Biden's M855 Ammunition Ploy

What would a Lake City M855 ban mean?

We have recently had favorable outcomes in several big Supreme Court decisions, followed by a few more leftist riots. As a result, it’s now ancient history that a couple of weeks ago, nominal president Joe Biden was reportedly considering discontinuing the sale, to civilian distributors, of M855 ammunition manufactured at the Lake City Army Ammunition plant in Missouri. Lake City M855 manufactured in excess of military contracts, labeled XM855, has been sold to civilian distributors for years.

The short-lived drama came to an abrupt halt when 50 members of the House of Representatives, led by Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.) complained, reportedly causing Biden to change his mind. Maybe Biden—or the de facto president, his domestic policy advisor, Obama lieutenant Susan Rice—didn’t want to risk throwing a wrench in the works, where gun restrictions making their way through the Senate were concerned. Or maybe the Democrats outplayed Texas Sen. John Cornyn and several other unreliable Republicans, using a fake M855 threat as a bargaining chip to be thrown away in exchange for them continuing to support the restrictions.

Maybe we’ll never know, but according to Larry Keane of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, “The Army did tell Winchester (the manufacturer that operates the Lake City plant) they were going to force them to stop selling into the commercial market.”

In any case, it’s worth considering what the impact would have been, of shutting off M855 from Lake City, because it could be shut off in the future for ideological reasons or due to a war forcing the plant’s production to be devoted entirely to the military.

Background and the First Obama Connection

M855, introduced in 1980, is a 5.56mm NATO variety of  5.56x45 ammunition loaded with a 62-grain fully-jacketed bullet that has a tiny steel tip in front of its conventional lead core. It’s reportedly the ammunition second-most-commonly used in AR-15s, behind M193/XM193 and other 5.56x45 and .223 Remington cartridges (hereafter “5.56” and “.223”) loaded with a 55-grain fully-jacketed bullet.

In 2012, President Obama came out for banning AR-15s as part of a package of anti-gun measures he wanted pushed through Congress by then-Vice-President Biden, but Congress didn’t go along; in 2013, the Senate defeated by 60-40 a ban proposed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). So, Obama decided to go after ammunition used in AR-15s. Similarly, in the 1990s, when Democrats realized that their attempt to ban handguns (begun in 1974) had failed, they proposed a 1,000-percent tax on 9mm, .25, and .32-cal. ammunition, a 50 percent tax on all other handgun ammunition, and a limit on how much ammunition a person could possess without having an “arsenal license.”

Obama realized that he couldn’t do anything about the most popular AR-15 cartridge (M193), so in 2015 he had the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives attempt to rescind its exemption of the M855 bullet from the federal ban on the manufacture, for civilian purposes, of “armor piercing ammunition.”

If the BATFE, which has a history of politically-motivated interpretations and reinterpretations of federal gun laws, had followed the law from the outset, an exemption wouldn’t be necessary, because M855 doesn’t meet the definition of “armor piercing ammunition” in 18 USC 921(a)(17)(B)(i). That is to say, it isn’t “a projectile or projectile core which may be used in a handgun and which is constructed entirely . . . from one or a combination of tungsten alloys, steel, iron, brass, bronze, beryllium copper, or depleted uranium.”

Furthermore, while the M855’s projectile (bullet) “may be used in a handgun”—AR-15-based pistols, for example—it’s only the tip of the bullet that’s made of steel. The bullet’s core, like that of most bullets, is made of lead, therefore neither the bullet nor its core is “constructed entirely” of the proscribed metals.

Government 101 for Conservatives

As things shook out, Obama failed, because the chairman of the House committee that oversees BATFE’s budget told the agency, in so many words, “back off or else.” Conservatives should take note that the reason the chairman stood up to the BATFE is that he was a Republican, and the reason a Republican was chairman of the committee is that all committee chairmanships go to members of the majority party and, in 2015, Republicans were the majority party in the House. The same rule applies in the Senate.

Also in the Senate, the more Republicans there are, the greater the chance of conservatives being appointed to, and leftists being blocked from, the Supreme Court and other federal courts. That’s why in general elections, especially the one this November, you should vote straight-ticket Republican, even if a particular Republican candidate is not perfectly conservative.

A Look to the Future

While M855 accounts for an estimated 30 percent of all 5.56 and .223 ammunition bought by civilians annually, Lake City is not the only manufacturer of M855. It’s unclear what percentage of 5.56 and .223 sold to civilians is accounted for by M855 made at Lake City. However, because M855 was recently in the news, it’s as good a time as any to consider its advantages and disadvantages for use by civilians.

