We all like to spend as little money as possible when we shoot. We all also like to hit what we are shooting at. Sometimes saving money and hitting can be mutually exclusive. Sometimes not!
I recently conducted a test including four lightweight AR 15s for an article. I used the same three .223 Remington loads to test all four rifles. One of the loads tested retails for about $ 1.37 per shot and it averaged 1.58 inches for three, three shot groups. Another load retails for around $ 0.90 per shot and averaged 1.04 inches. Hornady’s American Gunner is on sale right now at Midway for $ 29.99 for 50 rounds – that’s $ 0.60 per shot. It averaged an impressive 1.18 inches, and that’s from all four rifles.
In fact, out of Mossberg’s new well configured MMR the Hornady American Gunner load averaged 1.04 inches for three, three-shot groups. This of course does not prove the load will shoot this well from your AR 15 but the worst this load averaged from any rifle tested was 1.29 inches.
Hornady’s .223 Remington American Gunner ammunition is loaded with Hornady’s 52 grain Hollow Point bullet and has an advertised velocity of 3240 fps. At $ 0.60 per shot it might not be the most affordable ammo you can purchase – steel cased TulAmmo sales for about half the price. However, based on a similar and recent test, Hornady’s American Gunner load will deliver groups about 30% smaller than the TulAmmo is capable of.
This might be a good time to stock up. I bet Midway sales out soon.
