Defender Ammunition's 77gr SMK Feedback

[M8541Reaper]

Just wanted to give a shout out to Defender Ammunition for their awesome customer service, pricing, and shipping. I picked up 300rds of their 5.56 77gr SMK ammo the other month and have been running through my LMT SLK8 (16" SS 1:7.5). Holy shit this stuff shoots better than I ever could have expected and way better than what the reviews on their brag about. Accuracy has been consistently between .5 and 1 MOA at 100YDS and running it out to 600 (all I have available within 30 mins of me) has been (also consistently) boring lol.

I reached out them on their site's "live chat/ask us a question" feature, asking if they had 300rds available in the same lot. Had a response within a few minutes confirming that they had 11 boxes of the same lot. So I snagged 300rds and couldn't be happier.

I have no affiliation with Defender but I wish I had known about them when I was in the Fayetteville area. If you run a 556 system, go give their 77gr a try.

If y'all are in here and read this, thanks for making a great product!

 

[bfk4lyfe]

I bought two boxes years ago, I ran through the first box and remember it was accurate (no data on hand but seems to me the results were similar to yours), just slow. The Defender averaged 2588 fps over 10 shots versus 2771 average for IMI with same accuracy in the same rifle, a 16" 1:8 BCM.

 

[DownhillFromHere]

I'll heartily second the OP's experience with Defender's customer service and the accuracy of their 69gr .223, 77gr 5.56, and 142gr 6.5CM. My Tikka T3X Varmint (in MDT chassis) consistently shoots the 69- and 77-grain rounds into 1/2" at 100 yards, and 1/2MOA groups out to 300 are common.

Velocities tend to the slow end of the spectrum - pretty common for factory rounds. My observations:

• 5.56 / 77gr SMK, 16" bbl, Barnes AR: 2550fps@70 degrees
• 5.56 / 77gr SMK, 24" bbl, Tikka T3X Varmint: 2745fps@70 degrees
• .223 / 69gr SMK, 24" bbl, Tikka T3X Varmint: 2741fps@70 degrees
• 6.5CM / 142gr SMK, 24"bbl, Tikka T3X TAC A1: 2632fps@70 degrees (Tikka 6.5 bbls on records as consistently 100 +/- fps slower than other makers' barrels)

I've met, and shot with, several of the Defender crew. Good people.