62gr M855/XM855 and "acceptable" accuracy...

shooterman_zero17

WTB: The OG Shoutbox
Full Member
Minuteman
  • Aug 16, 2007
    342
    25
    The Dirty South
    Just got back from the range, and was pleasantly surprised by an off the wall ammo purchase I made last week. Local gun store had some PMC XTAC 62gr (20 round boxes) in stock, figured I'd try it...took my rifle (see below) with the intent to shoot for precision/groups just because it's been a while and I figured I would try the selection I had with me (some 50gr, 55gr, 62gr)...no wind day, empty range, nice stress reliever...

    To my surprise, the 62 shot pretty well. Maybe I just had low expectations because it was PMC and cost as much as a box of cheap 55gr FMJ...or maybe because I had a hard time finding anything about the performance of this round which wasn't really reassuring (aside from penetration debates and test results...nothing really about accuracy)...or maybe I got spoiled by shooting Black Hills 69 and 77gr SMK. The last two 5 shot groups I put out were right around 1 inch +, even though some vertical stringing was evident. I tossed the target when I left, otherwise I would have grabbed a picture...

    Needless to say, I definitely want to get back out and shoot the 62gr stuff more. The range only goes to 100, and with my "match" .22 (and .223 for that matter...) stash ever low, I was hopeful that I would find something worthwhile from the factory to (try and) keep my fundamentals better than dull at the least, and give me better feedback than 55gr FMJ (which is 2 MOA at best from this rifle even on a less than windy day).

    Daniel Defense 16" CL CHF 1:7 barrel and a Geiselle SD-C for inquiring minds.

    I suppose the reason I started the thread to begin with, what experiences have you had shooting 62gr for accuracy? Good? Bad? Haven't at all? I posed the question in the ShoutBox one day and nobody really had much feedback. Hopefully it gets a little more traffic here. Thanks.

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    With actual M855 green-tip I usually get 2 MOA with a flyer that opens it up to 3 MOA through my Wilson air-gauged 1/7. I get just under 1 MOA with 77 SMK, by comparison. I have been shooting some bulk 62-grain Federal JHP and it will give me 10-shot 1.5 inch groups at 100 pretty consistently, but it will throw a flyer every now and then.