Norinco 5.56

Well if you can afford $.52 - $1.10 per round all I can say is thats awesome for you! Me on the other hand, I prefer to spend $.29/rnd which is what I just did. Got 2 of the last crates available from Edmonton. So when you're buying 2500 rds at a time, thats a huge price difference. Not to mention the fact that I do reload so the reloadable brass keeps my cost down even more. And when the SHTF I'm sure I'll be just fine with the ammo I have (paper targets or not) As I understand, Norinco's shipper won't ship any more of their ammo, so thats why Canada won't be getting any more of it. When its gone its gone. Bullseye is out, Al Flaherty's is out, ammosource is out. As I said I had to go to Edmonton to get mine. They only had 12 crates left and I bought 2. The guy told me the previous sunday they sold a dozen crates over the counter.......I'm just sayin!

I'm not sure about the whole Norinco isn't shipping to Canada anymore thing. I have heard stories to the contrary. I admit, I haven't really looked into that too far, but now I'm curious...

I also have a few thousand rounds of 5.56N in reserve. Just be sure to keep an eye on those primers when you're using the ammo. Some people have indicated the rounds can be trouble with a few firearms enthusiasts indicating the Norinco stuff has been responsible for destroying their rifles, which can happen with the best ammo.

Now $0.29/rd is very good for .223 and if you have a rifle chambered in .223 that's your best bet, however ISAF and OEF have a stupid amount of surplus 5.56N coming back and the producers of that ammo just might be willing to repackage /re-lable it and sell it commercially. If that's the case, be on the lookout for some very good prices on military surplus ammo coming onto the market in the next year or so.

I have to apologize for my "ammo snobbery", I was issued different kit from what most squaddies had (L119, Mk18 etc...) and very much referred the XM855 and OTM over the Radway Green stuff. I have used Norinco, but when I can get better, I do.

-S.

No worries, if I could afford expensive ammo I'd probably buy it as well. The ammo I bought was the Norinco 5.56. Haven't had any problems with the primers yet, but I'm only about 500 rds into the lot. Nice to know about the repackaging, I'll be watching for sure. Everyone I have talked to & read is true so far about Norincos shipper. I was bummed because I wanted to get a crate of their .45 ACP seeing as it is so cheap. Its all gone!

If they do repackage 5.56NATO ammo, that doesn't mean it's going to be a great deal if you own a .223 AR15, which I'm guessing are the most common caliber in Canada. 5.56 isn't the same thing as .223.

Most AR 15's shoot both calibers, very few that don't.

I've been shooting both out of mine for a long time.

Maybe you have a 5.56 rifle or maybe you've been lucky. I don't think that catastrophic failures with the barrel exploding are to be expected, but some failures could well happen for those firing 5.56 in .223 rifles due to the higher pressure.

Yes both my AR 15 and Mini 14 are chambered for 5.56. You are correct the other way around doesn't work.

There are also reports that shooting .223 out of 5.56 causes decreased accuracy. But unless you shoot match ammo from a match barrel at long distance, it probably wouldn't matter. But hey, I still use that at the range as an excuse 😉

If they do repackage 5.56NATO ammo, that doesn't mean it's going to be a great deal if you own a .223 AR15, which I'm guessing are the most common caliber in Canada. 5.56 isn't the same thing as .223.

True that, however all of my rifles in that range are chambered 5.56N so I have no worries there. 🙂

-S.

Most AR 15's shoot both calibers, very few that don't.

That depends upon the chambering. In the last few years there have been some developments in chamberings for ARs, as well as a few other little factoids to help ad to the mud in the water.

First there is the chambering of many ARs in what is called .223 Wylde, this allows for the use of .223Rem and 5.56N in the same gun, but this is really just a way for the US gunmakers to get around obsolete ITAR rules in my opinion. The next is the fact that you will most likely experience a reduced chamber life if you use 5.56N out of a .223Rem chambered barrel, but the odds of catastrophic failure are slim unless you run 30,000rds through the pipe. When firing .223Rem through a 5.56N pipe I have been told there is no reduction in life of the barrel or chamber.

Another concern is the combination of rifle parts and round casing. If you have a cheap AR and you're running lacquered steel cased ammo through it, you can expect premature wear on the ejector and extractor. If you're running MPI'd parts in a top notch, properly timed & headspaced, rifle then you're not going to see any noticeable difference in parts wear for the most part.

Next up is the barrel twist rate to round weight consideration. NATO standard right now is 1 complete rotation in 7 inches of barrel, this is described as a 1:7 twist or 1 in 7 twist. Other standards are 1:8, 1:9 and 1:12 (very old barrels) which are used for differing weights of rounds and ballistic philosophies.

Now there is no magical combination of round weight and barrel twist to ensure maximum accuracy, that is a huge body of debate and knowledge not generally pursued with any seriousness outside of a few disciplines. For the most part the way it goes is the heavier weight rounds behave more predictably out of higher twist rate barrels. So running 77gr OTM out of a 1:7 barrel will get you better results than running 77gr OTM out of a 1:9 or 1:12. Conversely, running a 45gr Varmint round out of a 1:9 or 1:12 will get you better results than running it out of a 1:7. And then there's barrel length, profile, over all weight of the weapon, the butt stock configuration, method of stabilization, marksmanship etc. In general, Match grade rounds will produce greatly improved accuracy (you will go from 1.5-2.5MOA with 62 gr M855 to 0.5-1.5MOA with Mk262Mod1 rounds).

Any questions?

-S.