Caught the AR fever - now I need ammo...

Tom E Gun

Tom E Gun

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Okanagan Valley, BC
I have been considering getting my first AR for some time now. With the current uncertainty about future availability of US made AR's I decided now was the time. I looked on the EE for a while, and also considered a new Colt 6920 or S&W Sport from IRUNGUNS, but finally decided on a RRA AR1251 from QUESTAR. After the 15% discount it was $987 (+tax and shipping of course). The RRA seems to get generally good reviews for a sub $1000 AR and it comes with a match trigger, Hogue grip and fitted hard case. RRA claims it is a 1 moa gun at 100 yards.

rra-ar1251_3.jpg


Now I have to decide on ammo - I am considering the Norinco yellow box ($499 for 1600 @ Canada Ammo), or the Federal AE .223 55 Grain FMJ ($399 for 1000 @ Wolverine). Any advice on the best ammo choice would be appreciated. I know the Norinco .45 ammo works well, but is very dirty, is the same true of the 5.56?

Thanks
 
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I've run 1600 rounds of Norinco 5.56 through my Swiss with zero issues

Can't say as too accuracy as I didn't test it.

I have another 1600 rounds on the way now. Best deal you will find right now on .223 in canada! American eagle is about 44-47c per round after tax and dependent upon shipping price. The norinco is about 35c per round after tax and with CanAm's free shipping!

I didn't find it to be any dirtier than bulk AE, but my Swiss doesn't shiit where it eat's:p:p;) so it's a little harder to tell how dirty the ammo is. In all seriousness, it smells a bit different but that's it really, relatively clean I thought. Little bit more gold brass flakes left in the chamber then with AE
 
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I got a fever, and the only prescription . . . more range gong !

Never tried Norc ammo, but there is also MFS steel. Unfortunately, MFS is quite dirty. In fact, the inside of my piston carbine looked like the inside of my DI carbine after 100 rounds.
 
If you have a wholesale sports close to you that same 1000 rd ammo can of AE bulk is 379 and you would have no shipping. You could also see if Canada ammo will price match P&D's price of 425 for the 1600 rounds of Norinco. I love the AE stuff can't comment on the chinese.
 
I've shot lots of the Norinco 45 and 223 without issue and I don't think the 223 is as dirty as the 45. Accuracy-wise, at 100yds I couldn't tell the difference between the Norinco 223 and the AE bulk stuff you mentioned. The Norinco is 2 thou longer than the AE though, so I found that if I didn't make sure the rounds were well back in my LAR mags, I had the occasional feed issue (no trouble at all in Pmags). My barrel is a 1:7 twist and I thin the RRA's is 1:9 so your mileage may vary.
 
Conte said:
there is also MFS steel. Unfortunately, MFS is quite dirty. In fact, the inside of my piston carbine looked like the inside of my DI carbine after 100 rounds.
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The MFS is extremely dirty ammo. Red primer sealant flakes get everywhere, it's the only ammo I've had that requires a good cleaning of the lower receiver after shooting, even the trigger group ends up with red flakes everywhere. It's also smokey and smells like shiit, and is not an accurate ammo.

Using the iron sights on my Swiss, I tested some of the MFS 55gr Hollow Points against the AE 55gr and the results were drastically different. The MFS was getting no tighter than 3.5-4 inch groups at 100 yards. The AE was a consistently better, the tightest I was able to get with the AE was 5 rounds in about a 1.8 inch group at 100 yards. Most AE groups were around the 2-2.5 inch size. All were 5 shot groups.

I also firmly believe that the steel cased ammo is going to be much harder on your rifle than brass. Steel reacts differently to high pressure than brass does, it's very hard on the extractor specifically. I have a theory that shooting steel cased ammo had at least something to do with some problems I experienced with my black special. I shot about 2000 rounds of steel cased through it. I was thinking, everytime I picked up my brass cases, they had a big Swiss dent in the side, but then when I picked up the steel cases, they hardly had a mark, why, steel is harder than brass, so I wondered if maybe the steel cases worked like a tiny hammer, dinging the brass deflector everytime the rifle extracted. Maybe this altered it's shape over time and this helped cause some of the extraction issues I was having.
 
