# Do you consider Hornady a good ammunition?



## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Posted 4/5/22 9:38 P.M. CDST

One of our local gun shops has 25 count boxes of 5.56 Hornady for sale at $29 a box with a 5 box limit with purchae of a rifle and 3 box limit on ammo only.

My neighbors are split on if the brand is worth the price and quality

Although I don't currently have any of the brand in my stored ammo, since we are going by the shop this week and I have the extra cash I am thinking of picking up 6 boxes by me and GF each buying the 3 box limit since a buck and a quarter a round sales tax included doesn't seem too high right now.

When I got my 556 the ammo that came with it was Winchester brand and the .223 I got to use for deer hunting was Remington JHP.

What are your opinions of Hornady brand 5.56? Are they decent ammunition and worth what the shop is asking?


----------



## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I don't know about the 5.56 but their .45lc is good, what little of it I have used. A buck a round was expensive 10 years ago.


----------



## HomeCreek (Dec 30, 2021)

Ive used Hornady exclusively for everything from 65 Grendel 450 Bushmaster 45 454 7mm08 etc. But never 5.56/223. I just cant justify spending 29 bucks for it when there are so many other good ones out there cheaper. I have a couple thousand cheap I picked up over the years and I came across a good deal on some Ted Nugent ammo made by Double Tap for 12 bucks a box and I also bought some ammo wihich brand name escapes me at the moment in a box covered in the american flag thats 62grain and drops deer like a hammer for 15 a box. Local owned sporting goods was going out of business and I bought all they had. So I ended up with 23 boxes of hunting style 5.56/223. I Vacuum sealed them in packets of 10. Hog Hammer is great ammo and what my son has used in his AR platform to take deer wild hog for a long time.


----------



## GunMonkeyIntl (May 13, 2013)

Hornady is generally good ammo. The 5.56 you’re looking at is likely Lake City production that they farm out- though I haven’t seen anything in a 25rd box. Unless they have something loaded to their spec, which, last time I checked, they don’t, it is the same Winchester White Box 5.56. $1.20/rd seems kind of high, though. Range-fodder 5.56 is generally going for $0.50-0.70/rd.

ETA: what’s the bullet in that load?


----------



## Adirondackian (Sep 26, 2021)

I have some, seems good. I cant say its bad or worse than any other. Expensive stuff though.


----------



## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

yes Hornady ranges from good to premium depending on which line.

is this the Frontier line 5.56 fmj?

or something else


----------



## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

I have shot tens of thousand of rounds of Hornady ammo, all with no problems at all.


----------



## BV70 (9 mo ago)

I stocked up long ago but with mostly Federal, Winchester and PMC 5.56 and .223. I don't recall reading or hearing anything negative about Hornady ammo.

All of the equipment I use to reload is Hornady and I use their bullets. Hasn't let me down yet.


----------



## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

It's good, may be one of the better brands out there, IMO.


----------



## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

when you stock up do you stock up FMJ or soft points 

@Shrek with your only buy defensive ammo in handguns trend , what do you stock in 223/5.56?

I only do soft points in 223 , I use them for targets and game 

in handgun ammo I used a bunch of coated bullets I see very little difference in point of impact in 9mm at pistol distances of inside 25 yards for most things. I like to stay 124gr for everything if I can , but still not a big difference in 115 to 124 I avoid 147.

with a rifle I shoot further so my zero matters more , I keep just one 223 and one 308 load around most of the time.

we had a match where my son found some old 223 loads i had , he was fine at approximately 2 and 3 hundred but at about 420 I am watching a very nice group in the sand under the steel plate , he had a 200 yard zero with the slightly faster new load he had no idea that that range would be included in the match and was expecting nothing over 250

he didn't have the magnification to see the low hits so he had no idea he had wind right and elevation low

it is how you learn and if you need to shoot 440 you need to know your gun , your DOPE and your load. because after 300 it's a game changer


----------



## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

Nothing wrong with Hornady ammo, but the price is steep.


----------



## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Posted 4/7/22 7:19 P.M. CDST

GCP, I figure with my Ruger 556 brace pistol , although having the .223 hollow points I use to deer hunt with , I might as well get some 5.56 for it also if for nothing more than for range practice.

On the bright side the guy who told me about it was off in both the box quantity and price. 

