WalMart Lake City 5.56 ammo

[carbinemike]

This is a take off of this the thread Tom396 posted about Walmart. I sent the info. that WalMart was selling Lake City ammo to a buddy that works in the defense industry. I gave him this from the WalMart website: XM193 Lake City on Stripper Clips - 55 grain bullets. Below is his response:

Careful on any ammo with the “X” prefix. It can mean experimental or out of spec.

X is ammo which didn’t pass the stringent gubmint guidelines for their base ammo specification.

The manufacturer didn’t get the contract because it didn’t pass. ( usually from velocity and accuracy variations outside of the quality specification).

So whatever quantity was submitted and manufactured is sitting around can be sold as XM--- by the original manufacturer. The government won’t buy it.

XM 855 has the same bullet 62 grain steel/lead core FMJ round. XM 193 is the 55g FMJ lead core only.

XM marked ammo is always much cheaper than the other approved ammo.

The Walmart ammo is probably fine to shoot but beware it's not approved Mil Spec.

 

[nitesite]

This is mostly accurate information that carbinemike's friend gave him.

Lake City Ammunition Plant (which is currently contracted to be operated by ATK - Federal Ammunition; Winchester had the contract years ago) has US Military inspectors day in and day out at the plant. They have to sign off on every run (or partial run) of military ammo.

If the peak pressure (PSI) is slightly below spec it is put aside for civilian retail sales. Same with the annealing of the case mouths. Or the lacquer sealant around the primer may have missed a few rounds in the batch. Or the velocity from a 20" barrel may be just out of the +/- 25-fps as spec'd by even two fps. Maybe the tar sealant inside the case mouth didn't pass the water submersion test on a sample of rounds.

What that means is that a run of ammunition may not get the inspectors signature and it is thus avaible to us at a substantial cost savings. A run might only be a few hours into production when the problem is caught. It doesn't mean that the contract was cancelled.

One thing I am certain of, is that none of it is dangerous or even risky to shoot and will likely prove to be every bit as accurate and perform just as well as the stuff our military gets. None of it is "experimental" ammunition in any way shape or form.

But to reiterate, carbinemike is giving out a worthwhile warning to anyone who might think they are purchasing Mil-Spec ammo.

Thanks, Mike!

 

[MikeD]

Good info from both of you.

One of the things I love about this place is that I never know when I peruse in what area I will be educated.


Thanks

 

[carbinemike]

What that means is that a run of ammunition may not get the inspectors signature and it is thus avaible to us at a substantial cost savings. A run might only be a few hours into production when the problem is caught. It doesn't mean that the contract was cancelled.

One thing I am certain of, is that none of it is dangerous or even risky to shoot and will likely prove to be every bit as accurate and perform just as well as the stuff our military gets. None of it is "experimental" ammunition in any way shape or form.

Thanks for the addition Nitesite! Very good points and I appreciate you adding them. I should have noted that it should be completely ok to use. The other plus is that it comes at a great savings over the Mil Spec ammo that passed inspection. I think the X is used to denote experimental part numbers on projects and would be for prototypes only. As noted experimental ammo would not be for resale at WalMart.

 

[Rossignol]

Real interesting info on all accounts, thanks fellas!

I like the stuff a lot and it has performed consistently for us, making learnin my rifle that much easier!

 

[LAZY EYED SNIPER]

Yup,

Fed XM193 and XM855 is just about all I shoot and it's always done well for me...

 

[nitesite]

XM ammo is like X-Out Titleist golf balls.

If the shade of white is just a tinge "off" they are "X'd Out" and sold cheaper.

There is nothing experimental about them, and neither is XM ammo ever an experimental development. The 55-gr FMJ-BT with cannelure cartridge has been around forever, as has the 62-gr FMJ-BT with steel penetrator round. Billions have been manufactured and I doubt that someone is experimenting with those cartridges now.

Great thread you got started, carbinemike! You did well, my friend.

 

[OhioArcher]

Couldn't find a price online and only one store in our area (about 45-60 min away) carries it. I saw on another site that it was $159 for 420 rounds. Kinda expensive when it's $319-$339 per 1000 at the gunshows.