Best AR-15 Ammo [2022]: Range & Home Defense By: Eric Hung

Not sure the best ammo to feed your AR for the range and home defense?

Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to follow and signup for notifications!

We’ll go over caliber, barrel twist, bullet type, and price range to find your perfect fit.

The beginning of 2022 still had some supply issues but now we’re seeing decent stock especially with PMC and AAC brass cased ammo leading the way.

But we go through every few weeks and update with what’s in stock:

5.56/.223

• PMC Bronze 55gr .223 (20-rounds) for 40 cpr
• PMC X-TAC 55gr 5.56 for 45 cpr
• PMC Bronze 55gr .223 (1000-rounds) for 40 cpr
• AAC 55gr 5.56 for 45 cpr
• PMC X-TAC LAP Green Tip 62gr 5.56 for 45 cpr
• American Eagle XM193 55gr 5.56 for 60 cpr
• Winchester 62gr M855 5.56 Green Tip for 60 cpr
• Federal Gold Medal 69gr for $1.27 cpr

PSA has been clutch with having at least some ammo in stock for a good price. Other places to check out:

• True Shot Gun Club has in-stock and bundled deals
• Lucky Gunner with their .223 ammo and 5.56 ammo
• Brownells has an in-stock ammo section

Can’t wait? Here’s the best AR-15 ammo:

1. American Eagle XM193
2. American Eagle XM855
3. PMC X-TAC LAP
4. PMC Bronze .223
5. Wolf Gold .223
6. Federal GoldMedal
7. Federal LE Hi-Shok
8. Speer Gold Dot Duty

Ready to see why we chose these and the best places to find them?

AR-15 Calibers: 5.56 vs .223

Your average AR-15 comes in two popular calibers, the 5.56x45mm NATO and the .223 Remington.

You can double-check what it is by looking at your model specs or physically on your barrel, which should be stamped with the caliber and barrel twist rate.

The two cartridges are physically identical but the 5.56 may be loaded to higher pressures than .223 ammunition.

The .223  is a civilian round and has SAAMI specs (an organization that sets standards for pressure and dimensions) while the 5.56 is a military round that has its own specifications that might require higher pressure for higher velocity.

Therefore, it’s best to follow the advice:

• 5.56 chamber: OK to fire both 5.56 and .223
• .223 Wylde chamber: OK to fire both 5.56 and .223
• .223 Rem chamber: OK to fire only .223

Please note that .223 Rem and .223 Wylde are not the same things. One (Wylde) is perfectly safe to fire either 5.56 or .223; however, a .223 Rem chamber is not safe to fire 5.56 NATO.

Your barrel or rifle probably won’t instantly blow up from shooting a 5.56 in a .223, but why risk it?

Combined with the variance in the machining of the barrel and ammo production standards, it’s best to use the proper ammunition.

AR-15 Barrel Twist

Your barrel stamp should indicate the barrel twist after the caliber.

You should see a ratio of 1:7 all the way up to 1:12, and it means that the barrel will spin the bullet one revolution every X inches. Most barrels will be from 1:7 to 1:9 twist, with the most popular being 1:9.

Take a look at the chart below to see the ideal twist rate for your barrel.

The heavier grain bullets are usually reserved for the military and their tracer rounds.

With normal cartridges, you’re most likely to see 55-grain and 62-grain bullets. These are fine to shoot in 1:7 to 1:9 barrels, and you probably won’t even notice a difference up to 300-yards.

Bullet Types

You’ll see two big families of bullet types, the full metal jackets (FMJ) and the hollowpoint/softpoints (HP/SP).

The FMJs are great for plinking, while HP/SP are more for home defense or long-range applications. FMJ is also sometimes called Ball ammo.

Don’t you love multiple names for things…

Other confusing acronyms you might see include (BT), which means boat-tail and indicate the back of the bullet has a more aerodynamic shape than simply cutting off straight.

Lastly, if you’re looking at military 5.56 rounds, you’ll see M193 and M855. The 55-grain M193 is the standard FMJ of the military, while the 62-grain M855 is the “green tip” penetrator round that has a steel rod inside.

Things to keep in mind for M193 vs M855:

• Pricing is similar
• M855 is better at penetration (duh?)
• Some ranges do not allow steel core ammo like the M855
• M193 is better at soft targets under 100 yards
• More info about the differences
• Most of the time, you’ll see XM instead of just M… which means it didn’t quite meet military specifications but still meets commercial specs. Learn more here.

For more on how to pick the right ammo for your AR-15, check out the Brownells Daily Defense video below.

Where to Buy

We’ve selected a couple of our favorite online places to buy ammo. We’ve been buying from them ever since we got started, and they have great live inventory, appropriate shipping charges, and quick service.

And since prices and inventory fluctuate, we recommend looking at all the vendors to see the price differences. Sometimes one will be running free shipping deals!

Finally…the recommendations!

Best AR-15 Ammo

Now we combine the good stuff we learned above and stick to 55/62 grain bullets that are close to military specifications. These are the rounds that we’ve shot tons of and never had a problem.

Our suggestions are also all brass-cased, so you can keep them if you think you might ever start to reload your own ammo in the future.

1. American Eagle XM193

Our Editor’s Pick is currently American Eagle XM193 since it’s never failed to go *boom.*

And the price is almost always one of the lowest.