556 Nato 68 Grain Bthp Match Hornady Frontier Amm0 Review
Hornady Frontier Ammo Review
The Hornady Borderland ammo line has a rich history and a bright future.
November 05, 2019
Considering what it is today, few of united states of america would guess the humble beginnings of Hornady ammunition. Hornady has been an manufacture leader in premium ammo innovation for the last 20 years with products such as the .17 HMR, .204 Ruger, LeverRevolution, Critical Defence, Critical Duty, Superformance and Precision Hunter, simply to name a few. (Full disclosure: I retired from Hornady in 2017.)
The Frontier'southward Past
Hornady'southward entry into the ammo world in 1964 was far more inauspicious than what the company currently had to offer. In 1949, Joyce Hornady started Hornady Manufacturing to answer the demand for accurate bullets for enervating shooters. The company quickly garnered a reputation for producing accurate and undecayed hunting and varmint bullets.
Hornady was well established in the shooting and reloading world by 1964, so Joyce fabricated the decision to bring the visitor into the armament globe. He was upward confronting very stiff competition from the "Big 3": Federal, Remington and Winchester. He gambled that Hornady's loftier quality and authentic bullets would sell in loaded ammo.
In the early 1960s, the U.S. was ramping up its involvement in Vietnam, and the Cold State of war was at its summit. To support U.S. requirements and allies around the world, production of military small-scale-arms ammunition was at a high. At the time, the .45 ACP was yet the standard-bearer military handgun caliber of the U.S. The seven.62 NATO (.308 Winchester) was still relatively new to the armed forces, merely was already in the process of being replaced past the new v.56 NATO (.223 Remington).
The .xxx-'06 Springfield and .30 Carbine were existence produced in large quantities to supply the still-in-service M1 Garands and M1 Carbines of the South Vietnamese army and other countries. Information technology'southward no wonder that Hornady's first offerings in '64 were armed forces-surplus cartridge cases loaded with Hornady bullets. They initially included the .thirty Carbine, .308 Win. and .30-'06 Springfield. Joyce chose to name his new ammunition line "Frontier."
The Frontier line of cartridges slowly began to grow. They also added other popular commercial ammunition of the time. Hornady sourced cartridge cases for their commercial rounds from other ammo industry companies. These cartridge cases carried the Borderland headstamp. By 1972, the Frontier line of ammo had grown to include the 9mm Luger, .38 Special, .222 Rem., .22-250 Rem., .243 Win., .270 Win., 7mm Remington Magnum, .30 Carbine, .xxx-thirty Win., .308 Win., and .30-'06 Springfield.
Frontier armament continued to grow through the 1970s and '80s equally more and more calibers were added to the Hornady line. Cartridge cases purchased continued to be sourced from outside suppliers and headstamped with the Frontier name. In the late 1980s, Hornady assumed responsibility for its first industry-standardized Sporting Artillery and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute (SAAMI) cartridges with the 10mm Auto and .220 Swift.
The long and short of the story is by being the company responsible for standardizing and introducing a new cartridge to SAAMI, in that location as well came a responsibility to the manufacture to provide the standards and specifications for the cartridge. This included bedroom specifications, as well equally reference and firearm-proof ammunition.
In the early 1990s, Hornady began to produce small quantities of its ain cartridge cases, and in-house product of their cartridges fabricated up a minor fraction of what was being loaded into ammo every year. At the time, all locally produced cartridge cases diameter the "HORNADY" headstamp, and each cartridge example sourced outside the company retained the "FRONTIER" headstamp. This was done so that the source of the cartridge example could quickly be identified. But by the mid-to-late 2000s customers were beginning to be confused past the sourcing of Hornady ammo because it was being loaded with two different headstamps. They wondered if there were differences between the Frontier and Hornady headstamped ammo. Through in the early to mid-2000s, Hornady connected to produce more and more than of their own cartridge cases using the Hornady headstamp.
In 2009, the decision was fabricated to take all cartridge cases, no matter the source, headstamped with HORNADY. The 2009 decision marked the cease of the "Frontier" proper name, with the exception of Hornady's Cowboy Action loads. By early on 2010, Hornady was producing almost all of their own cartridge cases. The humble Frontier ammunition had grown into ane of the most successful brands on the market.
Frontier at the Present
The saying that "all good things must come to an stop" is non necessarily true. In 2018, Hornady brought dorsum the Borderland name in a large fashion. The make was on firm footing in the premium and niche segments of the ammo market, and Hornady became known for innovative and high-functioning bullets and ammo, such as the new ELD family. However, Hornady had well-nigh no presence in the lower toll-point segment; This was the domain of Federal, Remington and Winchester, all of whom have high-volume, depression-cost ammunition lines. In 2016, Hornady made the determination to compete in the Big Three's price-bespeak category and entered by reintroducing its Frontier line of armament.