The Hornady ammo is on sale for $9.99 a 20 count box, so when we go I am taking GF and daughter with to get 9 boxes and get lunch tomorrow


----------



## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

i wondered about that 

I had heard of 20 , 30 , 50 round boxes of 223/5.56 but never a 25 

30 because it fills one magazine 

20 is the norm

there is a reason they are limiting quantity 49.9 cents a round right now is a very good price on 5.56

seeing most of it around 60 cents a round 

the reason mine are soft points , is because I make almost all my 223 only stocking one bullet only costs me 1-2 cents a round more than having 2 bullets.


----------



## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Posted 4/8/22 12:49 A.M. CDST

It's a promotional meet and greet with a corporate officer with Ruger and I believe the other corporate officer is a John Hornady with the Ammo company Friday and Sunday at the two shops that the owner of the two shops 20 miles apart from each other is hosting as part of his Friday and Saturday store wide sales with Ruger firearms as the center attraction.

The couple times he has had these sort of sales I have been told he has a heavy pick up pulled Wells Cargo trailer of ammo to keep a steady flow into the shops.

GF suggested we try to hit both stores but I figure to take my money to the nearest store today with some extra cash in case I see a new weapon while the meet and greet is going on at the other store if they stick to their usual 2 day meet and greet with the guests at the North Huntsville store on the first day and the store closer to me on the second day, unless with two guests he has one at each store and swaps the guests around for the 2 day sale.

Off to grab some sleep before the round trip to the shop and lunch later today.


----------



## Timbrown (7 mo ago)

I can't really vouch for 5.56, but Hornady's .450 is my go-to. Me and my father been using those on our deer hunts for last 3-4 years. Has a decent recoil to it, but range and speed make up for it.
Usually grabbing 1-2 boxes whenever its payday and I order stuff from Gun Store | Shooting Sports Gear | GritrSports.com or some other gun store that has it on sale. I'd say Hornady is a solid price-to-quality manufacturer but it all comes down to how your specific gun performs with those. Try to get your hand on couple o' boxes and give it a test.


----------



## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

actually shot some of the frontier the other day , appears to be quality at least on par with Federal american eagle xm193 didn't take it to any long range but for feeding a braced pistol it will be just fine.


----------



## Timbrown (7 mo ago)

Yeah, had somewhat similar expirience. Hornady is always in supply out here so I'm not worried about restocking. Much more sad about .338s lately, wasn't been able to buy that many boxes. They always have it in stock online, but then I arrive to the offline store and it's all gone. Might need to to scavange online websites more to find a good deal to buy in bulk.


----------



## GunMonkeyIntl (May 13, 2013)

GREENCOUNTYPETE said:


> actually shot some of the frontier the other day , appears to be quality at least on par with Federal american eagle xm193 didn't take it to any long range but for feeding a braced pistol it will be just fine.


Hornady Frontier 55gr is the same thing as Federal XM193.. as Winchester XM193 and 55gr Whitebox. It’s all Lake City over-capacity loading. Even the brass is the same, with white-labeled headstamps.

In other news, that’s all about to go away:








Reports: Biden admin orders ammo maker to stop selling 5.56 rounds to Americans


The Biden administration has reportedly ordered an ammunition manufacturer to stop selling Americans some 5.56mm rounds, which is the most common for the




americanmilitarynews.com


----------



## JRHill02 (Jun 20, 2020)

Only a few times have I purchased Hornaday ready to shoot. Yup, pretty expensive stuff. Mostly I purchase bullets and load my own as most of my favorites are large calibers and the finished rounds are really expensive like for the 45-70, Casull, Long Colt, etc. I also like the ability to customize load and bullet combinations that aren't available or crazy expensive off the shelf or a special order item. One thing I have found is the fancy bullets for hand loading are a bit more expensive than ball ammo but not near anything like the price charged for the same fancy round ready to shoot. Marketing.

It's true that some ammo styles perform better in certain guns but for many folks its an issue of preference, availability, conditions and skill. It isn't too far removed from Ford/GM/Dodge arguments or Windows/Mac, etc. For me at a time, I had access to the Hornaday factory where I could go in and sort through cabinets of factory 2nd boxes for cheap. There was never a problem with functional use - it was primarily a QC failure for cosmetics. So I got used to loading Hornaday and haven't strayed to this day except when availability is the issue.

Hand loading is also quite enjoyable esp when its snowing or you are trying to get out of some less enjoyable tasks. And learning about firearms in general is one thing but learning about your ammo provides some real education. The down side is the storage of supplies and I'm not talking brass. loads and tooling. The other stuff has to be in an environmentally consistent place which for me is exactly where I don't want it. That is a problem to this day.


----------

