THE HEAVY-HITTING HALF INCH
he AR-15 rifle … the actual AR-15 rifle, designed by Eugene Stoner and produced A number of major ammunition manufacturers put forth candidates for the SCHV program, many based on the .222 Remington. The prevailing design became known as the .223 Remington, and it was decided that 55 grains was the ideal bullet weight for this caliber. For reference, it takes approximately 437 grains to equal 1 ounce — meaning your average 55-grain FMJ slug is just over one-tenth of 1 ounce. Compare that to the first time we fired the eyebrow-raising AR variant produced by Big Horn Armory in Wyoming, which sent a 440-grain cast lead slug down range at roughly 1,900 feet per second. That’s 1.1 ounces of lead flying at just under 1,300 mph.
