M4 Carbine MAX EFFECTIVE RANGE with SWFA SS 3-15x42

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This Segment was taken from one of my favourite Long Range Shooting site "TiborasaurusRex" who has posted hundreds of Youtube Instructional & educational videos for Long Range Shooting Enthusiasts all over the world.

I hope that you will find this posting interesting as it pertains to the famous AR 15 Semi Auto rifle that many are familiar with. The comment shown below was taken directly from his site word for word.

Published on Apr 24, 2014 How far can a factory Colt M4 Carbine shoot with plain old 55 grain FMJs??? Watch and see. :)

Are 55s intended to be long range bullets??? Of course not! Will we push them to the transonic limit anyways? Yes, because its fun!

For precision shooting applications, maximum effective range can be defined as the farthest range one can reliably hit the intended target without the negative effects of destabilization due to the bullets penetration of the transonic zone. This effective range will vary considerable depending on the bullet being used, the load behind it, the dynamics of the rifle itself and atmospheric conditions. For our atmospheric conditions, the max effective range of the Black Hills 55 grain FMJ out of our factory 16" Colt M4Carbine was limited to 630 yards. But up to and including the entering of the transonic zone, this modest rifle set up with descent optics can still rock steel, hit after hit -- as long as the winds are manageable.


[video=youtube;fUx1ybxhHoQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=fUx1ybxhHoQ[/video]
 
We dont use flashlights as hammers when siding a house.
So why use 55gr for long range shooting?

Even M855 would have been a better choice.

Its just a demonstration. It doesn't hurt you to know how far you can effectively shoot a 55gr .223, or any given ammo for that matter.
 
We dont use flashlights as hammers when siding a house.
So why use 55gr for long range shooting?

Even M855 would have been a better choice.

But what if you only have flashlights?

I see it more as an experiment, they wanted to see how far you can push a 55gr 5.56. It's much like the guys shooting .22lr out past 300 yards. They do it to see how far you can push the rifle/round.
 
This video is likely just to highlight the scope, skill of the shooter and inherent accuracy of the platform. What kind of damage would the round do at 630 yards out of a 14 1/2" barrel is the question?

Max range of hitting something and max range you can actually put something down are two different things.
 
This video is likely just to highlight the scope, skill of the shooter and inherent accuracy of the platform. What kind of damage would the round do at 630 yards out of a 14 1/2" barrel is the question?

Max range of hitting something and max range you can actually put something down are two different things.

Would you stand downrange? Of course not.
It's not about knocking down a human at 600yds, it's more about showing all the ninjas out there that you don't need to run 77gr match ammo to consistently strike a steel plate at distance with cheap FMJ with your carbine.
As a civilian shooting a restricted rifle I can only use at the range I couldn't care less about knock down power, all I care about it making a hole in my target.
Try having some fun at the range. It's not all about damage and taking things down. Do you think the guys shooting 1000yds with their 308's are worried about knock down power? It's about utilizing the platform to it's maximum and accomplishing what few others are skilled enough to do.
 
Would you stand downrange? Of course not.
It's not about knocking down a human at 600yds, it's more about showing all the ninjas out there that you don't need to run 77gr match ammo to consistently strike a steel plate at distance with cheap FMJ with your carbine.
As a civilian shooting a restricted rifle I can only use at the range I couldn't care less about knock down power, all I care about it making a hole in my target.
Try having some fun at the range. It's not all about damage and taking things down. Do you think the guys shooting 1000yds with their 308's are worried about knock down power? It's about utilizing the platform to it's maximum and accomplishing what few others are skilled enough to do.

Well to be fair, we're talking about guns here. Its nice to know if it would theoretically be effective at doing what its ultimately designed to do, regardless of whether or not we'll ever use it in such a capacity.

I too would be interested to know how much actual energy the bullet carried to that target.
 
Well to be fair, we're talking about guns here. Its nice to know if it would theoretically be effective at doing what its ultimately designed to do, regardless of whether or not we'll ever use it in such a capacity.

I too would be interested to know how much actual energy the bullet carried to that target.

I agree, and if you want to know what kind of energy was left at such a range, run a ballistics program for the answer.

TDC
 
If you don't want to be shot by .22 rim fire at point blank, you don't want to shot by even a 55gr fmj at 600yards.

Who wants to play airsoft game with .22lr?? :p
 
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