For a number of years I have been told by friends who have used the 77 grain stuff in combat, that it was a very effective round for the 5.56 AR platform. Although I have not talked to anyone who used a short barreled AR about it’s down range, real world effectiveness, I was curious, after I bought a a half case of it from SGAmmo.com.
At almost 500 bucks with tax and shipping, that’s almost a dollar a shot, so I hoped I was getting my money’s worth. I was expecting good results out of my 16.5″ AR, but I did not expect my 11.5″ AR to exceed the longer barreled rifle’s performance.
The weapon being used is a SIG M400 AR “Pistol” with a 1-7 twist, 11.5″ barrel and a Primary Arms 1-6x LPVO (low powered variable optic) with an ACSS reticle that requires the zeroing to be done at 100 meters for the bullet drop compensator (BDC) is to work correctly.
After the initial zero being done at 25 meters, I moved to the 100 meter range to adjust the point of impact. First impact with two rounds was 2.5 inches low and 1 inch left. The next two rounds were an inch right. The third, 3 shot group was an inch high, and the last three shots were centered in the one inch green dot and measured approximately 3/4 of an inch.
I have shot plenty of AR’s which grouped well within two inches at 100 meters. I generally expect this kind of performance out of that platform in a quality build. Getting this kind of accuracy performance out of a short barreled AR, along with the numerous reports of the 77 grain OTM’s terminal performance on combatant “Target Interdictees”, makes selecting this ammo for a defensive weapon a “No Brainer” if you have an AR, and are able to get hold of some.
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What’s not to like? This ammo has developed a great reputation as a long range round out of longer-barrel designated marksmen rifles often topped with a 4 power ACOG, Sometimes these were used in conjunction with a sniper firing 7.62s when there were lots of targets downrange. Some kills were recorded at 600 yards and beyond, when the velocity would be reduced to what can be expected out of a shorter barrel at a closer range.
There are a couple of nice ballistic gel videos, this one is the same ammo out of a 10.5″ barrel. Huge wound cavity, 16″ penetration.
This ammo is NOT for training, outside of checking zero. This is war stock. Very accurate, with excellent terminal results across all ranges. Dollar a round, and worth every cent, IMHO.
Youtube video: “Home Defense 5.56mm Ammo: IMI’s Mk 262 Clone 77gr OTM gel test.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzicw0Q8HRg
We shoot 5.56mm IMI 77gr OTM ammunition from an AR15.com AR15 with a 10.5″ 1:7″ twist barrel into Clearballistics ballistic gel to measure velocity, penetration, expansion/fragmentation, and retained weight.
Penetration: 16.2″
Retained weight: 53.9gr
max expansion: 0.539″
Min expansion: 0.368″
Velocities in fps:
2,472
2,405
2,466
2,470
2,385
Average: 2,439.60
You seriously do not want to get shot with this ammo.
Youtube video: Black Hills MK 262 Mod1 77gr 5.56 OTM Ballistic Gel Test (HD)
There’s a reason it’s my round of choice in the AR.
Because I’ve personally seen the results. One shot show stopper, especially when that shot is a cross body hit.
As I mentioned in a previous thread this has been my goto defensive round for my AR platforms. Out of 16.5” barrel i have shot sub MOA groups with bipod from prone. Glad to see this article as i have a couple AR pistols w 10.5” barrels on order and was wondering if I should use the 77 gr IMI or Hornady 55 gr Tap
FWIW my defensive round for AK is Hornady 123 gr SST. Golden Tiger 123 fmj for training
Love it! And that SST is some nasty stuff too. I’ve seen what it does to hogs on a shoulder shot, so it’s not too much to wonder what it’d do in a defensive role.
From my experience with IMI ammo, this kind of performance is exactly what I have come to expect!
The Razor core match 7.62×51 is fantastic as well.. Everything I have gotten from IMI subsidiaries turns out to be very high quality.. Buy with confidence!
This round is designed to be barrier blind if I recall the Military Specs correctly.
I believe it penetrates glass with very little angle of incidence interference and your basic stick walls as well.
And I’m fairly sure that Level 3 soft armor is gonna have trouble inside of a room.
They technically never tested the Level 3 rating because then it would be certified AP.
A big secret with this stuff is they left a lot of the bullets design and specs a mystery.
It even runs with silencers, and the powder is designed to cause less noxious gassing.
Delta, SF, and SEALs all run this round exclusively. Probably a good reason for that.
Assuming this is the “mod 2”. Which it probably is, cause they nerfed the “mod 1” a decade ago IIRC.
If you can find this ammo, you should dedicate your favorite weapon to it.