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Steve Janes said:
I also firmly believe that the steel cased ammo is going to be much harder on your rifle than brass. Steel reacts differently to high pressure than brass does, it's very hard on the extractor specifically.
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Yeah, I didn't have any red flake issues, just a lot of carbon crud in the receiver and on the BCG. It's like you said, it's harder, and I find because of that, the case does not expand and seal the chamber properly, causing excessive amounts of blow back blowing fouling past the bolt and into the receiver. That blow back alone can accelerate wear on both your throat and chamber.
 
Keep an eye out on ammo deals, almost boxing day. Picked up a box of Federal AE 1000 rounds for $349 taxes incl. Real brass casing, so I can always save them and reload after :p
 
Likely a 1:9 twist so it would prefer a bullet a bit heavier than 55grain. With open sights and at a 100 yards though 55's will work fine.
 
mini_cal said:
Keep an eye out on ammo deals, almost boxing day. Picked up a box of Federal AE 1000 rounds for $349 taxes incl. Real brass casing, so I can always save them and reload after :p
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That's like under $310 before taxes.....For 1000 rounds of AE..........I don't think so. This wouldn't be the first time I've been wrong, but you must be thinking of MFS or just got under charged or something. You can't even get MFS for that price.

If this isn't bullshiit, then you got one hell of a deal. Less than 35c per round, that's on par with the Norinco 5.56 from Canam
 
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Exactly. Smashing deal :)

Here's the side of the box. I'm not crazy right? It's 1000 rounds of Federal AE .223 in all its glory.
1jnvjc.jpg


And inside I'm sure you can imagine is a big ol' jolly bag of brass cased .223

I shoulda bought two...
 
mini_cal said:
Exactly. Smashing deal :)

Here's the side of the box. I'm not crazy right? It's 1000 rounds of Federal AE .223 in all its glory.

And inside I'm sure you can imagine is a big ol' jolly bag of brass cased .223

I shoulda bought two...
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I still think you must have been under charged or something.....I once got charged $23 bux for 1000 rounds of AE, then I realized they just charged me for the ammo can and so I went back inside and paid properly. Maybe they just screwed up on the till or something.

theSHARK said:
Where did you get this deal?
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My thoughts exactly

Where did you get this deal:confused::confused::confused:
 
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Lmao WELL ACTUALLY, originally when I asked the price, it was "Oh... it's like $34.99 I think..."

Excuse me?

"Oh, nope its $349"

If only 1000 rounds of .223 was $35....

And I picked it up at Gagnon Sports during their tax free sale :)

Maybe their boxing day sale will be similar? :eek:

Also picked up like 400 rounds of .308 for about $0.6495/round which isn't too shabby.

EDIT: Their boxing day sale will have no tax. Check the website. http://www.gagnonsports.com/boxingweek.html
Can't guarantee if there's anymore ammo left! Last time there were only 2 boxes of AE 223, and I bought one!

Cheers and Merry Christmas!
 
mini_cal said:
Lmao WELL ACTUALLY, originally when I asked the price, it was "Oh... it's like $34.99 I think..."

Excuse me?

"Oh, nope its $349"

If only 1000 rounds of .223 was $35....

And I picked it up at Gagnon Sports during their tax free sale :)

Maybe their boxing day sale will be similar? :eek:

Also picked up like 400 rounds of .308 for about $0.6495/round which isn't too shabby.

EDIT: Their boxing day sale will have no tax. Check the website. http://www.gagnonsports.com/boxingweek.html
Can't guarantee if there's anymore ammo left! Last time there were only 2 boxes of AE 223, and I bought one!

Cheers and Merry Christmas!
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You had said including tax.........this tax free thing explains everything. Still a sweet sale, but with tax it's no cheaper than anywhere else
 
So I have ordered a 1600 round box of Norinco from CanAm. I talked to Randy at Gagnon, they are sold out of the Federal at $349.99, however he says if I prepay during the boxing week sale he will honour the $349.99 tax free deal but can not guarantee a delivery date. I am trying to decide if I should order a box...
 
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