Lake City M855 Ammo?

[Kablam]

I recently purchased some "Lake City M855" ammo from a fairly reputable sporting goods catalog. The ammo came packaged in bulk in plastic bags in what appears to be the original packaging. (That is, the ammo is loose in a single heavy plastic bag sealed in the cardboard carton - not 20 rounds to the box.)

The nose of the bullets are painted green. The individual rounds are stamped "LC 02" with the NATO cross-in-circle symbol. The seller advertised the ammo as new production overun (and specifically stated that it was not defective seconds).

On the cardboard carton, there are two separate bar code stickers. The Large bar code sticker says "XM855PD" above the bar code and has the number "5 00 29465 09751 1" beneath. The Small bar code sticker says "004020000000766 61565". The main sticker says "For Training Use Only 5.56 Cartridge, 62 grain, Full Metal Jacket Composite Core Bullet".

Everything seems to add up, except that bit on the main label stating "For Training Use Only".

Can any of you former or present U.S. military members fill me in on what exactly this ammo is?

[Kablam]

I now think this is just the new lower cost packaging for ammo that is not going to be shipped to combat units. That is, same ammo, just packaged for training rather than combat use.

Here is a link to a PowerPoint presentation by a military planner on the topic. Saving $60 million per year?

(Isn't it neat what people leave laying around the internet?:p )


LINK:

http://www.dtic.mil/ndia/infantry/morrison.pdf

[JE3146]

where'd you get this and for how much?

[Kablam]

It is 20 cents a round at Cabela's website.

[stormcaller111]

I too got 2000 rounds from Cabelas. I was also wondering about the "For training use only" tag.

[JE3146]

ah yea.. the 400$ ad... wish i had that kinda cash... i've been scrounging for 100 or 200 LC M193 at a time until i start getting some paychecks in.. damnn college...

oh well..

[Poodleshooter]

Probably means that it has exceeded it's shelf life or otherwise didn't meet specs for issue use. The manufacturer keeps track of ammunition shelf life when it packages ammo. Usually that means that this ammo was put together with a batch of powder that was considered too old. Since they can't pulldown old powder and bullets and sell them to us anymore :mad: they assemble into this "XM193" or "XM855" ammo.

[devildog28]

I think you are right about the low cost packaging kablam. I was at the range in march and the ammo was bieng distributed out of cardboard boxes. The ammo was still on stripper clips however and packed in the carboard inserts inside the bandoleers. What does composite core mean? I dont really know much about ammo exept shooting it:) the rounds i used in march were stamped lc 03.