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Is there a market for pulled m855 “green tip” bullets?

hlee

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
  • Jul 14, 2012
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    So, by now I think that pretty much everyone that cares to look is feeling the squeeze of the ammo shortage. Well, around here I can still find m855, but I’ve never been very impressed with the precision of the round. About 4moa has been my expectation and observation on the rare instances I’ve shot it at 100 yards. This is out of a mostly stock dpms oracle ar-15. Yes, I changed the hand guard to a free float model, replaced the gas block with a low pro model, and replaced the stock with a magpul moe, but the barrel and guts are stock dpms, circa “Sandyhook...”

    My uncle died a couple of years ago. As the only one with any interest, I inherited his reloading stuff. Mostly rusty bits and bobs, and odd lots of projectiles I don’t shoot. I culled the trash amd put the rest away.

    Well, I bought some m855 recently, because it was available, then remembered those odd lots of components. “There’s an unopened box of nosler ballistic tips...Can you make Mexican Match with m855?”

    So, I pulled the bullets from 10 cartridges and replaced them with the Noslers. Seated at 2.26. Added a modest crimp to make up for the pretty weak neck tension. No, I did not resize the necks. I did seat and crimp as 2 steps.

    Rifle- DPMS Oracle AR-15
    Scope- Primary Arms 1-6x FFP
    Distance- 100 yards
    Ammunition- Winchester m855

    The first target is the unmolested m855 control. All cartridges in this “test” were from the same box of 20. The squares on the target are 1 inch.
    376AD783-C4EA-4238-AA77-C0B34843DE3D.jpeg

    I didn’t rush firing, but I didn’t dawdle either. 10 shots, then let the barrel cool until the next firing session. Range goes cold at top and bottom of the hour.

    This second target is the test batch
    50D18B2F-0743-4C27-80F1-61549DB11D27.jpeg

    Im not sure why these are on their sides, but both targets are rotated 90deg counter clockwise from how they were shot.

    ASC was super busy today and I’m taking the opportunity to blame that one errant impact on the guy next to me rocking the shared bench like it was his wedding night.

    I went into this short range session wondering if “the juice was worth the squeeze.” Well, for taking free projectiles and cheap blaster ammo and turning them into something reasonably respectable, I’d say yes, yes it is.

    Anyway, is there a market for pulled m855 projectiles? This is not a for sale add- I only have 10. But, are they trash? Is there someone out there itching to make 4MOA ammo from his stash of FGMM 223?
     
    They used to be available from de-mil ammo and seemed to sell pretty quickly, so given the climate today, I'd say there is a market. I've bought 4-5k myself over the years and they seem to do better than 4moa most times. Good to stash as SHTF ammo or just to plink around with. Not everything has to be <1/2 moa.
     
    Have you seen the rabid idiots on the net, and in line at Academy fighting over this stuff? A year ago? No. Right now? They’ll beat your door down for them. IMO.
     
    I bought a bunch from jeff bartlett many yrs ago.