The round is made by Sierra, the brass is standard Lake City, small rifle primers work fine and the powder is pretty damn close to Ram Shot Tac. The return gasses are the same with a can as with M855. Use some RTV sealant around the lip charging handle where it meets the receiver. PRI made a different charging handle called the Gas Buster that did the same thing, and I think BCM has a version of it in their Gunfighter charging handle.
The round was never intended to be barrier blind- it works through auto glass, but other intermediate barriers cause significant loss of energy and trajectory. Its weight is what carries it through the glass. MK318 SOST (62gr OTM) on the other hand was designed to overcome some of those shortcomings.
Roger that Scout. Been about ten years since I played with these toys IRL.
Never even heard of the MK318 SOST.
Gassing causes me to tear up like I got hit with CS gas. My eyes are quite sensitive too it.
Learning something new every day… Which round is the one they designed to index with a M855 zero with little POI shift?
Did they ever find that magic formula? Or was that a DOD pipe dream?
Heads up to JC Dodge and Scout and all the other readers. I will be more specific from now on when referencing Level 3 Armor, relative to Level 3a. Vocabulary is important.
That’s the MK318. There’s an 855a1 also, but I don’t have trigger time with it.
US Armament used to have 318 before the buying craze. I snagged up a quantity of it, who knows if/when it’ll be back. The IMI stuff appears ever few months though as contract overruns they sell on the US market.
My friends in Afghanistan used the new rounds in both 5.56 and 7.62. They LOVED it. They said the SAW has better reliably with the new round, same with the MK48/M240B
A few guys on James Yeager’s site “Get Off the X” (I believe that’s the name) claimed to have acquired some M855a1 bullets and tested loading them to match specs. Needless to say, they were less than enthusiastic about the round. I think those guys failed to understand the difference between terminal effect and expectations from mass produced military contract ammo. Word is that the round can also pass through the transonic effect with greater stability. Giving the shooter about 300 meters more with the 5.56 and 500 meters with the 7.62
Lake City is building a new DOD “only” small arms munitions factory. I am not certain if this is meant to serve their new careless ammo, or if they will produce more rounds to compensate for the increased demand in Citizen Sales purchasing surplus ammo. I suppose both is probably the answer. They specified production levels of 1 Billion rounds plus during normal operating schedules. That’s not a lot of bullets if you ask me. 350 Million people divided into 1 billion rounds a year is only 3 bullets per person, per year.
I am glad to know that “318” is for sale to us citizens. I may hold out for that. That type of ammo specification is the kinda stuff that raises my eyebrows. Especially if M-80 Ball(My Favorite Bullet next to steel core AK) is the SAME price.
Thanks for the replies guys. I was just a regular paratrooper, and anything outside of M855 and M80 ball is very alien to me.
I am glad to know we have men like yourselves spending their time and dime to teach us.
They’re working on production of the 6.8 round. We’ll see if it actually gets off the ground. I’ll believe it when I see it.
I’m guessin’ you mean level “3a” (highest soft armor level), and not “3” (lowest hard plate level), since there is no soft armor I know of that is rated level 3. All soft armor will “have trouble inside a room” and will be penetrated by 5.56 as far as I know. It’s “Mod 1”, says it on the box in the pick. Are you aware of what the changes are between “Mod-1” and “Mod-2”?
Negative. But I am glad we are covering this. Because I remember being brief in SDM class there are some differences. I haven’t seen this stuff in person in ten years. I am sure much has changed.
Hornady 75gr OTMs have a better BC than 77gr Sierra Matchkings and are .20ea instead of .30ea. I run them at NATO pressures out to 500yrds in 3gun matches with good success; my final cost is .30/rnd.
Hornady is good stuff.
Funny, I bought a bunch of the 77gr IMI ammo when it was dirt cheap because, well, I can be cheap sometimes. 🙂 The real-deal Black Hills stuff was over $1.00/rd at the time and I wanted to see what the I and the IMI ammo could do before I dropped at ton of money on the premium stuff.
Now, I’m really glad I bought a bunch. It was on sale a few times for ~$0.50 / rd a year or two ago, then it went up to $0.75 / rd and now $0.90 /rd. With Black Hills being just about completely unavailable now, It seems like this stuff is worth it even at $1.00/rd
I haven’t tested it at long ranges with my shorter barreled ARs, but out of my 16″ barrel I was able to get 5 shots in the 10 ring and 3 shots in the 9 ring on an MR-1 target at 600yrds with a ~5mph cross wind. This was from prone with a bipod, 5mil of elevation and only 0.5mil left / right for the wind.
I’m not an amazing marksman but I think it’ll get the job done for what I’m capable of right now, and I was surprised at how well it did in the wind that far out.