Hunting with Match Ammo.

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I’ve hunted using match ammo with GREAT success! What’s your thoughts??

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Match ammo is not designed to expand at any range. Where I hunt the deer can be 5 yards to 300 yards. I like to have a bullet that will shock and disrupt lungs and stun the nervous system at those ranges.

Woodchuck and coyotes? Sure. A .224" Sierra #1410 bullet moving at 3,000 fps wipes them out fine and I hunt with those frequently. Well, not so much hunt as varmint control.

Now, I do reload my hunting cartridges with match precision. I hand weigh the charge, use separate decapper, resizer and neck expansion dies. Neck trim, use bump shell holder for minimal shoulder reset, have measured the jump to the lands, etc.

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Here is an ammo manufacturer that was tested at a recent 308ar get together. I was not there but the initial reports are encouraging. They load hunting ammo as well as match ammo.
https://nexusammo.com/
Maybe @98Z or @Mikedaddyh can give a first-hand account. Both were at the testing and are very experienced in reloading.

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Here is a link to a thread on 308ar.com about the ammo. @98Z has a post detailing his reloads vs Nexus.
https://forum.308ar.com/topic/18386-nexus-ammunition/?do=findComment&comment=288935

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The military has been “hunting” with match ammo for the last two decades, almost. Mk262 was the first one that was fielded on a large-ish scale.

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I’ll have more testing on that ammo completed next Sunday, at least for .308 Win 168gr, 5.56 77gr, and .260 Rem 139gr. I’ll make sure I get the details in here…

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Would be much appreciated.

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That was a great, detailed post you did on 308ar.com also!

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I have used 308 Federal Match 168 BTHP ammo for 15 years and it drops Deer like being hit by Lightening…Rarely does bullet exit and whatever the bullet hits turns into bloddy jello….total destruction…I reload my own now and results are the same…they could not be more lethal…

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What’s considered match ammo in one gun might not be match ammo in another one.
Just a thought.

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Maybe that’s why they need 30 round magazines and full-auto rifles? I like one good shot. :wink:

Seriously, the military has to hit hard targets - body armor, behind barriers, and there are conventions against expanding bullets. And I don’t think they eat what they shoot . . . usually.

And I admit perhaps I am confusing terms: perhaps “Match” ammo does not necessarily use non-expanding bullets designed to target shooting. Perhaps?

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[quote]Maybe that’s why they need 30 round magazines and full-auto rifles? I like one good shot. :wink:

Seriously, the military has to hit hard targets - body armor, behind barriers, and there are conventions against expanding bullets. And I don’t think they eat what they shoot . . . usually.

And I admit perhaps I am confusing terms: perhaps “Match” ammo does not necessarily use non-expanding bullets designed to target shooting. Perhaps? [/quote]

Do you know what Mk262 ammo is, and the rifle it was designed for?..

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So, from the crickets from this guy, he apparently doesn’t know a thing about Mk262 ammunition, so I’ll just break it down. Here’s a really great article on it -

https://www.shootingtimes.com/editorial/special-forces-to-civilians-black-hills-mk-262-mod-1-review/99098

Here’s a cool quote from that article:
“The max effective range [of the M-16A1] with the original M193 ammo was 460 yards,” Hoffman said. “We’ve come a long way from that and have reports of successful engagements past 800 yards. I’ve shot out to 1,100 yards with it.”

Apparently, as well, he doesn’t know why that ammo was even developed in the first place - for the Mk12 Special Purpose Rifle. The history on that can be found all over the world wide web. All over. Just search “Mk12 SPR” and you’ll get a gajillion hits on it.

Here are the Mk12s that I have - and I’m quite well-versed on 77gr and 75gr handloads for the 5.56 ones. Top to bottom is the Mk12 Mod 0, next down is the Mk12 Mod 1, and the bottom one is the Mk12 Mod H gun. That last one is in 6.5 Grendel. If you know Mk12s, they’re 18" barrels, and those top two are 5.56 guns (.223 Wylde chambers) with 18" barrels. The Mk12 Mod H is a 16" barreled gun, and I did that one in Grendel. SMOKES those 5.56 guns at distance. BAD.

