Looking for advice on 55 grain 223 bullets

[Palladan44]

I want to buy a couple thousand and get the most for my money. I want 55 grain. They will be for paper targets, cans, plastic bottles, ice blocks... plinking and target shooting. Accuracy matters because Coke cans will be shot out to 300 yards or longer, but I'm not going to measure groups with a caliper.

Bob's look out of stock
Everglades look like 29 cents
RMR doesn't have 55 grain except Armscor at 12 cents
Armscor are 7.5 cents at Raven Rocks with free shipping (when buying 4000)
Hornady are 10 cents at Midsouth with free shipping
Speer flat-based spitzer (soft point) are 10.6 cents

I've never shot any of these. I watched Johnny at Johnny's Reloading Bench shoot Bobs', Everglades, and Hornady. Those all seemed to work ok with the right load.

Are Armscor a good deal or junk?

The Speer flat-base spitzers might be accurate within my intended range.

So Speer, Hornady, or save money with Armscor?

Whenever I have this dilemma, I go to ammoseek.com and click on reloading components. Click projectiles (or bullets)
Enter .224 in the caliber and enter 55 in the grains. It will search a good portion of the internet for in stock projectiles and list the best prices first. Just make sure to verify the company first, I've heard scam pfonies sometimes make it through the security system. But I've had great luck with it.

 

[EricBu]

Incorrect. Berry's has a 55 FMJ machine. I've seen it. I can't say much for quality, but when they first got the machine we bought and sold 300,000 of them. They were good bullets back then. I think that was 2019 or 2020.

As far as my advice on 55s go, the FMJ are lame. Every brand is lame. They don't shoot amazing no matter what you do. They are never very consistent. The Hornady SP that others mentioned would be WAY better. I personally like the heavier bullets but as far as cheap goes the SP are just a better bullet.

That's good to know. I had bought 10K of them to try not to long ago, and their sales guy told me they were Hornady's, and that all of their FMJ products were outsourced. Which I believed at the time, because I had a case of Hornady 55 fmj and they mic'd identical, so I didn't question it, now I know, but the next time I have them on the phone, I will ask again for clarification.

PS, I agree with you on 55 fmjs not being generally great, and I certainly prefer 62 grain, and ELD's or BTHP's...but for inexpensive bulk range fodder, hard to beat the price point of 55 fmjs, which is really the main pro for them. I definitely prefer 62 fmj for range fodder, but for a while it was hard to find those in sufficient quantity and at a price point I could justify. For my precision stuff, I've been fond of 68 bthp's, and 73 ELD's.

@longdayjake I was in an email conversation with an employee from Berry's today regarding something else, and just dropped the question there. She confirmed what you said:

"We don’t outsource any bullets! We manufacture our .223/5.56 (.224) bullets here at Berry’s and they are the only full metal jacket bullets we manufacture. All other bullets are copper plated."

So I will still vouch for them even if they are not Hornady's...they aren't the best 55's out there, and they are not the worst...but much of the time in a bulk purchase, they are less expensive than most others, and they shoot to the exact point of aim as Hornday's with the same load work up. Depending on where you buy, and what kind of deals are going on, they can be had for as little as .06 ea, and I've paid as much as .10 ea for them.

 

[bfoosh006]

Another vote for Hornady 55gr SP's.

 

[Lennyjoe]

I keep an eye out for bulk sales on Hornady 55 gr FMJBT or BTSP and buy them up. Have pounds and pounds of H335 for my winter reloading sessions, usually 1K at a time.

 

[ms6852]

I'm thinking that before you spend money on 2000 rounds that you should see what your rifle would shoot best. I would invest the time and cost of buying a few different brands of 55gr rounds and see how they group at 100 yards. If they don't do good at 100 yards it will be worse at 300 yards, and a can of soda is pretty small at that distance. Good luck in your journey. Don't forget to keep us informed.

 

[CZguy75]

I have had good service out of the Hornady 55 sp bullets. They have not been super accurate in my applications, but they seem to be more consistent than bulk fmjs. Think I am about to try out some of the RMR offerings when i order more.

 

[entropy]

If you're shooting steel or don't care what your groups on paper look like, Armscor 55 FMJ are fine. For more precise 55 gr. paper punching, Hornady V-Max or Nosler Ballistic Tip Varmint are my preferred bullets.

 

[JEBruns]

In the light bullets, my AR likes the 52gr SMK's the best. Consistent 1/2-3/4 inch groups at 100yds. As said above, 300yd pop cans are going to be tough with a load that can't hold good groups at 100yds. I know the SMK's are pricey compared to some of the bulk stuff. But for me, I'll pay a bit more for consistent accuracy.

 

[Bottom Gun]

I've had good luck with these Speer TNT bullets. I'm pleased with their accuracy.
You can get bulk packs of 1,000 in 50 and 52 gr and they make a 55 gr but I'm not sure it's available in the 1,000 rd packs.

Natchez

www.natchezss.com

https://palmettostatearmory.com/speer-tnt-224-cal-50-gr-reloading-bullets-hp-1000rds-4705.html