American Eagle AR223 ammo heads up

[jmr40]

Like me most of you have probably seen this ammo at Walmart for under $7/box. I bought a few boxes and so far it has run 100% in my 3 AR's with around 1" groups at 100 yards. So far so good, but I decided to shoot a few different loads over my chronograph this morning. Talk about slow. From one of my 16" AR's I only got 1561 fps, 1933 from the 20" gun. That is just over 22 LR speeds, and 372 fps slower in the shorter barrel.

Just for reference I tried some other ammo with much better results. Some Georgia Arms loads with a 60 gr ballistic tip gave me 2789 from the short barrel and 2922 from the longer one with only 133 fps difference between the long and short barrel. But this load was 1228 fps faster through the same short barreled gun. And with a heavier bullet. The 62 gr PMC ammo was about 100 fps slower than the Georgia Arms ammo, with about the same difference between the 2 guns.

Since this ammo does shoot reliably and accurately I suppose it would be OK for punching paper out to 100 yards or so, but I'm glad I shot this over the chronograph. I wouldn't use it for any serious work.

 

[UtopiaTexasG19]

Now we know why it is less expensive.......less powder

 

[Battle Born]

Yep, makes sense I guess

 

[rickyrick]

Dag gummit I really liked this stuff. Seemed like excellent plinking ammo. I guess it is still good for paper.

 

[moxie]

Federal advertises 3240 fps for that stuff. Even with a short barrel you should still be getting close to 3000. The fact that you are getting good velocities with other ammo shows this batch to be faulty.

I'd call Federal customer service and tell them about it. They will probably replace it.

Mail Address:
Federal Cartridge Company
900 Ehlen Drive
Anoka, MN 55303-7503
1-800-831-0850
Fax: (763) 323-2506

 

[Striker1]

I have not found it to be slow as you described...something is wrong, either ammo or chrono.

 

[Justice06RR]

Moxie, I believe American Eagle is not the same as Federal, if i'm not mistaken.

I've used both reliably in .223Rem for punching paper, but for any serious work proper 5.56NATO is always recommended.

 

[moxie]

American Eagle is indeed made by Federal. See this:

http://www.federalpremium.com/products/rifle.aspx

By the way, 55 gr. 5.56 "NATO" is not really NATO any more, even though it has the NATO circled cross on the head. The 62 gr. is. And, it is made at the Lake City Ammunition Plant, which is run by guess who. Federal.

 

[CDW4ME]

I chronographed the AE 223 American Eagle Tactical 55 gr. FMJ
Three shot average = 2,873 fps / 1,008# KE from a 16'' barrel Stag 2T (1/9 twist)

My Nosler Partition 60 gr. handload averaged 2,807 fps / 1,050# KE
That handload is only -.1 gr. off the maximum listed charge.
AA load data gives a velocity of 3,099 fps, however that is for a 20'' barrel
The same Accurate Arms data advises to subtract 300 fps for a 16'' barrel
~3,100 - 300 = 2,800
The chrono result I obtained with my 16'' barrel is right on target.

If we applied the seemingly accurate generalization from the load data and my result to the American Eagle Tactical it should be 2,873 fps + 300 fps or about 3,173 fps from a 20'' barrel.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Like me most of you have probably seen this ammo at Walmart for under $7/box. I bought a few boxes and so far it has run 100% in my 3 AR's with around 1" groups at 100 yards.

I noticed that you didn't mention anything about a significantly different POI with the slow ammo. You should have had several more inches of drop than with the ammo that performed normally.

 

[moxie]

double naught,

Was that droop or drop? LOL

 

[jmr40]

American Eagle is loaded by Federal, but is not loaded to the same specs. There is a good possibility I got some bad ammo. Don't think it is the chronograph because all other loads were pretty close to normal. It was very early on a cloudy morning and the lack of sunlight may have altered the readings somewhat. In better light I suspect all loads may have been somewhat faster. At least based on past experience.

I have several boxes from 2 different lot numbers. Next range trip I'll take some from each lot # and compare.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

So was the POI significantly different with the slow ammo?

 

[jmr40]

I never shot any beyond 50 yards. At that range it would have been hard to have noticed any difference. I'm a little surprised that it functioned in my gun loaded that light.

 

[moxie]

jmr40,

You say American Eagle is "not loaded to the same specs." What do you mean? American Eagle IS Federal.

 

[jmr40]

American Eagle is Federal's budget priced ammo. Remington has their UMC line of budget ammo, The White box Winchester ammo sold at Walmart is another example. Most all ammo companies offer something similar. There is usually nothing wrong with it but it does not meet the same QC standards as the more expensve premium ammo. For close range shooting and plinking where extreme accuracy is not required it is just fine. Many find that it is more than accurate enough for their needs and never pay for the more expensive stuff.

Also, some more information to hopefully clear up previous posts. I have purchased 10-15 boxes of this ammo at 2-3 different times at 2 different locations. I have loaded several boxes into mags and threw away the boxes so I have no idea which lot #'s they are. Still have 8 unopened boxes, 4 of 1 lot number, 4 from another It is entirely possible the ammo already loaded could be from a 3rd lot number, but I have no way to check. I have 3 AR's. I zeroed one with a 2-7 scope using some, and was able to get good 100 yard accuracy, ~1", but have not tried any other ammo through this gun since to note any difference in impact. I was at the range Tuesday with the other 2 AR's. One set up as a target gun with 20" heavy barrel the other with 16" barrel and a SPARC red dot. Shooting this ammo with the red dot at 50 yards I did not notice any difference in impact. I do not normally use this ammo in the target gun at all.

I did not do this to test ammo. It was really just an afterthought. No one else was at the range when I finished and I set up my chronograpy just to see how much velocity I was losing with the shorter barrel. Not intendng to test ammo. I'll get back to the range next Tue., or Wed. and check this out more carefully. I'll separate the different lot #'s and see if both give me the same velocity and shoot several types through one of the scoped AR's at longer range to see if there is a noticeable difference in POI at 100 yards. I'll come back to this thread with info next week.

 

[243winxb]

1561 fps, And it still worked the action? Its normal to loose about 35 fps per inch of barrel.

 

[ritepath]

These results make me want to buy more of it...

 

[hagar]

Wow! I clocked the 50 grain hollow points at over 3400 out of my 26 inch Remington VS, but that was a long time ago. Used to buy the stuff for $4/20.

 

[jmr40]

Update:

I must have just gotten a 1-2 boxes of bad ammo. Went back to the range today for more testing. Much better results. I had ammo with 2 different lot numbers on it and some pre-loaded in 1 magazine from an unkown lot number. The ammo in the mag was still slow, right at 2000 fps from the 20" gun and just over 1600 from both of my 16" guns. I had better light to work with today and feel the readings were probably more accurate.

Using the ammo with the known lot numbers did better. An average of 2850 fps from the 16" guns and 2980 from the 20" gun. A little slower than some other ammo I've used, but acceptable.

I should have known there had to be a simple answer with that much of a difference between this ammo and others.