Mk12%20Madness
Mk12%20Madness718Ă—551 152 KB

Now, back to that ammo, the Mk262. That’s a 77gr Open Tipped Match projectile (OTM). That’s perfectly legal within the Geneva-Hague Conventions, for combat, that this guy alluded to as being “not legal for combat” or whatever he said - it’s been decided, and it IS legal for combat. OTM rounds have long been legal for combat - killing enemy combatants.

So, my question is - if you could use a 77gr OTM Match-loaded round (militarily) as the most effective round ever chambered for the 5.56 rifle, on an enemy combatant… and kill them at 800+ yards with it - what the hell you think it’s gonna do on your deer at 200 yards?.. Or, 800 yards, if you have that skill?..

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I’ll be running an ammo test on my Mk12 Mod 1 (5.56) with some Nexus match ammo versus my handloads, at 850 yards, next weekend. We’ll see what shakes out. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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If you guys wanna get REALLY FREAKY, search out some reports on “Optimized Brown Tip” ammo. There’s lots of recent reports that it’s a Hornady 70gr GMX projectile - but that’s not the one. The original “brown tip” was/is a Barnes 70gr TSX projectile. THAT was the “brown tip” ammo. If you want a 5.56/.223 load that will smash something DRT, buy or load up some Barnes 70TSX. I have a stockpile of those things. Devastating on bones and flesh…

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Are your riflings a 1/7 twist for these heavier projectiles?

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Both those Mk12s are 1:8" twist barrels - but it’s the .223 Wylde chamber that gets them to run with the heavies. 75 and 77gr are all I load for those, and I dropped the 77 SMK for the Hornady 75gr HPBT projectile. Slightly - ever so slightly - better results with the 75gr Hornady.

Those projo weights will run fine through a 1:8" quality barrel - IF it’s the Wylde chamber. They won’t run as good through a 5.56 NATO chamber in 1:8" twist. Tighter lead (throat) in the NATO chamber, jams up pressures, you need a 1:7" for the NATO chamber. The Wylde chamber is a little more “forgiving” for lack of a better word. It’s the best of both worlds.

The Mk12 Mod 0 is a long-discontinued Nordic Components Match barrel, 1:8" twist, .223 Wylde chamber. That Mk12 Mod 1 is a Ballistic Advantage SPR-profile barrel, 1:8" twist, .223 Wylde chamber.

A 1:8" twist 5.56 gun can shoot the heavies - if it’s a Wylde chamber in the barrel. If you have a NATO chamber, you need a 1:7" twist. If you have a .223 Rem chamber (bolt gun guys,with those, Rem VTR bolt gun comes to mind) - don’t even shoot these loads.

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Good info @98Z thank you.

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Update without an update - details will flow in the next few days. I didn’t get out last weekend, but I got out today, and did a metric shiit-ton of testing on the NEXUS ammo in 5.56 77gr, .308 Win in 168gr, and .260 Rem in 139gr Lapua Scenar. It was all good, but some bad, because it’s going through gas guns. It’s clear that this if bolt gun ammo, but I’ll bring that up with them when I get the meeting with them in the next 3-ish weeks - I need to do more on the .308 with zero information, then some changes to the recoil system in the .260 to get that stuff to run. It’s accurate as all hell. I corked the 850 with two different 5.56 loads, so don’t ever let anyone tell you that a 5.56 gun won’t get out that far - it will, easily. I battled 8.9 ~ 14.3 mph varying winds today, and it smoked me. Wind was from due south, and I shoot due west, so it was a bitchin’ left-to-right wind. The 5.56 stuff had me holding 5 3/4 mils for wind, to get it on steel out there. It sucked. Only thing that would have made it better - is if it sucked more… :rofl:

Full report inbound later. I’m smoked.

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