New Rounds for Army Rifles

[Woodman in MO]

June 23: A new round replaces the current M855 5.56mm cartridge that has been used by U.S. troops since the early 1980s. The M855A1 offers a number of significant enhancements: improved hard target capability, increased dependability, consistent performance at all distances, improved accuracy, reduced muzzle flash and a higher velocity. It's tailored for use in the M-4 but also improves the performance of the M-16 and M-249 families of weapons.

http://www.foxnews.com/static/managed/img/Scitech/Army%20Releases%20New%20Ordinance_slideshow_604x50 0.jpg

[Optimus Prime]

Any information about what the bullet actually consists off? Despite the look, I doubt that's just a run of the mill soft lead nosed round...

[okie shooter]

From work here

heres a link too

http://www.army.mil/-news/2010/06/23/41283-army-begins-shipping-improved-556mm-cartridge/index.html



Army Begins Shipping Improved 5.56mm Cartridge

PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. — The Army announced today it has begun shipping its new 5.56mm cartridge, the M855A1 Enhanced Performance Round, to support the war fighter in Afghanistan.

The new M855A1 round is sometimes referred to as “green ammo.”

The new round replaces the current M855 5.56mm cartridge that has been used by U.S. troops since the early 1980s.

The M855A1 resulted in a number of significant enhancements not found in the current round. These include improved hard target capability, more dependable, consistent performance at all distances, improved accuracy, reduced muzzle flash and a higher velocity.

During testing the M855A1 performed better than current 7.62mm ball ammunition against certain types of targets, blurring the performance differences that previously separated the two rounds.

The projectile incorporates these improvements without adding weight or requiring additional training.

According to Lt. Col. Jeffrey K. Woods, the program’s product manager, the projectile is “the best general purpose 5.56mm round ever produced.”

Woods said its fielding represents the most significant advancement in general purpose small caliber ammunition in decades.

The Enhanced Performance Round (EPR) contains an environmentally friendly projectile that eliminates up to 2,000 tons of lead from the manufacturing process each year in direct support of Army commitment to environmental stewardship.

Woods said the effort is a clear example of how “greening” a previously hazardous material can also provide extremely beneficial performance improvements.

Picatinny Arsenal’s Project Manager for Maneuver Ammunition Systems manages the M855A1 program.

Project Manager Chris Grassano called the fielding “the culmination of an Army enterprise effort by a number of organizations, particularly the Army Research Laboratory, Armament Research Development and Engineering Center, Program Executive Office for Ammunition and the Joint Munitions Command.






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Improved 5.56mm Cartridge
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“The Army utilized advanced science, modeling and analysis to produce the best 5.56mm round possible for the Warfighter,” he said.

The M855A1 is tailored for use in the M4 Weapon System but also vastly improves the performance of the M16 and M249 families of weapons.

A true general purpose round, the M855A1 exceeds the performance of the current M855 against the many different types of targets likely to be encountered in combat.

Prior to initial production, the EPR underwent vigorous testing. Official qualification of the round consisted of a series of side-by-side tests with the current M855.

Overall, the Army fired more than 1 million rounds to ensure the new cartridge met or exceeded all expectations. The M855A1 is without question the most thoroughly tested small caliber round ever fielded, Woods said.

The Army has recently completed the Limited Rate Initial Production (LRIP) phase for the M855A1 and is beginning the follow-on full rate production phase where they plan to procure over 200 million rounds over the next 12-15 months.

The M855A1 Enhanced Performance Round is the first environmentally friendly bullet resulting from a larger “greening” effort across the Army’s Small Caliber Ammunition programs. Other greening efforts include 5.56mm tracer, 7.62mm ball and green primers.

Soldiers in Afghanistan will begin using the new, improved round later this summer. The M855A1 clearly demonstrates that the Army is providing America’s warfighters the best possible ammunition.




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[bigbear77]

Any information about what the bullet actually consists off? Despite the look, I doubt that's just a run of the mill soft lead nosed round...

Source: U.S. Army Committee Staff Procurement Backup Book, Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 Budget Estimates

Link: http://asafm.army.mil/Documents/OfficeDocuments/Budget/BudgetMaterials/FY11/pforms//ammo.pdf

Description:
The M855A1 Ball cartridge has a steel penetrator and non-lead slug surrounded by a copper jacket. The M856 LFS Tracer cartridge provides a visible red light signature through its trajectory and is ballistically matched with the M855A1 trajectory. This item is Code A, approved for service use.

[k98k792]

Bismuth alloy around the core?

[Optimus Prime]

Anybody know the bullet weight?

[okie shooter]

Bismuth alloy around the core?
There isnt a Report set in the system for this round yet, thus I couldnt look it up here at work.

Ironically when I looked up a bunch of US made rounds for both 556 and 308 I found a interesting constituant in almost all of them, Our good ole buddy alphaltic compunds. Thus even the us uses them for sealing the rounds up.

[mace2364]

I hope they have fixed the issues this stuff had 3-4 months ago before they try to send it to us. Supposedly, this stuff kept failing the high temp tests. I guess we will see. Granted, from my experience, M855 isn't that great to begin with.

[M1 Tanker]

Anybody know the bullet weight?

"projectile incorporates these improvements without adding weight" so im guessing 55 gr. As waterfowl hunters know, lead hasn't been an option for use to hunt with in a long time. Steel didn't have the range or the knockdown that lead did, but I'm a big fan of the bismith and the other alloys. I hope this is a vast improvement for our troops downrange.

[Dave in PA]

m855 round should be 62 grains. M193 is 55 grains. M855 has steel penetrator core, and should be green tipped. M193 is simply copper over lead.

[RicePaddyDaddy]

http://www.firearmsid.com/Feature%20Articles/GreenBullets/GreenBullets.htm

As you can see from the date these bullets have been around a while.We call them bonded and the military calls them green.........this is about as far as you can go in envoirmentally friendly and political correctness while killing somebody......when people realize the bonded bullets we buy online or stores is really LAP rounds they will have a fit.