Early this year, the US Army released guidance curtailing the use of M855A1 and M80A1 enhanced performance ammunition in live fire shoot houses until further notice due to over penetration of ballistic backer materials in the structures.
R 061517Z JAN 15
FM ALARACT RELEASE AUTHORITY WASHINGTON DC
TO ALARACT
BT
UNCLAS
SUBJ/URGENT ALARACT 004/2014 – STOP USE OF M855A1 AND M80A1 EPR AMMUNITION FOR TRAINING IN LIVE FIRE SHOOT HOUSES (LFSH) UNTIL TESTING IS COMPLETED
THIS URGENT ALARACT MESSAGE HAS BEEN TRANSMITTED BY USAITA ON BEHALF OF HQDA ASO//DACS-FS//
1. (U) BACKGROUND. THE EPR 5.56MM M855A1 AND 7.62MM M80A1 ROUNDS BOTH HAVE INCREASED VELOCITY AND IMPROVED PENETRATION CAPABLIITIES OVER CURRENT STANDARD AMMUNITION (5.56 M855 AND 7.62MM M80). THERE ARE SAFETY RELATED CONCERNS THAT THESE NEW ROUNDS MAY POSSIBLY PENETRATE THE EXISTING MATERIALS THAT ARE USED IN CONSTRUCTION OF LFSH (SHOCK ABSORBENT CONCRETE, WALLS FILLED WITH PEA GRAVEL OR SAND, AND 3/8 INCH AND 1/2 INCH AR 500 STEEL).
2. (U) TESTING IS ONGOING TO IDENTIFY WHICH LFSH CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS WILL CONTAIN PROJECTILES. THE M855A1 AND M80A1 EPR AMMUNITION SHOULD NOT BE USED DURING TRAINING IN ANY LFSH UNTIL TESTING OF CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS IS COMPLETED AND ANALYZED.
3. (U) HQDA G-3/5/7 HAS AUTHORIZED THE FOLLOWING AMMUNITION FOR USE IN LFSH: LIVE BALL-M855, M80; SHORT RANGE TRAINING AMMUNITION (SRTA)-5.56MM M1037 BALL, M862 PLASTIC AND 7.62MM M973/M974 LINKED 4
BALL/1 TRACER; AND CLOSE COMBAT MISSION CAPABILITY KIT (CCMCK) FORCE-ON-FORCE LOW VELOCITY MARKING AMMUNITION.
4. (U) POC: Redacted by me.
5. (U) EXPIRATION DATE IS 22 APRIL 2015.
Whoops, we forgot to test the new shit in LFSH areas prior to release…
The real reason why the government doesn’t want anyone (even themselves) using the M855A1 round:
http://bearingarms.com/army-owes-liberty-ammunition-millions-bullet-patent-infringement-case/
Amazingly, we covered this very subject before them.
https://ssdaily.tempurl.host/2015/01/11/liberty-ammunition-wins-case-against-us-army-for-patent-infringement/
Thanks for the link! I searched SSD for similar content before I posted my link, but didn’t see it. Very interesting stuff.
But hey it’s green and non-toxic, Yo!
Who is getting this stuff for traning? I thought most of it was going to support OIF.
Well, OIF isn’t a thing any more.
Also we can’t shoot this ammo on our indoor range as of last week.
Rick
Just so you know, the military operation known as OIF ended in FEB 2010. And sadly, there wasn’t much shooting during OND.
There’s a certain value in knowing how your ammo will behave ballistically. Because train as you fight.
But using primo stuff in shoot houses is a matter of circumstance more than choice, as stuff like ‘193 and ‘255 gets scarce.
This ammo is being issued to everyone for training allocations. When FY15 began we weren’t even allocated A059 (5.56 Ball). But this AIN changed all that, but we still use the M855A1 for qual ranges.
The ammo is shit. Screw the dman “rules” and use some normal fragmenting ammo that actually kills people when shot. I will say it again, this ammo is horse $#!+
Heh.
Ironic considering the whole push for green ammo was because said shooting ranges were becoming contaminated. IMO the Army should’ve just made something like the Barnes MPG with a ballistic match to M855 for training purposes and adopt SOST with clean primers for duty ammo.