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Old March 24, 2018, 08:01 AM   #1
mrdaputer
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IMI Ammunition 5.56x45mm NATO 62 Grain

IMI Ammunition 5.56x45mm NATO 62 Grain M855 SS109 Penetrator Full Metal Jacket Boat Tail

Does anyone have any experience shooting this? What are your guy's thoughts?
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Old March 24, 2018, 08:31 AM   #2
Eazyeach
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Typical surplus ammo. 2-3 moa out of your run of the mill 16” AR. Good to go. Do you have some or are you contemplating a purchase? If you are thinking about buying surplus.223/5.56 don’t pay more than 30 cents per round. It’s abundant and cheap for now.
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Old March 24, 2018, 08:44 AM   #3
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I pretty much agree with Easy.

SS109 is from Israel, slightly hotter than US made M855, with slightly thinner copper jackets.
Both use a tin/bismuth cover over penetrator core, copper jacket so your barrel is safe.

Both are just as dirty as any military surplus ammo, non-corrosive.
US made M855 has good reloading brass, SS109 resists sizing more and splits sooner than US made brass, but you will get a few reloads out of it.
If you don't reload, it will sell pretty easily, it's still 'High' Yellow Brass.

Both should be boxer primed, but there is some very old SS109 that is Berdan primed, so look before you try to decap.

I wouldn't shoot it in a National Match barrel or my high end varmint barrels, but it's fine for the usual farm store $299 AR clone and the 'Tacti-Cool' AR clones.

Too bad it's not more accurate, at 62 grains it does pretty good job in the ballistics department at 500-600 yds.

I use it to kill metal fence posts down over the hill from the house...
More fun than cutting rusty posts off!

Last edited by JeepHammer; March 24, 2018 at 09:05 AM.
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Old March 24, 2018, 08:50 AM   #4
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I just picked up my AR a Colt LE 6920 and I am going to pick up some ammo. It is $115.00 for 450 rounds on line. Local the cheapest is about .35 a round So this stuff should be good enough for me plinking right?
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Old March 24, 2018, 09:02 AM   #5
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That's 25.5 cents per round, before hazmat shipping (hazardous materials, loaded ammo, powder, primers)
If they have free hazmat shipping, then it's a good deal.

Find out what ACTUAL shipping is then make up your mind...

Keep in mind that most gun ranges specifically forbid Armor Piercing ammo, and many consider these green tip penetrators AP.
Such is the world we live in...
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Old March 24, 2018, 09:26 AM   #6
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That price is out the door no hazmat fee nor any cost for shipping. I am not looking to reload right now. I need to buy different kinds and grains to figure out what I want to shoot first. Like I did before I started to reload for my pistols.

Thank you all for your prompt replies
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Old March 24, 2018, 09:58 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mrdaputer View Post
That price is out the door no hazmat fee nor any cost for shipping. I am not looking to reload right now. I need to buy different kinds and grains to figure out what I want to shoot first. Like I did before I started to reload for my pistols.



Thank you all for your prompt replies


For that purpose federal lake city M855 is a better buy getting real LC brass to use afterward. Or go get range pickup yourself. Or buy used brass from someone in marketplace, buy 62gr bullets, and load it to try yourself.


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Old March 24, 2018, 09:37 PM   #8
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Used by the chosen tribe.

It has to be good.
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Old March 24, 2018, 10:03 PM   #9
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IWI is good enough for the IDF if that makes any difference. Same company factory did a run of Winchester 5.56 NATO ammo years back and it was GTG. I have shot a couple thousand rounds of their(IWI)5.56 in 55gr / 62gr & a couple hundred of their 77gr OTM and maybe 2000 rds of their 115gr die cut JHP in 9MM. Never had one issue that was the IWI products fault. If at a fair or good price I buy it as often as I can. Midway USA today has this deal, https://www.midwayusa.com/product/2090460512/imi-ammunition-556x45mm-nato-62-grain-m855-ss109-penetrator-full-metal-jacket-boat-tail[/URL]
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Old March 25, 2018, 07:20 AM   #10
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IMI Ammo

IMI is about as good a surplus ammo , as you can get . A large portion of my ammo larder is IMI . In both 5.56 and 7.62X51 ! I'll trust my life to it , if need be !
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Old March 25, 2018, 08:06 AM   #11
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Is there a specific reason you feel the need for the M855 type bullet for "plinking"?
Some of the 55 grain M193 type ammo is slightly cheaper and I'd expect something like the Fiocchi 55 FMJ ammo might be more accurate. I've even seen some non-FMJ .223 ammo for 35-37 cents/round making it worthwhile for uses other than blasting.
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Old March 25, 2018, 01:01 PM   #12
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SS109 is just one of the NATO designations for 5.56 x 45 ammo. It's the same stuff as the U.S. military's designation M855. Neither is loaded for outstanding accuracy. Neither is of much use past 150 yards in a short barrel either.
The IMI part makes it Israeli made. The SS109 part does not.
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Old March 25, 2018, 04:17 PM   #13
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Quote:
Used by the chosen tribe.
It has to be good.
The IDF is a tough bunch!
Served with them several times, they never failed to impress.

To OP, I'd pick up some at that price!
No Hazmat is the kicker, the fees can kick your butt when you aren't looking!
I let EVERYONE know when some place isn't charging hazmat fees or has free shipping.

----

I have zero issues with SS109, I shoot it just like M855.
Keep in mind it's a 'Penetrator', not AP, so it will bury itself in backstops a little deeper.
Its rough on steel plate targets, if it doesn't go through, it dings them up even when normal jacketed ammo doesn't.

