What is the lightest bullet weight thru a ar-15?

[Coleman]

Being due to the shortage of 55-62 gr bullets. I have been seing lighter bullets out on the market and before i order them I was wondering how they work? it will be for 3-gun on the close ranges?

Thanks Coleman

[Alaskapopo]

I have shot 50 grainers and they worked fine.

[Coleman]

I got 500 50gr from midway last week just need to get them loaded up.

[Dan Sierpina]

I would stay away from some of the light varmint bullets if you have a 7 or 8 inch twist. They may not make it to the target all the time.

[Alaskapopo]

I would stay away from some of the light varmint bullets if you have a 7 or 8 inch twist. They may not make it to the target all the time.

How much of these have you actually seen vs read? Lots of people talk about it but most have not witnessed it. I only own 1/7 1/8 twist AR's and have never had an issue with light bullets ever.

Pat

[wgj3]

We dont usually push even the lightest pills fast enough out of 223/556 to see bullet failure. With a .22/250 or 220 Swift or something like that pushing 40gr or lighter bullets with ultra-thin jackets at well over 4000fps in a faster twist barrel, you might see the "disappearing bullet" phenomenon.

Realistically, any modern projectile down to even the 35-40gr stuff should be fine at typical .223/5.56 velocities. And, should be fine for shorter-range work. Just dont try shooting thru barrels or anything like that.

Edited April 4, 2013 by wgj3

[Guest]

I've had good results with the 50 grain Dogtown HPs from midway in my 1/8 16" and 20" barrels. The most accurate bullet I've found (<400 yard ranges) for the 20" rifle is the speer 52gr HP and AA2230.

BTW - I got the original recipe for the 52gr speer load from an old Front Sight mag where they used a Colt H-bar as the test gun and it was the most accurate load out of that gun.

[Dan Sierpina]

I would stay away from some of the light varmint bullets if you have a 7 or 8 inch twist. They may not make it to the target all the time.

How much of these have you actually seen vs read? Lots of people talk about it but most have not witnessed it. I only own 1/7 1/8 twist AR's and have never had an issue with light bullets ever.

Pat

It happened to a good friend of mine. He was using some bullets with J4 jackets.

[Powder Finger]

I would stay away from some of the light varmint bullets if you have a 7 or 8 inch twist. They may not make it to the target all the time.

How much of these have you actually seen vs read? Lots of people talk about it but most have not witnessed it. I only own 1/7 1/8 twist AR's and have never had an issue with light bullets ever.

Pat

It happened to a good friend of mine. He was using some bullets with J4 jackets.

it's kinda cool to stand off to the side and watch the puff of smoke several yards from the muzzle.

it's a fact you can blow them up in a fast turn barrel with the velocity up.

[Alaskapopo]

I would stay away from some of the light varmint bullets if you have a 7 or 8 inch twist. They may not make it to the target all the time.

How much of these have you actually seen vs read? Lots of people talk about it but most have not witnessed it. I only own 1/7 1/8 twist AR's and have never had an issue with light bullets ever.

Pat

It happened to a good friend of mine. He was using some bullets with J4 jackets.

What is a J4 jacket?

Pat

[Dan Sierpina]

J4 is/was a company that did deep metal drawing. Bullet jackets were one of their products, primarily used by custom bullet makers. Berger is the best known. They were thinner than what the major bullet makers make for themselves. In the slow twist barrels that benchrest use it's not a problem, stick them in a fast twist barrel, sometimes they go POOF!

[Amerflyer48]

P.O. Ackley documented .22 lead in a 1-6 twist spinning up to a .40 or so caliber before shattering in one of his books

a 55 gr. going 3,000 fps. in a 1-8 spins at 270,000 RPM (MV * 720 / twist = RPM)

Hornady V-Max are rated at around 290,000

I remember some of the late 80's varmint bullets stating on the box to use in 1-10 twist or greater want to say Sierra blitzkings

Saw a shooter at a 200 yard Offhand match have this happen to him with his .222 Rem silhouette rifle the sunlight was behind us and setting , target puller marked as miss so we watched his next shot as he usually shot 8's and 9's looked like he was shooting copper glitter out of his rifle POOF is a good description about 40 yds. or so out so we set a target hanger out @ 50 yds. and it patterned

John

[38supPat]

I have shot the Federal 40gr Blitz load out of a 1/7" twist Colt AR-15a2. Not only did I not have the bullets vaporizing (unless they hit a varmint) but they shot very accurately. It was not unusual to see them group around an inch at 100m.

[mic2377]

I think that manufacturers have designed tougher bullets now even in the lighter weight categories. I have shot a bunch of the 40 gr v-max from my AR with a 1/8 twist barrel. No issues, and sub-MOA. It may be more of an issue if I was really pushing the loads (I was only pushing them to ~3200 fps) but they actually shot alot better than I expected given the weight/twist mismatch.

[lee blackman]

I run those Winchester white box 46gr varmint bullets thru my Noveske 1 in 7" twist 16" barrel, and the cheap Federal 50gr HP's. The winchesters group better than the federals but they always group well under an inch at 100... I don't know why but they always seem to do better than the heavier 69, 75, and 77gr bullets.

[CocoBolo]

There is an option for the lighter bullets, slow them down, I just loaded what I could get 52gr Spitzers, I used the same 24gr load of TAC I use with the 69gr SMK, this won't push that bullet to a new speed record, it they poof I'll just drop the charge down a bit. For short range CQB matches they should poke a hole in cardboard at 50 yards, some where close to POA. For the big matches and the long shots I'll same the 60gr SMK's I've got loaded. I have a 1/9 and a 1/8 twist rifle one of them should work.