Is there NATO or nonNATO 556?

dfraser

dfraser

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Hi all,

Wondering if there is a difference between 556, as in NATO or nonNATO spec'd?

My buddy and I are having a conversation about these Chinese Spam Cans of 556 55 grain Ball ammo, wondering if the chinese built these to "NATO" spec.

I am reading on them there internets that M855 is NATO spec, and M193 is regular spec

Regards
 
5.56x45mm would be the metric designation for .223 Remington. Different brands would choose to call it different things. Most are labelled .223 Rem though.

One weird one I've rarely seen is 7.62x51R or 7.62x51mmR. That's actually .30-30 Winchester in metric.
I've seen steel cased European ammo (Russian? Hungarian? Czech?) with boxes labelled as ".223 Rem/5.56x45mm". You'll also find some labelled ".308 Win/7.62x51mm". It's just the conventional US designation and the metric designation side-by-side.

There is .223 Rem ammo that would meet NATO specs (some Federal overrun sold on the civilian market) and there is some ammo marked 5.56x45mm that wouldn't meet NATO specs. I don't believe the Norinco stuff meets NATO specs. I'm not talking about pressure or velocity but in proper case hardnesses at various specific points in the cases. The Norinco stuff tends to be far more brittle than true NATO ammo. If it doesn't have the cross in a circle, it isn't certified to be NATO spec ammo. The velocity is up there with NATO spec ammo though but I have no idea what the pressure is.

Also know that NATO and the US military have different testing methods for their ammo. European NATO uses EPVAT pressure testing method which produces 62,366psi max for 5.56NATO ammunition. This method is based on the CIP pressure measuring method which also shows an identical max pressure for .223 Remington. The US military uses the SCATP-556 pressure testing method which is based on the SAAMI methods and shows 55,144psi as a max for identical ammo to the EPVAT method. The US method almost exactly matches the SAAMI max pressure for .223 Remington of 55,000psi.
 
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Chinese 5.56 is not Nato manufactured to NATO's specifications, as LUTNIT said the brass isn't NATO spec or the ballistics and the primers aren't crimped.
 
Juster said:
A lot of US 5.56mm military ammo is not made to NATO specs, but to a custom US military spec. M855 is an example.
Click to expand...

The M855 is NATO qualified 5.56mm ammunition designed to the same specs as the SS109 cartridge with a 62 gr bullet. It has a green tip to distinguish it from the M193 cartridge with the 55 gr bullet used in the M16A1
 
SS109 is the NATO standard for 5.56mmx45 cartridge. So if it is not a bi-core 62 grain bullet it can not be NATO 5.56mm.

There is lots of non NATO spec ammo that is damn near a clone. Aussie F1 comes to mind as well as the 63gr lead core Swiss ammo.

There is no and has never been any NATO spec 55gr ammo.
 
M855A1 and C77A1 are two newer rounds with exposed steel penetrators that are 5.56mm but not NATO standard 5.56mm and are prohibited for use by some NATO (and non NATO) countries in some weapons platforms due to excessive pressure and accelerated wear.
 
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