Hornady teamed up with Lake Urban center Army Armament Found (LCAAP) to utilise its excess product capacity for production of Hornady'southward new line of Frontier-branded ammo. Loads were offered in .223 Remington, 5.56 NATO and .300 Blackout. Today, LCAAP'due south production mechanism is capable of producing millions of cartridges per day, per motorcar. They load Hornady'southward cartridge cases, and bundle the ammunition in a series on the same car.
Hornady provides the projectiles to LCAAP for loading Borderland ammo rather than the standard military M855 or M856 projectile. The .223 Rem. and .300 Blackout are loaded to SAAMI specifications. The 5.56 NATO cases and propellant are made to military specifications using Hornady bullets loaded on LCAAP'south high-volume machinery. This loftier-product rate significantly lowers production costs, and the savings are passed on to the customer.
The teaming arrangement with LCAAP also provides armament loaded with high-strength mil-spec cartridge cases and a crimped primer along with mil-spec propellants.
Hornady offers loads with their own production-equivalent versions of the M193 55-grain full metallic jacket (FMJ) and M855 62-grain FMJ. The real plus here is that Hornady offers a large range of bullet weights and styles to cover merely about anything yous'd want to practice with an AR-xv; from varminting to plinking, to police force enforcement grooming. Bullet styles are available in FMJ, hollowpoint (HP), soft signal (SP) and boattail hollowpoint (BTHP) lucifer. Offered bullet weights in the 5.56 range from 55- to 75-grain, and .223 Rem. loads range from 55- to 68-grains. The .300 Blackout is offered with a 125-grain FMJ bullet.
All bullets are manufactured past Hornady with their usual high standards for quality and accuracy. Information technology will be difficult to find another line of ammo at this price indicate that matches Borderland's quality and range of bullet weights and styles.
Here, a short discussion of the difference between five.56 NATO and .223 Rem. is in order. The five.56 NATO came first, and the .223 Rem. was a commercialized 5.56 round with a redesigned throat and freebore in order to produce amend accuracy for a commercial cartridge. The 5.56 has a longer and larger-diameter pharynx and freebore that allows the projectile to jump further to the rifling. The 5.56 also operates at higher pressure than the .223.
The .223 has a smaller diameter and shorter pharynx and freebore with less jump to the rifling than the 5.56, which gives the .223 an edge in accuracy. Considering of these differences in the throat and freebore, you should non fire 5.56 NATO in a .223 Rem. chamber. This will cause elevated pressures that can pierce primers and damage your firearm. Information technology is rubber to burn .223 in the 5.56 because the longer throat of the v.56 causes a pressure and velocity drop.
Some other meaning difference in the ii is that the 5.56 uses a xx-inch pressure- and velocity-test barrel equally opposed to the 24-inch examination barrel used for the .223 Rem. This is why y'all may see lower velocities listed for 5.56 with the same bullet weight as the .223 despite the 5.56's higher operating pressure. Velocities listed are from the standard-length exam barrels.
At The Range
For this article, I tested Hornady Frontier five.56 NATO loadings with the 55-grain FMJ, 62-grain FMJ and 68-grain BTHP Match. I fired five, v-shot groups at 100 yards with each load through a Windham Weaponry xvi-inch M4-style carbine and a 4X optic. All loads functioned flawlessly and had ejection patterns that were consistent. All spent cases dropped within a small area. The 55-grain FMJ load did non seem to like the fast 1-in-eight-inch barrel twist. I found the 62-grain FMJ and 68-grain BTHP match loads to exist reasonably accurate. They were significantly more accurate than what I have come up to expect from M855 and M193 ammo, and knockoffs, through my gun. The new Borderland line should have a load that volition satisfy near shooters needs in a low-cost round for just about any application and AR-15 configuration.
The Futurity
Every bit good as the Hornady Frontier line of ammo is, I would await for information technology to continue to expand and include new bullet weights in each caliber. For those of united states who are vii.62 fans, wouldn't information technology be nice to have a a .308 Win. load that was of higher quality and produced better accuracy than the M80 Ball round? And maybe lucifer and hunting-manner offerings at very competitive prices?
Hornady has done an excellent job of honoring the roots of the Hornady armament product line with the reintroduction of the Frontier brand. This new Frontier ammo carries on the brand's legacy of high-quality, trouble-gratis functioning, and expert accurateness at a very attractive cost. You'll have a hard time finding a depression-price line of ammo with every bit many offerings and of better quality than Hornady's Frontier.
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Source: https://www.gunsandammo.com/editorial/hornady-frontier-ammo-review/369187
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