[bigmoney890]

I remember reading some articles in late 2012 on the Mk262 and Mk318 rounds. And one of them was specifically designed for better barrier penetration, but I can't remember which. I can't seem to find the article again, and I checked Wikipedia and it wasn't any help. I can ascertain from my quick reading that the Mk262 by Blackhills is supposed to be used from a 18" SPR and is optimized out to 700yards and the Mk318 is just an improved M855. Not that this is very important, I just can't remember for the life of me which is which.


Thanks, guys!

 

[MrMurphy]

Mk 318 is the SOST 'barrier blind' round.

Both work well, the 318 works better through vehicles and light cover, and both work better than 855 when they hit people from short barreled rifles (not 20" M16s) as they were designed for shorter barrel use.

 

[bigmoney890]

Mk 318 is the SOST 'barrier blind' round.

Both work well, the 318 works better through vehicles and light cover, and both work better than 855 when they hit people from short barreled rifles (not 20" M16s) as they were designed for shorter barrel use.

Thank you, Murph! So, if you were living in the middle of the woods with no neighbors to speak of and no worried about over penetration, I guess this would be a pretty ideal HD round since it creates larger wound cavities (compared to the normal M855) and consistent fragmentation even out of SBRs, and is "barried blind."

The Mk318 seems to be a pretty fantastic round.

 

[WoodenPlank]

Thank you, Murph! So, if you were living in the middle of the woods with no neighbors to speak of and no worried about over penetration, I guess this would be a pretty ideal HD round since it creates larger wound cavities (compared to the normal M855) and consistent fragmentation even out of SBRs, and is "barried blind."

The Mk318 seems to be a pretty fantastic round.

318 is also harder to find. There are plenty of civilian loads out there that also give excellent performance and are barrier blind. Speer Gold Dot, Federal Fusion, and Winchester Ranger Bonded all come to mind.

 

[K. Foster]

So, if you were living in the middle of the woods with no neighbors to speak of and no worried about over penetration, I guess this would be a pretty ideal HD round since it creates larger wound cavities (compared to the normal M855) and consistent fragmentation even out of SBRs, and is "barried blind."

The Mk318 seems to be a pretty fantastic round.

The SOST is good ammo but there are no magic bullets. Using equivalent shot placement, a bad guy isn’t going to be any deader than one shot with Gold Dot or the Federal and Winchester bonded rounds. If you really want to defeat barriers, get a 30-06.

 

[bigmoney890]

318 is also harder to find. There are plenty of civilian loads out there that also give excellent performance and are barrier blind. Speer Gold Dot, Federal Fusion, and Winchester Ranger Bonded all come to mind.

I'm sure there are plenty of good loads, I was just wondering. At the time I was looking into it, the 318 was relatively easy to find and PSA had them for 9.99/20. Wish I would've stocked up then.

The SOST is good ammo but there are no magic bullets. Using equivalent shot placement, a bad guy isn’t going to be any deader than one shot with Gold Dot or the Federal and Winchester bonded rounds. If you really want to defeat barriers, get a 30-06.

True, but I was thinking more about windows, doors, walls, etc. And as far as 30-06, I don't think a bolt action would be ideal for HD, especially when you have minimal experience with them. Unless it were a M1, I don't think I'd ever do 30-06.

 

[MrMurphy]

What Plank said. 318 is good if you're stuck with military loads. If you have access to JHPs and SPs there's a lot of good rounds.

 

[Redstate]

I know that Mk318modO is very difficult to find; however, how does it compare in price to say Federal Fusion which about $20.00 per box around here.

 

[WoodenPlank]

I know that Mk318modO is very difficult to find; however, how does it compare in price to say Federal Fusion which about $20.00 per box around here.

The little testing I have seen done with 318 looked promising. That said, I don't think it's worth hunting down unless you can find it dirt cheap. Federal Fusion is the same bullet design as Speer Gold Dot, which is an excellent all around cartridge in an AR.

 

[K. Foster]

I don't think I'd ever do 30-06.

That was tongue in cheek.:tongueout:

 

[bigmoney890]

That was tongue in cheek.:tongueout:

:embarassed:

 

[PAGunner]

With the price of mk262 and mk318, I don't think it's worth it. Better ammo available at similar prices. Nothing wrong with xm193 & xm855 for most uses.

 

[WoodenPlank]

With the price of mk262 and mk318, I don't think it's worth it. Better ammo available at similar prices. Nothing wrong with xm193 & xm855 for most uses.

For range use? Sure.

For home defense, though, there are not very many loads that would be worse. They both pretty well suck for HD/SD compared to modern OTM, soft-point, and solid copper HP.

