Is IVI 5.56 good?

You certainly might have some insight - I'm just relating what was being charged against my unit budget a few years ago. I'd imagine that the volume due to A-Stan bringing cost down a bit, I just can't see it being cut to 20%. Maybe there's a difference between the cost that you see and what is charged to the units...


blake


So you are saying the Canadian Forces as a whole buys Ammo and then marks it up and sell it to units in Canadian Forces ?That makes sense......:rolleyes:
 
One of the significant cost differences between commercial and military ammo is packaging. The military has learned (the hard way) that ammo has to be packaged for long term storage and exposure to the elements.

Commercial ammo is in cardboard cases.
 
All I know is that IVI 556 that we used when I wore a uniform in the 1980's, shot shockingly good groups, consistently, out of our iron sight C7's. I remember thinking at the time, that we had no right to expect that level of accuracy out of an issue infanrry rifle, and mass produced ball ammo, and to be thankful it was the norm.
 
is IVI 5.56 good

Hey Ganderite you said the 7.62 was'nt very good ??? I have shot lots of it and have'nt ever had any problems. and as for the 5.56 dropping the taliban I think the 7.62 would do a hell of a better job .

I have heard sometimes they have to be shot several times because the taliban are high on drugs . local stuff .
 
Round per round the IVI 5.56 shoots better groups than the IVI 7.62. Ganderite and others have proven this back in the 90's with target rifles made for it. We were issued IVI ammo only on DND ranges.

There was also a time you could buy surplus IVI 5.56 ammo. I still have a few hundred rounds left from a case I bought back then.
I guess we'll never see that again. :(
 
Hey Ganderite you said the 7.62 was'nt very good ??? I have shot lots of it and have'nt ever had any problems.

"Good" depends on application. the 5.56 has been very good about going bang every time you pull the trigger and many (most) lot numbers have been remarkably accurate for military ball.

Some lots of IVI 7.62 have been poor quality. not every round goes bang. Velocities vary and accuracy is poor. And then there were the bullets with no core and the primers in backwards. Bullets in most lots were undersize, at 0.307 or less. Some lots gave mediocre accuracy and the rest were poor by target rifle standards.

Most IVI 7.62 lots were good enough for gravel pit plinking.

One year I shot at Camp Perry with the Marine Rifle Team (around 1978) and they were telling me that in Vietnam they sometimes got IVI made 7.62 ammo for their machine guns. They called it garbage. They found it hard to believe that we had to use it for target rifles in Canada.
 
Watch out if you find older IVI 5.56mm for sale. Back in the very early days of production, there were problems. There was a very early batch that did not meet spec and would occasionally shed jackets when fired. Some of this was disposed of, (I assume it was legal to do back then), and ended up in the US market, and some of it made its way back to Canada, and would occasionally show up at gun shows.
 
At NSCC in August 2011, the Western snipers teams were shooting (then they showed me...) the newly minted IVI 7.62mm sniper ammo. Yup, it's got the old IVI headstamp that I cut my teeth on 35 years ago, but oddly enough there was a Sierra MK 168 gr match boolit on top. :eek:

Why couldn't someone grab a brain and drop in the 175 grain Sierra MK match boolit which has proven itself up to 1000m reliably? It would have been the moment to seize. :D

Instead here were some (won't mention the cap badges) frustrated sniper competitors launching that unreliable and inconsistent Sierra 168 gr Match King at 700 and 800m. I was down in the butts marking targets, I deliberately volunteered and asked my sniper partner Quiet to remain on the mound and scorekeep. I wanted to see for myself that the new IVI sniper round was not anymore consistent from the older Norma Match ammo the snipers were issued to fire out of their :eek: C3's... :redface:

The new ammo could not even hold the waterline at 800m (you sniper competitors know what I mean).

Now about Ganderite's comments....

I have the most respect for Ganderite's observations because they are based on many decades of experience. All of you are in the presence of an ammo master! If you don't listen to what he says about ammo, yer dicks will fall off ! :evil:

Now back to the 5.56mm IVI, I've really enjoyed life shooting this ammo out of my mid length Armalite. Often shooting alongside the LFCA and LFWA teams, we will have a few rounds left over in the practice and they will hook me up to fire a few rounds at the 300m mound during a deliberate application (slow fire). I was quite surprised. That IVI 5.56mm ammo is quite snappy. Now I'm learning that WC735 is the preferred powder for the 5.56mm round IVI makes. :D I've even sampled 5.56mm IVI up to 800m out of my 20" HBar Colt back in the day. Really awesome surprises. :D

I've been using WC735 exclusively over the past 5 years and more for my .223, .243, .260, .22-250, .308, and yes .30-30 just for shzts and giggles. It's the only rifle powder I own. :D I'm super cheeep when it comes to powder and reloading. :D


Cheers,
Barney
 
The selection of the 168 makes no sense, given the other choices.
At NSCC I observed the Norma bullets destabilizing at 700 and 800m.
 
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