LEO's what ammo is your issue for AR?
- Thread starter STEVE M
- Start date
Jeepmark2005
New member
I use XM193. It is effective and cheap enough to train with. If you have the funds Tap ammo is worth looking at also.
FirstFreedom
Moderator
Sure you don't use the Hornady double-TAP there, AMT? 
aaronrkelly
New member
Federal Tactical LE223T3 65 grain
Johnny Guest
Moderator in Memoriam
As of 18 months ago - -
- - When I retired, the local sheriff's office was issuing UltraMax 55 gr. SP, remanufactured ammo we began getting on contract six or eight years previously. The issue patrol carbine was the Ruger Mini 14.
Interesting stuff - - I figured the re-man ammo was "good enough" for the iron sighted Rugers, which are not exactly reknown for supertight groupings. The sheriff acquired an AR-15A3 and asked me if I had time to set it up for him. I got a Leupold M8 scope, mount and rings and went to the range, taking some of the issue ammo, which I figured would be "good enough" to get the little carbine on paper. I was astounded when the UltraMaX gave good groups. When I sorted the remanufactured military brass by headstamps, I found that the Colt 1/9 barrel would shoot this ammo into less than 1"@100 yds. on demand - - Not just a couple of times, but consistently! In fact, it shot better with the UM than with the heavier bullet (62 or 69 gr?) Winchester match grade ammo.
I also found that the UM issue stuff would shoot very well in my Mark X Mini Mauser -- nearly as well as some carefully assembled handloads with Hornady and Sierra target and varmint bullets. All this led me to the purchase of my own AR-15A3 and a cheaper, Chinese made 4X compact scope.
Yeah, I know - - If someone had told me such information beforehand, I'd have been a bit dubious. But I did it myself! Full disclosure: My own AR-15A3 had a rougher trigger and didn't shoot the UM -- or anything else -- as well until I spend some money on the trigger group.
Best,
Johnny
- - When I retired, the local sheriff's office was issuing UltraMax 55 gr. SP, remanufactured ammo we began getting on contract six or eight years previously. The issue patrol carbine was the Ruger Mini 14.
Interesting stuff - - I figured the re-man ammo was "good enough" for the iron sighted Rugers, which are not exactly reknown for supertight groupings. The sheriff acquired an AR-15A3 and asked me if I had time to set it up for him. I got a Leupold M8 scope, mount and rings and went to the range, taking some of the issue ammo, which I figured would be "good enough" to get the little carbine on paper. I was astounded when the UltraMaX gave good groups. When I sorted the remanufactured military brass by headstamps, I found that the Colt 1/9 barrel would shoot this ammo into less than 1"@100 yds. on demand - - Not just a couple of times, but consistently! In fact, it shot better with the UM than with the heavier bullet (62 or 69 gr?) Winchester match grade ammo.
I also found that the UM issue stuff would shoot very well in my Mark X Mini Mauser -- nearly as well as some carefully assembled handloads with Hornady and Sierra target and varmint bullets. All this led me to the purchase of my own AR-15A3 and a cheaper, Chinese made 4X compact scope.
Yeah, I know - - If someone had told me such information beforehand, I'd have been a bit dubious. But I did it myself! Full disclosure: My own AR-15A3 had a rougher trigger and didn't shoot the UM -- or anything else -- as well until I spend some money on the trigger group.
Best,
Johnny
trooper3385
New member
We use the Winchester Ranger law enforcement ammo in the 64 gr soft point. It shot pretty accurately in the mini 14's we had and now it shoots even better in the Bushmaster M-4's we have now.
onedelta89
New member
I am a firearms instructor with a department of 96 officers. We have about 20-25 officers who carry patrol rifles. All carry a type of AR15 variation. We have about 4 Bushmasters which have ALL proven to be of lower quality Inaccurate, unreliable, than the Colt and Rock River Arms rifles. Oklahoma City Police purchased 14 Bushmaster rifles 3 years ago and have already surplused them all out because they all kept breaking down and had poor accuracy. several of the rifles were repeatedly sent back to the factory until the factory gave up trying to make them run. A couple of the Rock River guns were finicky about ammo until they were broken in. Most of the Colts ran fine unless they used worn out magazines. We Issued the Federal 69 grain Gold Medal load for 3 years and still issue some. We have recently started issuing PMC's premium line of match ammo. 69 Grain sierra matchkings for the faster twist, and Sierra 52 grain matchkings for the slower twist rifles. So far the PMC loads have had more consistent velocity and lower standard deviation in every test. The PMC has printed smaller groups in every rifle we have tested in. My duty Colt will consistently shoot .8 inch 5 shot groups with the PMC and shoots .9 to 1 inch groups with Federal Gold Medal loads. This was at 100 yards off benchrest with 10x target scope. At 300 yards the wind has it's effect and both loads printed around 4 inches with horizontal stringing. This was prone with a sling. While both loads are very good, the PMC loads also cost 1/3 less than Federal loads do. We buy direct from PMC on purchase orders and get 1000 rounds for almost $100 bucks cheaper. In penetration testing, the 69 grain Sierra matchking penetrated about the same as ball ammo in our wall board simulation, In gelatin, the 69 grain bullet penetrated a couple of inches deeper and broke into 2 pieces regularly. It should be noted that the 40 cal Glocks we issue penetrated 3 times more wallboard than the .223 loads. The pistol bullet hollow cavity fills with wallboard and remained stable, which let it penetrate deeper. The 223 bullets started to tumble after the 2nd piece of board and fragmented consistently. We have also switched to a custom handloader HSM for our 308 precision marksmen. 15 years ago the Federal 168 match load was unbeatable. In the last several years with federal being sold more than once, their accuracy in the 308 has declined noticably. I have seen police sharpshooters relegate whole cases of Federal to practice only, or give it away in trade for more useful items, because the ammo wouldn't print tighter than 1.5 inches. We tried the HSM load and was suprised it gave sub .6 inch grouping in 3 of our 5 department rifles. The HSM load is about 35% less expensive than Federal. One of our new Remington PS model rifles won't shoot well with anything we tried so far. Remington quality has slipped as well. If I were to buy everything all over from scratch I would buy the Rock River standard A2 model and have them add the National Match free float tube at the factory with the standard 20 inch barrel. I would test both the PMC and Federal loads for accuracy and pick the most consistent and accurate round in that rifle. If I were buying a scoped 308 it would be the newer Savage model 10P with the Mcmillan stock. I'd top it with Leupold glass with mil dot reticle. and probably feed it the HSM 168 or 175 grain match load. Hope this helps!
Passel of good info here, folks. 1-delta, your PD must be sitting on an Oklahoma oil-well to get away with an arms budget like that Good for you anyhow- I'm glad to see that somebody is getting all the cool toys.
FWIW the Bushies didn't impress me. When we rough-zeroed them with the irons, the one I drew made 3/4" groups with the rear sight centered. Trigger was not good but I'm sure the rifle was shooting better than I was. Another one took all the right windage the sight could muster, to get it zeroed.
Colt or RR are the ones to have allright.
Good for you anyhow- I'm glad to see that somebody is getting all the cool toys. FWIW the Bushies didn't impress me. When we rough-zeroed them with the irons, the one I drew made 3/4" groups with the rear sight centered. Trigger was not good but I'm sure the rifle was shooting better than I was. Another one took all the right windage the sight could muster, to get it zeroed.
Colt or RR are the ones to have allright.