Best combat 5.56 ammo

[Azbuilder]

I have a good friend and former team member from my time over seas. He is currently working in a West African country. While emailing mehim today, he mentioned that they just had their very old Portuguese / British Fal's replaced with French marked HK416's. Weird? Anyway the provided ammo is Danish M855 old style. Both of us were never impressed by this round for general use . While he can't control what they use in weapons; due to a new non shooting educated logistics guy, he can request in about anything he wants for his site for ammo. No Geneva or US Military restrictions !
I know my suggestions.
OK this gave me the idea to throw this out for comment ! Here goes

Oh, area of operation is mostly Urban mud to light fired brick or cinder block, automobile as well as marine operations small to large vessels. Outdoor light to medium tropical to savanna. Over penetration is normally a non issue. Stopping power is vital due to the use of Khat, crack and chinese meth/ captagon.

[338lapua]

I like the Sierra 77 with canalure as it splits in half(usually) on impact and gives you longer range. MK262 is the ammo. I also like ballistic tips as I have seen the internal damage they do.

[harleypower69]

A retired Teams friend also recommends the 77 gr.

[Harrier]

Probably using up stocks of old SS109 they got cheap...
As long as the GC isn't a problem I would get some of the above Mk262-77's to try out on typical targets and their reliability with the Hk416.

Another possibility is the Mk318 62gr aka Remington Trophy Bonded Bear Claw. Being 62gr it might have a similar trajectory/POI as the SS109 that might be an issue when mixing 77gr between weapons.

The V-Max is also a great bullet but sticking with something that already has a military designation would be easier to get thru the various approval channels. The back-channel is sensitive to political and media fallout and everyone wants to CYA.

[Viper 1-26 INF]

Mk262 Mod 1 is a great round and one I keep a good stock of. Mk318 Mod 0 is also very good for CQB/MOUT. I've also had good results with the 75gr Gold Dots and Hornady 75gr TAP SBR (still works well in 14.5" barrels). I also like the Lehigh Defense 62gr High Velocity Controlled Chaos. Overall, the Mk262 Mod 1 is the most versatile of the group (works well in long or short barrels, accurate, effective out to about 700 meters in an 18" barrel) and the one I would pick if heading into combat.

[338lapua]

A retired Teams friend also recommends the 77 gr.

Wish I could remember where it happened but in Iraq, I believe around Fallujah there were a few guys guarding a facility when they were attacked by I think over 100 guys. They not only held them off but were investigated by the FBI due to the number of head shots made up to 700 yards from a Crane built MK12 with a 18" barrel made by I believe Gene Barnett. I believe a couple guys killed over 100 attackers with a high percentage of head shots. Think it was about 120 kills.

I have a few of those uppers with that barrel and it is possible to do headshots past 700 with the MK262 round. I loaded myself up about 50K of them a few years back and I also have some of the actual boxed MK262 ammo as well. Mine I get about 125fps more than the Black Hills.

Still I like the Nosler bullets as I have seen the damage in hogs. 70 grain Accubond tears stuff up.

[Suck My Glock]

I can't claim to have experience with all the heavy 75 grn and 77 grn ammo that is so popular now, but I do with the various Nosler BTs mentioned by Mr. Lapua, and he is right to reccomend it. In recent years, Nosler finally developed a 60 grn BT to more approximately duplicate loading the same velocity and point of impact profiles as M855. To me, it gives the right ratio between explosive expansion in tissue and having enough mass to retain some weight for penetration. To this end, it works very well at reduced velocities from short barrels or extended ranges from standard ones.