauge.

While there is ammunition that plays nicely with both fully rifled barrels and rifled choke tubes, some is outright incompatible with the latter. When the manufacture states, “Use in fully rifled barrels only,” or something similar, heed their warning. Avoid that load. Unfortunately, such cautions are common to the highest-performing—and flattest shooting—slugs, but that’s simply the tradeoff associated with going the rifled-choke-tube route.

Provided there’s no warning, or the ammunition box reads, “Suitable for use in smoothbore and rifled shotguns with any choke,” or an analogous message, that slug is safe for use through your rifled choke tube. Most will be of the traditional, full-diameter, Foster-type design or Brenneke’s improved version, though there are sabot slugs that can be utilized in rifled choke tubes, too. Examples of the latter are Winchester’s Super-X BRI Sabot Slug, a favorite of mine, and Brenneke’s new Topas, which pairs a blue, 12-gauge wad with a Brenneke-style, lead-alloy, 16-gauge slug. That’s only the beginning, too.

I found this to be a very helpful article.  A day or two ago I watched Ron Spomer discuss rifled slugs, and I was a bit confused until I figured out we’re talking about two different things between the article above and Ron – rifled slugs that don’t spin versus rifled chokes that do spin a slug.

Anyway, I’m not a slug shooter so this was a learning experience for me.

Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3. Apparently, there are more parts coming but we got tired of waiting for one-page installments, what’s linked is what’s published so far.

Excerpt from part 1:

This article is intended for people who—like me—are “hedging their bets” when it comes to firearms. I have stocked up on a few good firearms, along with magazines, ammunition, and reloading components, but I know I can’t have considered every possible future event…

I began looking at making ammunition as a backup plan and soon found that every component needed for loading a muzzleloading rifle, pistol or shotgun (powder, bullets, caps, lubricant etc.) could be made at home with little trouble, without much in the way of “exotic” ingredients. Further, many cartridges can similarly be “fed” almost indefinitely with black powder, recharged primers, home-cast bullets, homemade lubricant, and other, fairly simple components.

This article may also benefit someone with limited resources, or who is faced with increasing laws and regulations which make it more difficult—and more expensive—to stock up on ammunition. I’m not suggesting homemade ammo for self-defense or for other times when lives are on the line. Rather, it can be used for practice, for plinking, for hunting, and for pest elimination, or as a backup plan for darker times, when shelves are empty again and no resupply is in sight.

This article will cover current sources for reloading components, as well as my experiments recharging fired primers and converting a modern shotgun to use primers and homemade muzzleloading cartridges, as a way of getting started in black powder inexpensively. We’ll look at the (low-cost) tools needed and the process and show how you can—for very little money—add a skill to your “toolbox,” just in case you cannot obtain new primers, powder, or ammo.

Source:

Fiocchi, a global leader in defensive, target, and hunting ammunition, announced today the selection of a 281-acre site in the Port of Little Rock, Arkansas for a new ammunition primer manufacturing facility, expanding its operations presence in Little Rock. Representing a $41.5 million investment and a 120-person workforce expansion, the new production operation will pave the way for future growth in Arkansas and provide much-needed primer supply relief for the broader ammunition manufacturing segment.

The new facility will be one of only six primer manufacturing operations in the U.S. and the only dedicated lead-free primer plant in the world. Fiocchi evaluated five locations across three states for the expansion. Little Rock was selected as the preferred location after a thorough site selection search that evaluated real estate compatibility, logistical infrastructure, workforce capability, and support from state and local leadership.

[…]

“This groundbreaking represents another significant milestone in Fiocchi’s long-term plan to strengthen and expand our manufacturing capabilities,” said Maurizio Negro, Fiocchi Group CEO, “and to bolster primer supplies not only for Fiocchi products but also to increase supplies for the ammunition manufacturing industry at large. We sincerely appreciate the support of Governor Hutchinson, Secretary of Commerce Mike Preston, Jack Thomas of the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, Bryan Day of the Port of Little Rock, and all partners involved who helped make this possible.”

Part of Fiocchi’s ongoing vertical integration strategy, the new primer facility will allow the company to meet internal primer supply needs, focus on its low environmental impact initiatives, and present second-sourcing opportunities for industry contracts.

Shooting Illustrated.

50-grain Nosler Ballistic Tip
Nosler’s 50-grain Ballistic Tip is ideal for varmints and predators up to coyote size. Delivering around 10 inches of penetration, it’s even a good choice for tactical applications if intermediate barriers are not an issue. Federal loads the 55-grain Nosler Ballistic Tip in its Tactical Law Enforcement TRU line. This bullet creates massive, but moderately shallow, tissue destruction, ideal for vermin and self-defense applications. Hodgdon lists a maximum load of 28.5 grains of CFE 223 for a 50-grain bullet with a velocity of 3,500 fps. Nosler, however, lists a 29.0-grain maximum load at 3,379 fps. (This goes to show you that data from different sources do not always agree.) 

60-grain Nosler Partition
This is an excellent bullet for deer and feral hogs, and from a tactical standpoint it performs very well because of its ability to defeat intermediate barriers. In 10-percent ordnance gelatin or Clear Ballistics, you can expect 20 inches of penetration with the bullet’s deformed frontal diameter measuring almost .4 inch. Hodgdon’s maximum recommended charge of 26.7 grains of CFE 223 pushed this bullet to 3,100 fps out of my 22-inch barrel. Precision was not on par with the 50-grain Ballistic Tip, but a five-group average of 1.1 inches is totally sufficient for a load I intend to use inside 200 yards. This bullet does not have a reputation for delivering extreme precision.

70-grain Nosler AccuBond
I’ve killed more big-game animals with AccuBonds than any other bullet, mostly because they deliver an ideal balance of penetration and tissue damage. They also only need to impact at about 1,800 fps for measurable bullet upset. Nosler is the only company offering a factory 70-grain AccuBond load for the .223 Rem., but it can be hard to find. In its latest load manual, Nosler does not list CFE 223 for bullets between 70 and 85 grains, but Hodgdon lists a maximum load of 24.7 grains. With this bullet’s BC of .37, it’s still traveling 2,000 fps at 300 yards. This, combined with the precision it delivered, makes it an ideal multi-purpose load. In tactical applications, the bonding helps with intermediate barriers, and you can expect 17 inches of penetration.

Nosler 77-grain Custom Competition
Because of its light recoil, ringing steel and punching paper are joyous pursuits with the .223 Rem. For that you need a bullet that’s accurate and will fly reasonably flat. Nosler offers a factory load for the .223 Rem. that uses its 77-grain Custom Competition bullet, but it retails for more than $40 per box of 20. It’s advertised at 2,600 fps, and with Hodgdon’s maximum load of 24.3 grains I got 2,680 fps out of my rifle.

“America’s Rifle” isn’t just modular and easy to shoot and maintain.  It’s customizable with ammunition too.  I don’t hand load but I’ve found that just about any bullet type he discusses can be found either at your local store or over an Ammoseek search.  You can find what you want based on your perceived needs.

What I wish they would do now is work on varying the loads and bullet types for the 6mm ARC.  At the moment, Hornady seems to have a lock on that cartridge.  I’d like to see Federal and Nosler get into the game.