Long barrels get the most out of it, it's hotter than M855 or the random surplus rounds, the Israelis were serious when they built them. It's not like they shoot everything into range backstops...
I've seen IDF guys hit human size targets at 600 yds, so saying they are 3 MOA 'At Best' isn't quite fair.
I see 1.5 MOA pretty regularly, although some barrels just don't like them.

Don't expect your bullet drop compensating optic to work with them, they are hotter/faster than the standard ball rounds, they will 'Shoot High' with a standard length barrel.
SS109s are regularly 1,500- 2,000 fps faster than M855 or ball rounds.

I crank out match grade ammo, and sometimes wind up with 'Range' ammo.
We all have batches that don't quite 'Proof Up', or you use up the bullets/cases that didn't quite make the grade for Match ammo.
Sometimes manufacturers change the powder or primers slightly, some bullets come in under/over size/weight, sometimes the powder is just old...
I make plinking & range ammo out of that stuff, keeps smiles on the faces of the relatives/friends that show up.
I would include these SS109 rounds in that category.

Reload or not, I'd pick up the brass.
IMI sells just like US military brass does, and it never hurts to have some cases handy in case factory ammo gets scarce again...
You never know when something is going to trigger the hoarders to suck everything up, a stray fart spooks that bunch...
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Old March 25, 2018, 09:05 PM   #14
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A lot of good info here. I figure for about .25 a round it would be worth it. Hard to find any cheaper. I won't be shooting over 100 yards so extreme accuracy is not that important. Just looking at breaking in my new AR. I will be reloading sometime down the road so will be picking up brass in the mean time.
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Old March 27, 2018, 06:57 AM   #15
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The only advice I can give that I've not seen given (or I'm blind): Some ranges do not allow the steel cored rounds. Make sure of the rules where you will be shooting.
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Old March 27, 2018, 09:08 AM   #16
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I am a member of a outdoor club. I will keep that in mind if I ever go shoot inside.
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Old April 5, 2018, 10:30 AM   #17
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I buy it from a local gun shop. No problems with it. It feeds and functions fine.
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Old April 6, 2018, 12:25 PM   #18
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This thread is 8 years old so things might have changed. Here is some real-world accuracy testing comparing various M855 loads:

http://www.ar15.com/forums/AR-15/Att...on-/16-519740/

The short story is that IMI outperformed Winchester Ranger 855, Prvi Partizan 855, and Lake City American Eagle XM855. American Eagle trailed the pack.

Here is some more accuracy testing of IMI 855 from the same individual, comparing its performance in a 20" 1:7 twist barrel and a 16" 1:9 twist barrel:

http://pistol-forum.com/showthread.p...-Twist-Barrels

IMI 855 seems to be able to do better than 3 MOA with some consistency.

Last edited by pblanc; April 6, 2018 at 12:35 PM.
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Old April 6, 2018, 08:36 PM   #19
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I don't give any specific 'Accuracy' quotes, since there are a lot of vairables, the two biggest are quality of firearm/barrel and the guy behind the rifle!

I *Personally* put it in the 'Range Ammo' category,
Not bench or match ammo... Not lower quality 'Import', factory second 'White Box' ammo.

It will do what first quality, common US made ammo will do.
Not great, not terrible...

It's heavy enough to reach a little further than light 'Varmint' bullets will,
It's a little 'Hotter' (muzzle velocity) than the US made version, and that explains why it carries a little further.
Light enough that virtually all semi-auto rifles will cycle with it.

----

This is my *Personal* experience, not to be confused with full scale testing...
I generally get between 1 and 2 MOA in barrels with twist rate from 1:10" to 1:8".
I don't shoot 1:6 or 1:7, just don't have any laying around, and I find groups open up in 1:12" barrels or slower twist rate.
I generally find heavier bullets don't do well in slow twist rate barrels, while lighter bullets seem to really like the slower twist rate barrels.

I will not shoot ANY hard core bullets through fine bores (National Match for instance) so that means I haven't pumped penetrators through my most accurate rifles, no sense in subjecting those bores to excessive wear considering the cost/work on those bores.

These are general findings and could be entirely the lug nut behind the rifle...
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Old April 6, 2018, 09:54 PM   #20
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Just as a FYI to everyone and no one in particular, the only "steel core" 5.56 rounds from IMI are the 62 gr. loads, their 55gr FMJ & 77gr Razor Core HPBT Match ammo are not steel core/magnetic. Their 77gn match ammo is as good as it gets for the price and being massed produced.
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Old April 8, 2018, 04:51 PM   #21
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Looks to be lead core from the description given at MidwayUSA

“The SS109 bullet is a steel penetrator tipped, lead core bullet complete with the standard green paint used to designate penetrator tip ammunition. This ammunition is a great choice for the shooter looking for a great affordable round for target shooting, training and practice.”
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Old April 9, 2018, 11:42 AM   #22
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Originally Posted by srommes View Post
Looks to be lead core from the description given at MidwayUSA

“The SS109 bullet is a steel penetrator tipped, lead core bullet complete with the standard green paint used to designate penetrator tip ammunition. This ammunition is a great choice for the shooter looking for a great affordable round for target shooting, training and practice.”
It is both steel and lead core. Most of the core that extends in front of the cannelure is steel. The part in back of that is lead.

If you look at the photo of the cut-away projectiles in this thread, you will see the two different metals clearly:

http://pistol-forum.com/showthread.p...-Twist-Barrels
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