Advantages

M855 and M193 are relatively inexpensive, because they’re mass-produced. Also, the most important attribute of any ammunition intended for defensive purposes is that it doesn’t cause firearm malfunctions, and M855 and M193 have military-specification crimped and sealed primer pockets and case necks to reduce the chances of three types of malfunctions.

First, one of the potential problems with 5.56 and even with lower pressure/velocity .223 ammunition—when cartridge pressure is increased due to heat because of hot weather and/or a hot chamber due to rapid firing—is blown primers, meaning a situation in which the primer pops out of the cartridge and falls into the interior of the gun. Even if a blown primer initially falls into a part of the rifle where it doesn’t cause a malfunction, it often will eventually end up getting into and jamming the trigger mechanism or an AR-15’s bolt carrier assembly.

Whereas some malfunctions can be fixed in a few seconds, allowing the rifleman to quickly get back into the fight in a defensive situation, removing a blown primer can require field-stripping the gun and poking around inside it for a minute or two. Crimping reduces the chance of a blown primer.

Second, a malfunction can be caused because the bullet gets jammed back into the cartridge case during feeding from the magazine toward the chamber. Crimping the case neck into the bullet’s cannelure (the groove or grooves around the bullet’s mid-section) decreases the chance of that happening.

Third, sealing the primer pocket and case neck helps prevent water or oil from getting inside the cartridge and rendering it a dud.

Disadvantages

Behind reliability, the next most important attribute of ammunition for defensive purposes depends on circumstances. In some situations, accuracy will be most important, in others it will be the terminal performance (the performance of the bullet on impact with the enemy), and in others, whether the ammunition has flash retardant to reduce the visual signature of the rifle when fired. M855 and M193 suffer in each regard.

Accuracy—As noted, M855 and M193 are mass-produced, and that means “with lower quality controls” as compared to some other 5.56 and .223 cartridges, such as Black Hills and Hornady premium cartridges with generally more accurate Sierra 77-grain and Hornady 75-grain bullets. Mass production can result in inconsistency in bullet velocity, from one round to the next, which, in combination with aiming errors, can cause misses on small targets, such as a prone enemy at maximum distances, due to differences in trajectory from one bullet to the next.

Also, imperfections in the manufacture of the bullets or the assembly of the cartridges can cause some bullets to fly erratically. And the rifling twist of most current-generation AR-15s is 1:7, which is suited for heavier bullets (e.g., 75-grain Hornadys and 77-grain Sierras), but faster than ideal for 55- and 62-grain bullets. As a result, with a chrome-lined-barreled AR-15, the inherent accuracy of M855 is generally awful, between 3-5 minutes of angle. That means that if you could somehow aim, read and compensate for wind, and apply trigger manipulation perfectly, the bullet should land within 1.5-2.5 inches of the intended point of impact at 100 yards, within 3-5 inches at 200 yards, within 4.5-7.5 inches at 300 yards, and so on. Of course, with human errors factored in, real-world accuracy could be significantly worse.

Terminal performance—M855 bullets, like others, suffer from what is called the “fleet yaw effect.” The “fleet” is all M855 bullets fired in combat. “Yaw” is the phenomenon of a bullet tumbling and fragmenting upon impact, increasing the chance of incapacitating the enemy. The “effect” is that some M855 bullets don’t perform that way, and instead just poke a small hole.

Flash—According to military specification, M855 and M193 don’t have flash retardant gunpowder. The problem of flash is greater with shorter barrels and/or muzzle brakes, the latter popular among hobby and sport shooters. The inexpensive M16A2 flash suppressor works very well, which is why it’s standard on the military’s M16s and M4s.

Two other potential disadvantages: First, because M855 is a 5.56 NATO cartridge, it should not be used in rifles chambered for lower-pressured .223 Remington. Second, because of the M855 bullet’s steel tip, indoor ranges generally don’t want you to use it, because it can damage their backstops, and some outdoor ranges don’t want you to use it on their steel targets.

Conclusion

For outdoor practice on paper and cardboard targets at relatively close range, relatively inexpensive M855 and M193 can work in a rifle chambered for 5.56 NATO. But for defensive purposes, ammunition that is more accurate, has better terminal performance, has flash retardant gunpowder, and has crimped and sealed primer pockets and case necks, like some of the premium Black Hills and Hornady offerings, may be preferred.

© 2022 Mark Overstreet