Practice Ammo to Match Duty Ammo

spectre3

Newbie
Being a LEO employed by a hospital, I'm totally on my own for anything rifle related for active shooter response but am allowed a personally provided rifle (in my case a PWS MK110) and ammo. By default, those of us that care enough to bring a rifle to work tend to just use the same ammo the city uses...Federal LE223T3. However since I'm spending my own money, I frequently end up using Speer 64 gr Gold Dot since it's usually cheaper. What I would need is a cheaper FMJ alternative so I can afford to train more that won't result in me having to re-zero my T1 at the beginning and end of every range session. All the surrounding agencies train with their duty ammo so didn't have any input.
 

user12358

Regular Member
This will vary from rifle to rifle but have you checked to see how far off your zero M193 (55gr) and M855 (62gr) are or their various commercial variants?

If you have a LPVO it is also completely feasible to just adjust your turrets for your practice ammo and then return them to zero at the end of your training but this requires some mindfulness. Lastly don't worry too much about the practice ammo being a few minutes off if you are just practicing at closer distances.
 

shoobe01

Established
I have had issues getting anything else that's not (sometimes sneakily, not in the description!) steel core, but have had good results with the Armscor 62 gr ball. So far, totally reliable, and hits to 600 yards when I do my part.

But whatever you do, good for asking. I see so many shooting whatever is cheapest practice ammo, and have entirely different stuff (usually, different bullet weight even) for their carry stuff, with no obvious plan for adjusting, holding, re-zeroing.
 
In two of my rifles. I found 55 gr focchi fmjbt to be within 1 inch at 100 of the 75 grain gold dots that I’m running.

I had actually compiled a list of all rounds that met adiquite terminal performance. Then bought one box of each and grouped them through all my rifles the see which they all liked the best. I found many to be within 1.5 MOA so I then ranked the list on cost per round. Finally I was down to three different loadings and decided to see POI shift between them and the focchi Ammo I have staked deep. That’s how I ended up with the 75 gr gold dots.

If you went through that whole process I might be easier for you since it sounds like your only worried about feeding one gun.
 

pointblank4445

Established
While I haven't confirmed at distance yet how the dope varies, 75gr Fed Eagle FMJ is a fair training substitute for 75gr Gold Dots.
 

Sunshine_Shooter

Established
I had actually compiled a list of all rounds that met adiquite terminal performance. Then bought one box of each and grouped them through all my rifles the see which they all liked the best. I found many to be within 1.5 MOA so I then ranked the list on cost per round. Finally I was down to three different loadings and decided to see POI shift between them and the focchi Ammo I have staked deep. That’s how I ended up with the 75 gr gold dots.

If you still have that list, I'd love to see it.
 
The list of rounds with adiqute terminal performance is quite long, but start out with the list provided on P&S by DocGKR. suffice it to say, heavy OTM round, mid to heavy bonded soft points and copper solid projects all have acceptable terminal performance, with the soft points and copper solids performing better through barriers.

So with that in mind, try out every OTM, soft point and solid copper round you can find and see what average the best groups through all your rifles. Then find out what you can buy the most of.
 
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