Best 5.56 grain for 1:7 SPR

Val84 · Saturday at 12:46 AM

Hey guys, I’m building my Daniel Defense DDM4 V7 into an SPR. It comes with a 16” 1:7 barrel that I’ll be throwing a suppressor onto soon. I’ve had a lot of fun shooting at my local range’s steel range up to 500 meters and would like to get better at it. My question is, what grain 5.56 is best for long distance shooting with my 16” 1:7 barrel? Also, is OTM good to go with? I’m wondering if the open tip affects accuracy.

Thanks in advance!

oldrifleman · Saturday at 1:23 AM

Get a quality 69-77gr match round ( Federal Gold Medal being the standard go to) 1-7 likes a long bullet. Remember that factory ARs generally are doing well to hold sub 1” groups, some can be spectacular but those have higher end custom barrels. But plan for between .75” and 1” at 100 yards.

tarheel7734 · Saturday at 1:27 AM

I run 77 grain in mist of my ar platforms sometimes I'll use some barns 70gr tsx as well

bfoosh006 · Saturday at 10:33 AM

77gr for me as well.

Buy an assortment of brands and see which one your barrel likes.

surgeon260 · Saturday at 10:54 AM

I like the 80.5 Berger.

oldrifleman · Saturday at 12:16 PM

surgeon260 said:
I like the 80.5 Berger.

I love the 80.5 Fullbores, spectacular bullet! I use those in 1:7 223 bolt gun.

matt33 · Saturday at 1:29 PM

My particular results have been Berger 73, Berger 77, and 77 Sierra matchking, 69 SMK, in that order.

You'll need to experiment to see what your barrel likes best.

WeR0206 · Saturday at 7:00 PM

matt33 said:
My particular results have been Berger 73, Berger 77, and 77 Sierra matchking, 69 SMK, in that order.

You'll need to experiment to see what your barrel likes best.

Same. I would also add 73 eld-m’s to the mix

Val84 · 2025-09-07T00:11:03-0400

Sounds like right around that mid to high 70’s grains are the way to go…

oldrifleman · 2025-09-07T00:14:29-0400

77grain SMKs are my favorite 223/556 AR bullets. I go heavier for my bolt guns.

VargmatII · 2025-09-07T00:28:27-0400

Im thinking that the 77 grain SMK has a more than well proven track record. I shot steel out to 600 meters with no complaints with that bullet earlier this summer, and there are plenty of people here who has taken it further still.

Jsp556 · 2025-09-07T01:54:26-0400

matt33 said:
My particular results have been Berger 73, Berger 77, and 77 Sierra matchking, 69 SMK, in that order.

You'll need to experiment to see what your barrel likes best.

Those 73gr Berger’s are the cats meow.

01911 · 2025-09-07T10:27:54-0400

Start at 55 grain and work your way up. When you find some contenders, do a mag dump to heat up the barrel and see which one performs the best.

slodsm · 2025-09-07T10:54:06-0400

I run 75g hornady BTHP match in starline brass in mine. I’ve tried 73eldms, 77smk’s, and Barnes heavies (forgot the grain) and the hornady’s give me the most consistent results with this barrel.

Never tried burgers in my gas guns, just run them in bolt guns.

I’d try everything and see what works best for you. It’s not typical to be able to find your best bullet based on word of mouth alone.

kthomas · 2025-09-07T11:49:19-0400

In my testing of just one barrel, I've found 77 SMKs to shoot the best.

matt33 · 2025-09-07T11:52:05-0400

Jsp556 said:
Those 73gr Berger’s are the cats meow.

I used 77 smks for years with good results. However, I noticed that their price kept creeping up, and that the Berger 73s were available in 1,000 round boxes which made the price pretty much the same. A few different well-known respected shooters encouraged me to try the 73s, I'm glad I did.

The Berger 73s are noticeably more accurate in my two primary rifles. Both bullets are great, but the 73s are definitely better for me

Rider47 · 2025-09-07T12:00:53-0400

For my 1:7 AR's, the most accurate bullets are 69gr. SMK's (H4895). For longer distances (200-300+) or with any significant wind, the 77SMK's (Varget) seem to work better. But . . . just loaded some of the 80.5 Bergers (Varget) and found them better than the 77's at any distance.

WeR0206 · 2025-09-07T13:13:30-0400

matt33 said:
I used 77 smks for years with good results. However, I noticed that their price kept creeping up, and that the Berger 73s were available in 1,000 round boxes which made the price pretty much the same. A few different well-known respected shooters encouraged me to try the 73s, I'm glad I did.

The Berger 73s are noticeably more accurate in my two primary rifles. Both bullets are great, but the 73s are definitely better for me

Now that you mention the Berger 73's it looks like they are in stock at my local bass pro so I'm gonna go grab a box or two

WeR0206 · 2025-09-07T13:14:27-0400

Rider47 said:
For my 1:7 AR's, the most accurate bullets are 69gr. SMK's (H4895). For longer distances (200-300+) or with any significant wind, the 77SMK's (Varget) seem to work better. But . . . just loaded some of the 80.5 Bergers (Varget) and found them better than the 77's at any distance.

What mags/COAL are you using with the 80.5's or do they load at 2.260" and work fine with any std mag? I'm might try and snag some of those as well.

- Berger 80.5gr Full Bore Target Bullet (# 22427) ($0.36/bullet)

Val84 · 2025-09-07T16:07:16-0400

Maybe a dumb question… But I have a bunch of good .223 sitting around:

223 REMINGTON FEDERAL PREMIUM GOLD MEDAL 77 GRAIN HPBT

223 REM BLACK HILLS 62 GRAIN TSX

223 REM HORNADY BLACK 62 GRAIN FMJ

Do you think these would be good or equivalent to 5.56 out of my rifle?

