Is bulk 223/556 junk

[hammer33]

Helping a buddy with his AR and the best group we can get is about 3.5-4.5" at 100yds using bulk green tip ammo. New match grade trigger, lapped the rings, and even replaced the 18" barrel. Rings are tightened to spec using torque wrench. Still crap groups. Got to looking at the ammo and some of the cases have small dents and other irregularities. I'm not an AR guy but this rifle SHOULD shoot better than this.
Borrowed another AR and we are getting about the same groups using the same bulk green tip ammo.
Assumption...... bulk green tip ammo is inconsistent at best, crap at worst.
Any suggestions on the next step? Other things to check?
Suggestions on readily available 556/223 varmint ammo that is on the cheap end? All I could find at Academy that wasn't FMJ was $52 for a box of 20 and he is cheap and won't pay that
Original plan was for this to be a SHTF gun, but now he wants to shoot some coyotes with it.

 

[Tenntrapper]

Helping a buddy with his AR and the best group we can get is about 3.5-4.5" at 100yds using bulk green tip ammo. New match grade trigger, lapped the rings, and even replaced the 18" barrel. Rings are tightened to spec using torque wrench. Still crap groups. Got to looking at the ammo and some of the cases have small dents and other irregularities. I'm not an AR guy but this rifle SHOULD shoot better than this.
Borrowed another AR and we are getting about the same groups using the same bulk green tip ammo.
Assumption...... bulk green tip ammo is inconsistent at best, crap at worst.
Any suggestions on the next step? Other things to check?
Suggestions on readily available 556/223 varmint ammo that is on the cheap end? All I could find at Academy that wasn't FMJ was $52 for a box of 20 and he is cheap and won't pay that
Original plan was for this to be a SHTF gun, but now he wants to shoot some coyotes with it.

You didn't specify what twist, so I will assume you need a 55g.
I've used these before with good results.
It's a 50 rnd box...

Buy Hornady Custom Soft Point 223 Remington Ammo 50 Round Box Online

Each cartridge is loaded to ensure optimal pressure, velocity and consistency, from lot to lot. Much of the brass is made by Hornady, the rest carefully selected for reli

www.budsgunshop.com

 

[backyardtndeer]

Way back when, I bought a lot of the cheap ultramax remanufactured ammo bulk from Cabela's for cheap. I get great groups with it. I don't have any experience with bulk green tip ammo, but it makes a difference what grain bullets you are shooting and the barrel twist. I run 55 grain handloads in all my 223's, and get good to great accuracy with them. And that is with different types of bullets from soft points to fmj's to tipped varmageddons.

 

[mike243]

1 thing to remember you cant hunt anything with fmj, buy a box of soft point around 60g and try them,

 

[DaveTN]

Other things to check?

Your ability?? Not trying to be a smart azz, but you said you got another AR and the results were the same. Is it possible that 3" to 4" at 100 yards is as good as you can shoot? That's nothing to sneeze at.

 

[Jcalder]

I would try another brand/type of ammo.

 

[BigCityBubba]

Green tip's are 62gr. Try a 55 gr bullet. You also don't mention what optic you are using. If it sucks regardless of ammo, you can try a decent drop in trigger. Milspec triggers suck. I would swap triggers before I would swap barrels.

 

[Omega]

You have to remember that this ammo is for the battlefield where we are taught to aim for the chest, a much bigger target than your average civilian shooter aims for. I had always been told that military ammo is 3 MOA on average. But I have been able to get better than that, around 1~1.5 MOA, with most military rounds.

 

[BigCityBubba]

An Official Journal Of The NRA | Green Tip Accuracy Test

How do commercially available M855 loads perform?

www.shootingillustrated.com

 

[infoman jr.]

You're using 4moa ammo...

 

[knightrider]

In short answer, yes it is!

 

[SSlater]

It's made to government speciation. That should tell you all you need to know.

 

[nso123]

I'm going to throw one more thing out. Gas guns, like the AR, can be very inconsistent. Lots of folks set their expectations too high for how an AR will shoot. A consistent 1 moa AR is a great shooting AR. With that said, green tip isn't going to be the greatest ammo for paper. Try out something like Federal Gold Medal and see how it does with that.

 

[hammer33]

I can run .5" or better on my hunting rifles using the same bench.
This is the first AR I have fooled with and figured at this point it was the ammo.
Ill double check but I thought this bulk green tip was 55gr.
What is a good, inexpensive varmint round that is likely to be available?
Im going to start with lower priced stuff and hopefully find something it likes before I get into the $50 a box stuff.

 

[TN Song Dog]

Should be able to do better than that. Find some better factory new 55gr fmj, like PMC, and try that for plinking. Can find several places for about .55/round right now. Can find some HP or ballistic tip for less than $1/round for varmint hunting.

 

[knightrider]

Federal blue box soft points shoot pretty good out of mine for hunting

 

[Creek bottoms]

That stuff is just made to go 'bang'.

 

[backyardtndeer]

Lots of folks set their expectations too high for how an AR will shoot. A consistent 1 moa AR is a great shooting AR.

Most factory guns you are probably right, even still some will give accuracy guarantees better than that. My rock river varmint was guaranteed to be .75 inch or better at a hundred yards, and it is definitely better. Usually with my handloads it will put them through the same hole if I do my part. Stepping up and building a custom AR can give even better accuracy, better than many may realize.

 

[BigCityBubba]

Should be able to do better than that. Find some better factory new 55gr fmj, like PMC, and try that for plinking. Can find several places for about .55/round right now. Can find some HP or ballistic tip for less than $1/round for varmint hunting.

I bought a case of pmc pre-covid for .33 a round. I have not shot for groups out of my ARs but they shoot sub moa out of my rem 700. I have never gotten around to reloading 223 because the cheap stuff is so accurate.

 

[hammer33]

Correction. the green tips are 62 gr. Got my buddy convinced we need to try different/better ammo, especially since he wants to shoot coyotes with it.

Thanks for all the help. Ill update when we get it back out to the range.