U.S. Army Issues New "Green" M855A1 Ammo

Steve Johnson
by Steve Johnson

AccurateShooter reports on the Army’s new 5.56mm ammunition

The 62-grain bullet for the new M855A1 ammo is a completely new design. While it may appear to have a plastic “ballistic tip”, that’s deceiving. The new bullet created for M855A1 ammo has a bismuth-tin alloy core with a steel “stacked-cone” penetrating tip. The photo at right shows the version from last year; the final production version may be slightly different (e.g. the final version tip is a different color). Apparently the latest bullet design is a winner. During testing, M855A1 ammo performed better than current 7.62mm ball ammunition against certain types of targets.

Hard target penetration is supposed to be better than the lead-core M855. I just hope it is effective in combat and not just adopted because these days lead bullets are considered by some to be politically incorrect.

Steve Johnson
Steve Johnson

I founded TFB in 2007 and over 10 years worked tirelessly, with the help of my team, to build it up into the largest gun blog online. I retired as Editor in Chief in 2017. During my decade at TFB I was fortunate to work with the most amazing talented writers and genuinely good people!

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  • Kerry hensley Kerry hensley on Jul 10, 2012

    i would have to say that over half the comments i read are written by ignorant people

  • CaptainGroovy CaptainGroovy on Sep 09, 2014

    The whole argument about hunting area and firearm ranges is a red herring \ scam that anti-gun and anti-hunting groups have skillfully and successfully perpetuated for years. The simple truth of the matter is lead shot and lead bullets once they go down range with in days oxidize. That layer of oxidation makes the surface of the lead chemically inert furthermore lead shot 7&1/2 and under within a short period of time (normally) will dissolve completely with in 12 to 48 month depending on soil composition (soil type, acidity, moisture level, etc).

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