Shooting Long Range with .223

Well, medium range, anyways.

Many people deride the AR15 platform for shooting long range. Truly, when it was first introduced as a military firearm, with M193 ammo, the round was capable of reaching out to 500 yards, if not immensely effective at that range. Among the major problems was wind drift and its effect on the bullet flight path. As little as a 10 mph crosswind would blow the 55-grain projectile off course by almost 40 inches!

The M1 and M14 platforms did not suffer from the same - the M2 ball ammo used in the M1 Garand rifle would only be deflected 26 inches in the same conditions, and the M80 ball ammo fired from the M14 rifle was only deflected 25 inches.

Additionally, the slim profile barrel ("pencil barrel") - used to lighten the rifle - was deflected seriously when the shooter used a sling to steady the rifle for long range shots. This could drastically change the Point of Impact (POI). As much as 8" deflection could be observed at only 100 yards!

Riflemen the world over scorned the new "toy" which also had a significant amount of plastic materials from which it was constructed. The fact was, in close range combat, the AR15 platform was superior in every way. It was lighter, held more ammo, and the bullets caused more damage up close.

But you still couldn't effectively shoot the thing past 200 or 300 yards, the wind just played too much havoc.

But changes in technology brought the AR15 up to par. Government profile barrels, then heavy barrels, bring the platform's accuracy up. Free floating the barrel maximizes the rifle's accuracy. Updates to ammunition make the transformation complete.

For this comparison, I shall use ballistic information from Hornady match ammunition. It is relatively cost effective ($0.40 per round), available in several types, and has uniform accuracy combines with a potent projectile for hunting. I shall compare this directly to the M2 ball ammunition, as was fired from the M1 Garand rifle. Be aware, that although there are differences in the old M2 ball and the M80 ball used for the M14 rifle, those ballistic differences were largely negligible (only 3" drop difference at 600 yards!).

Here are the ballistic numbers used for the calculations:

.223 Hornady                    M2 Ball
2800 fps                            2700 fps
.395 bc                              .405 bc

The AR15 has a sight height above bore of 2.5 inches. The M1 is approximately 1.1 inches. Using this information, the comparison is easy to do, using a ballistics calculator.

Drop                    .223 Hornady                    M2 Ball
100 yds                0                                        0
200 yds                3"                                      5"
300 yds                12"                                    16"
400 yds                29"                                    36"
500 yds                55"                                    65"

This demonstrates that the .223 bullet drops noticeably less over 500 yards than does the vaunted .30-06 round. What about the effects of the wind? Let's assume a 10 mph cross wind.

Drift                   .223 Hornady                    M2 Ball
100 yds              1.26"                                 1.28"
200 yds              3.8"                                   3.9"
300 yds              8.4"                                   8.6"
400 yds              15.2"                                 15.5"
500 yds              24.5"                                 25"

This clearly demonstrates that the diminutive .223 round is capable of matching the M2 ball round in wind deflection.


Summary:
NRA High Power scoring records are all held by AR15 shooters currently. The .223 round is clearly better for medium range shooting.  Because of the reduced weight and increased ergonomics, as well as the dramatically decreased recoil, the AR15 shooting .223 is superior to the M1 out to at least 800 yards. 800 yards is certainly the upper limit of most shooters using iron sights.


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