[5.56]

Hi - I am wondering if anyone here has some info on these so-called 'NEW Lake City 5.56, 55 gr FMJBT bullets' offered for sale by various sellers. Last night I weighed a bunch of some that I bought at a gun show and the weights varied from 54.2 to 55.0 grains with less than 1% weighing at 55.0 gr. and the bases just did not look very uniform at all. To me they look like 'rejects' at best.
1. Does anyone know if the Lake City Arsenal really sells any of their good 5.56, 55 gr. first rate bullets to the public?
2. Does anyone really know if they sell any of their REJECTS to the public?
3. Does anyone know of a way to identify a Lake City 5.56 bullet?
I am wondering if I can get there from here. I just don't care to buy anymore of this bad looking stuff.
Thanks,

 

[migxdm]

thats very interesting, and i would like to see others replies.. are the bullets complete metal jackets or is the lead exposed on the end?

 

[fredj338]

Not necessarily. If we are not talking match grade bullets a 0.5gr diff is a max 1%, acceptable for bulk FMJ of any caliber.

 

[Cannibul]

Does the military still even use any 55 grain 5.56 ammo?

 

[5.56]

Hi - Migxdm...As for the exposed lead, the bases are exposed lead with the noses completely MJ. They are not magnetic and an update on the weights. I weighed some more from another little bag and they varied more...from 54.2 to 55.4.
Cannibul - As for the military still loading the 55 grain 5.56 ammo...this is just something that I have read. Lake City Arsenal still loads the 55 grain ammo for 'training' purposes. Now why the military would train with one thing and then for operational purposes use the 62 grain, I don't know. I don't have an insider look at just what Lake City sells to the public. Maybe rather than just selling their surplus 55 grain bullets they may be using up their present stock for this 'training' ammo. I would like to know just what the variance is in the weight of the 55 grain bullets in the regular 'good' ammo that Lake City makes or has made. I have a feeling that the pulled bullets from the old 'good' stock that Lake City made are the kind that I am looking for.
This is something that I have found out...the sellers of these surplus bullets really don't want to tell just what they are selling - maybe it is because they don't know or they do know and just won't tell me. Montana Bullets advertises a 55 grain FMJBT for $110/1000 and they at least told me that these are something that they make themselves. I haven't been able pin down 'anyone' that sells these bullets for the weight tolerance. I had what I thought was good luck with some of the selected 55 grain that I have - about 1 inch with my 'first' run of various loadings of Reloader 7. Some of the loadings gave as much as a 10 inch spread.
Thanks, and I will try to keep on it from this end.

 

[5.56]

Hi - I forgot to say...I will take a 'close-up' photo of the bases some of my worse bullets and then someone may be able to compare what I have with some good, pulled 5.56, 55 grain Lake City bullets. I do not have one. That is when I can figure out how to post a photo.

 

[Cannibul]

I was talking to an ATK rep on Saturday. Wish I could have asked him this question.

Since ATK contracts for a lot of the Government ammo I highly doubt they have tons of 55 grain bullets laying around. It's been a while since the switch was made and as a private company they really should not be able to afford to have years worth of inventory laying around.