 

[Eric2340]

Murph / Plank -

If you were going to choose a 5.56/.223 load in BULK to keep on hand for HD/SD/SHTF scenario (in other words LOTS of it - not specialty stuff you can not put hands on a lot of at a time) what would you use? Use would more than likely be in a 16" gun.

Funny, I was just reading up on the history of the 5.56/.223 today - I am leaning more and more towards getting an AR again...............

Thanks -

 

[WoodenPlank]

Murph / Plank -

If you were going to choose a 5.56/.223 load in BULK to keep on hand for HD/SD/SHTF scenario (in other words LOTS of it - not specialty stuff you can not put hands on a lot of at a time) what would you use? Use would more than likely be in a 16" gun.

Funny, I was just reading up on the history of the 5.56/.223 today - I am leaning more and more towards getting an AR again...............

Thanks -

You're asking the wrong guy, honestly. I'm not big on the whole stocking massive piles of ammo for SHTF, as I don't see any feasible scenarios lasting more than a few days if they could involve defending yourself multiple times. New Orleans post Katrina, or LA during the King riots are situations I can actually see happening, not the zombie apocalypse.

Buy a case or two (200 or 500 round cases, depending on manufacturer) of some good quality soft points, run a few boxes in your weapon to make sure it functions and to zero it, then stop worrying about it.

If you absolutely must have a huge ammo cache for SHTF, get a 20" barrel and either XM855 or 193. I prefer 193, personally, as it has been more accurate and more consistent than XM855 in my experience.

 

[K. Foster]

If you were going to choose a 5.56/.223 load in BULK to keep on hand for HD/SD/SHTF scenario (in other words LOTS of it - not specialty stuff you can not put hands on a lot of at a time) what would you use?

55 or 62 grain FMJ. Which ever you like better.

 

[MrMurphy]

More or less what Plank said.

Most of the 5.56 55-62 grain softpoints work well, I like Hornady TAP and a few others. If I had 210 rounds or so of that (one full unit of fire, i.e 7 mags), i'd be warm and fuzzy, with the rest in decent/good quality FMJ's. Asym Precision, non-bulk-pack Remington, Winchester, or similar.

If it gets down to where you just put out 200-300 rounds at some bad guys, you're either overrun or in serious trouble, and what you're loading at that point won't matter much. Inside 200m, both M193 and M855 will work reasonably well in a 16", and better in a 20". People generally dislike having holes put in them center mass, and both will do so just fine.

Having 1-2k FMJs and 200-300 softpoints or JHPs is about the best you're gonna get without stocking up for a looooong time. I have less than that now due to the ammo shortage and general lack of funds.

 

[WoodenPlank]

More or less what Plank said.

Most of the 5.56 55-62 grain softpoints work well, I like Hornady TAP and a few others. If I had 210 rounds or so of that (one full unit of fire, i.e 7 mags), i'd be warm and fuzzy, with the rest in decent/good quality FMJ's. Asym Precision, non-bulk-pack Remington, Winchester, or similar.

If it gets down to where you just put out 200-300 rounds at some bad guys, you're either overrun or in serious trouble, and what you're loading at that point won't matter much. Inside 200m, both M193 and M855 will work reasonably well in a 16", and better in a 20". People generally dislike having holes put in them center mass, and both will do so just fine.

Having 1-2k FMJs and 200-300 softpoints or JHPs is about the best you're gonna get without stocking up for a looooong time. I have less than that now due to the ammo shortage and general lack of funds.

I go for 1, 4, or 10, depending on what I feel I need. One in the gun, 3 on a belt, and 6 more on a chest rig.

 

[bigmoney890]

I was just searching around for some HD ammo and can't seem to settle on one. Then I realized that I'd rather have my Sig for that. I'm just gonna keep some XM193 in my AR by the door and hope to hell I don't ever need it. But since we're on the subject of HD and such, what do you guys prefer for 9mm loads? I've heard many people swear by the new-ish Ranger T Series but can't seem to find any in stock.

 

[DaleGribble]

I was just searching around for some HD ammo and can't seem to settle on one. Then I realized that I'd rather have my Sig for that. I'm just gonna keep some XM193 in my AR by the door and hope to hell I don't ever need it. But since we're on the subject of HD and such, what do you guys prefer for 9mm loads? I've heard many people swear by the new-ish Ranger T Series but can't seem to find any in stock.

Here's a very good video to educate yourself so you can make an informed decision. This dude makes lots of great ammo videos...

[ame]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QuLoUzplbYQ[/ame]