WeR0206 · 2025-09-07T16:14:26-0400

Val84 said:
Maybe a dumb question… But I have a bunch of good .223 sitting around:

223 REMINGTON FEDERAL PREMIUM GOLD MEDAL 77 GRAIN HPBT

223 REM BLACK HILLS 62 GRAIN TSX

223 REM HORNADY BLACK 62 GRAIN FMJ

Do you think these would be good or equivalent to 5.56 out of my rifle?

They might be accurate but their speed will be less than 5.56 bc most factory 556 loads are loaded to higher pressures than 223 Rem

oldrifleman · 2025-09-07T16:30:59-0400

The federal is match ammo, should shoot great, the black hill will also be pretty good.

WeR0206 · 2025-09-07T18:23:38-0400

oldrifleman said:
The federal is match ammo, should shoot great, the black hill will also be pretty good.

It's definitely some nice match grade ammo, should shoot well....my guess is the speed would be around 2400 to 2500 for the Fed Gold Medal 77's.

USMC 308 · 2025-09-07T22:14:39-0400

Defender Ammunition makes some really accurate factory ammo. 69 gr SMK and 77gr HPBT shoot great out of my 20" JP.

ToKeepAndBear · 2025-09-07T22:28:15-0400

Don’t discount the 53 Vmax, my 1:7 barrels love that bullet!

drglock · 2025-09-07T22:30:40-0400

Believe it or not but IMI Razorcore 77gr shoots spectacular out of my Noveske with 18” Douglass CLE 1-8 twist barrel. Out to 400 yards they are impressive and at 500 they’re still well under sub Moa. I’ve taken this combination out to 1000yds. Though I’ll be honest that it was a very very light wind morning and if the target wouldn’t had a flasher we wouldn’t of known for sure if I was hitting or not and it was a generous steel target that was 36”x36”. Went 7/10, me and my shooting partner were impressed

kthomas · 2025-09-07T22:37:55-0400

drglock said:
Believe it or not but IMI Razorcore 77gr shoots spectacular out of my Noveske with 18” Douglass CLE 1-8 twist barrel. Out to 400 yards they are impressive and at 500 they’re still well under sub Moa. I’ve taken this combination out to 1000yds. Though I’ll be honest that it was a very very light wind morning and if the target wouldn’t had a flasher we wouldn’t of known for sure if I was hitting or not and it was a generous steel target that was 36”x36”. Went 7/10, me and my shooting partner were impressed

I've tested IMI, Blackhills and FGMM through my proof barrel and IMI was the winner.

redbullitt · 2025-09-08T04:40:15-0400

I like the 77s too. Tipped or standard match does fine.

hunterx77 · 2025-09-08T06:41:52-0400

Whatever is cheapest if you’re just blasting. If you want precision, check out 69-77gr ammo.

Rob01 · 2025-09-08T09:09:43-0400

Val84 said:
Maybe a dumb question… But I have a bunch of good .223 sitting around:

223 REMINGTON FEDERAL PREMIUM GOLD MEDAL 77 GRAIN HPBT

223 REM BLACK HILLS 62 GRAIN TSX

223 REM HORNADY BLACK 62 GRAIN FMJ

Do you think these would be good or equivalent to 5.56 out of my rifle?

Only one way to find out. Shoot them. lol

Hornady 75 BTHP have worked great in my ARs to shoot out to 500+. And no open tips do not negatively affect accuracy so don’t worry about trying them.

TonyAngel · 2025-09-08T09:41:26-0400

Val84 said:
Hey guys, I’m building my Daniel Defense DDM4 V7 into an SPR. It comes with a 16” 1:7 barrel that I’ll be throwing a suppressor onto soon. I’ve had a lot of fun shooting at my local range’s steel range up to 500 meters and would like to get better at it. My question is, what grain 5.56 is best for long distance shooting with my 16” 1:7 barrel? Also, is OTM good to go with? I’m wondering if the open tip affects accuracy.

Thanks in advance!

Shooting better ammo is not going to make you a better shooter. What's going to make you a better shooter is practice and some sort of training. Even if its just buying or subscribing to training videos put out by people that know what they're doing.

If you took $10k and spent it all some flavor of 77gr match ammo, in the end, you'll likely find that you would have been better off spending half of it on some sort of green tip and the other half on training.

I usually shoot at steel that's about 3 MOA in size running 62gr PMC X-Tac and have no problems out to 500. I only run the $1+ per round stuff when I shoot beyond 500.

If you're shooting for groups, then the best ammo is the way to go, but for shooting steel, there's no need for the added expense.

You also have to manage your expectations with regard to accuracy. There is always lots of talk of sub MOA performance without qualification. I've never seen an AR hold MOA or better for long strings of fire. 3 round groups are meaningless. 5 round groups are just slightly less meaningless. 10 round groups are a better indicator. If you really want to know what your setup will do, shoot 30 round groups.

Best 5.56 grain for 1:7 SPR

Private

Sergeant

Quiet Professional

Sergeant

Sergeant

Sergeant

Sergeant

Gunny Sergeant

Private

Sergeant

Writer for Skytteguiden.com

Private

Sergeant of the Hide

Space force door gunner

Sergeant

Sergeant

Sergeant of the Hide

Gunny Sergeant

Gunny Sergeant

Private

Gunny Sergeant

Sergeant

Gunny Sergeant

G14 Classified

Attachments

Sergeant

Old fat guy

Sergeant

Sergeant

Private

Moderator

Sergeant

Similar threads