I'm new to the 5.56/.223 black rifle gig. I have a BCA 15 (beer budget here) and have accessorized it now and am ready to shop for ammo.

I put this together for varmint hunting. I am only seeing FMJ offered and wonder is that all there is? Suitable? I've never used FMJ ammo for hunting.

No, FMJ is not particularly good for varmint hunting.

You should be able to find .223 ammo in expanding bullets which is what you should use.

Lots of places have it, but it can be both more expensive and not as consistently available- as in you find a load that works well and is accurate, and try and find that exact load again.

Look for it at a local gun shop or one of the bigger online outfits- I found some at Midway by just looking there- but the easy way is make your own. The .223 is easy to reload for

Thank you, Doc. Appreciate the advice.

As my friend the Doctor said.

I would add that generally, FMJ ammo is not as accurate as normal soft or hollow points.

Thank you, Saeed. I have been 'shopping' for a good deal/price online. Ammos has gotten so expensive. Ridiculously so.

I use FMJ for practice. Shot 10's of thousands of rounds of the stuff.

I would buy Win, Fed, Rem. Soft points for serious social work.

They well be a lot more expensive but one doesn't need as many.

For fun shooting for most people coming here, I load bulk bullets I have bought literally millions of!

Not really but a lot.

They come in 500 lot in a plastic bag in a brown cardboard box.

They look exactly like soft points loaded by the likes of Remington and Winchester.

Had the same with pistol bullets, but I am runout of those.

People shoot pistol bullets a lot faster than rifles!

Ann,

Why don’t you reload?

Easy and very cheap!

I don't have suitable space to set up equipment here. I also have a lot of arthritis in my hands from hard wear and tear.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
For fun shooting for most people coming here, I load bulk bullets I have bought literally millions of!

Not really but a lot.

They come in 500 lot in a plastic bag in a brown cardboard box.

They look exactly like soft points loaded by the likes of Remington and Winchester.

Had the same with pistol bullets, but I am runout of those.

People shoot pistol bullets a lot faster than rifles!

Ann,

Why don’t you reload?

Easy and very cheap!

Shame you are far away Ann.

I could make you all the ammo you wish.

I do that for many friends.

Ann,
the twist of your barrel could be important in this case - i have found that fast twist 223/556 does NOT like light weight ammo - say 8.5 or faster, but slower twist does a great job (yeah *I* have found that, after the military proved it in the 60s, i just wanted to test it)

i am a big fan of blackhills ammo for 223, for what that's worth, your rifle might hate it -

remember, FMJ is just another way of saying "pointy solid" -- though the only case where i use FMJ in a 223 is when rabbit hunting - doesn't usually tear up the meat

Thanks guys!

Ann,

Look for the softpoint/varmint ammo in 223. It's a lot more common and safe to shoot in your 5.56mm.

quote:

Originally posted by Fjold:
Ann,

Look for the softpoint/varmint ammo in 223. It's a lot more common and safe to shoot in your 5.56mm.

Thank you, Frank. Am doing so!

I have been shooting the 7.5 twist Colt HBAR since it first came out which was a very long time ago. I've shot everything I could find and load through it. Let's cure one myth right now. Fast twist DO SHOOT LIGHT bullets very well. I've even pulled 40 grain jacketed hollowpoints from 22 magnum rimfire and loaded them in my Colt fast twist. No it wasn't olympic grade accuracy but acceptable and not they didn't blow up either. Now onto the FMJ. The original Vietnam issue 193 ammo was loaded with a 55 grain FMJ, the first bullet for the M16. I've literaly shot thousands of these as you could buy them in 5000 bulk lots very cheap. This has been one of the most destructive bullets I've very seen in the 223 AR15's. But there is a catch. It seems the fast twist contributes to it's destructiveness because of not the forward velocity, but of the very high rotational rpm all which cause this FMJ to literaly blowup.

Best advice is don't believe everything you read, but to try all these things for yourself.

I doubt there are many of those 193 FMJ's out there anymore.

Ann - I have found the Ammoseek search engine to be a good source for deals on ammo.

Tons of .223 are listed.

that's not all there is.
Hornady uses it's V-max bullet in a lot of it's ammo and it will also offer it plain old soft point.
just find something 50-55grs and go with it.

I can't really recommend much more than that since I mostly only shoot the bullets I make myself for varmints.

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
Ann - I have found the Ammoseek search engine to be a good source for deals on ammo.

Tons of .223 are listed.

Nice! Yes, good place to look.

quote:

Originally posted by Lamar:
that's not all there is.
Hornady uses it's V-max bullet in a lot of it's ammo and it will also offer it plain old soft point.
just find something 50-55grs and go with it.

I can't really recommend much more than that since I mostly only shoot the bullets I make myself for varmints.

And that is what I am looking to do with this rifle. Fun with varmints. Some target fun now and then.

quote:

Originally posted by Aspen Hill Adventures:

And that is what I am looking to do with this rifle. Fun with varmints. Some target fun now and then.

Yes, they are!

Nice rig there, Frank!

SG Ammo offers good prices and usually has a good selection.

https://www.sgammo.com/catalog/rifle-ammo-sale

I keep 77gr bthp ammo in my various guns for ringing steel out to 600 yards and for groundhogs or other varmints (even the two legged kind). If your gun doesn’t have at least a 1 turn in 8” twist (probably stamped on the barrel) then you’re going to want to shoot 65gr or lighter but that isn’t much of a problem. 1 in 7” is pretty much the modern standard and will stabilize nearly any .224” bullet.

Any 55 gr. with Nosler BT or Hornady VMax should work fine. In my experience, they work fine in 8" twist.

ClaMar