556 is more powerful.. 545 bullet upsets better.. tends to kill better in some circles.. B2B

 

+ 1, everything ive read points to that as being true. 5.56 also has better penetration, especially on hardened targets.

 

Heard 5.56 was better. Larry Vickers says otherwise.

 

5.45 better in soft tissue, it yaws more readily. It was designed because the russians were impressed with the 55 gr 5.56 leathality in nam, or thats how the story goes.

 

ahh this question always pops up in every forum. My personal opinion is that 5.45 is better then 5.56. The reason why i believe this the 556 tends to break up on inpact wich is good, if you have the muzzle velocity behind the round. 545 does not tend to break up its more likey to tumble and create unpredicatable wound cavities. 556 was desighned to be shot out of a 20 inch barrel and most service barrels are much shorter then that. 545 was desighned to shoot out of 16 inch barrels. Suposedly the 556 is slightly higher velocity but there are alot of people who say that claim is false. 556 looses energy and can loose its ability to shatter or break upon impact generally 100 meters or less its more lethal then 545. 545 does not rely on that concept and tends to be slightly more energy at longer ranges then a 556 rd. Also 545 the round its self is more tapered and desighned to feed better then the 556. 545 and 556 cost, this goes to 545 and 11 to 15 cents a round, im not sure what 556 runs for. Now there are aftermarket ammo that changes some of these factors just comparing ball ammo in each caliber. Hornaby makes some really devestating and acurate 5.45, also i would give acuracy to the 556 round in ball, and weapons platforms, but have also seen some very acurate rifles chambered in 5.45, this discussion is almost like the FAL vs the M14 in some ways.

 

If anything it's cheaper to practice with 5.45 and practice makes effectiveness.

 

I would go to kvar and buy one of there ak74 style rifles and go from there. You will have a very reliable and acurate platform that you can aford to shoot. Mags are cheap too 8 to about 25 a mag 25 rounds mags are the lightest and very tough. Russian optics redots etc are alot better and are more robust then most american optics costing 2 3 times as much Gabe Suarez teaches the ak as a combat rifle look him up. Or take your ak74 to an apple seed shoot and get really good for cheap thats the best advise i got for you.

 

other option.

I would go to kvar and buy one of there ak74 style rifles and go from there. You will have a very reliable and acurate platform that you can aford to shoot.

Why not save a little $ & buy yourself a Bulgarian Arsenal in 5.56mm? It might cost a little bit more for the ammo, but it will eat the wolf & brown/silver bear without any complaint. Also the extremely cheap 5.45 ammo tends to be corrosive, which is something I don't like shooting through my weapons. The other reason I would opt for a 5.56mm is that the round is found almost everywhere in the USA. It seems to be a lot more common then 5.45 in my neck of the woods. I've shot both rounds & personally prefer the 5.56x45mm. Just a thought.

 

Love my Bulgy AK74 in 5.45X39 for plinking!

 

http://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=19885

Good info from Dr. Gary Roberts

 

No question the 5.56 is the better round. It has more case volume, which invariably leads to more horsepower. It also has an infinitely greater bullet selection than the pathetic 3 pills offered for 5.45. It's also reloadable, and 99.9% of 5.45 is not.

With all that said, I'm a 5.45 man. All those factors don't add up to a 3x increase in price, at least not in my book. My first foray into 5.45 was with AKs, but now I have a couple of S&W AR uppers in 5.45. The accuracy w/7n6 is actually better than M193 through my RRA, and did I mention it's 1/3 the price?GI1

I'm digging the Hornady vmax load, although I haven't flesh tested it on anything yet. It's slightly less accurate in my tubes than the 7n6, but who has time to stop and clean corrosive after you pop a shot at a coyote?

If a guy has a pile of ammo and mags set up for 5.56, then he may not want to make the switch, but if you're starting at ground zero and are able to stock up on ammo, I think the 5.45 deserves a serious look.

BTW, in the real world, I don't think anything hit will be able to tell the difference in M193 and 7n6. Sort of a 30 cal/7.62MM/7.62x54R thing.

 

I cut my teeth on the AR way back when. The AK74 round is wicked but give me a 62 grainer. For me the accuracy is where it's at. As stated the 5.56 was designed for 20" and the 5.45 was for 16". Don't get me wrong, I've got a Tantal that'll do great out to 300, but my AR is a 600 yd. rifle.

 

Polish Tantal vs Canadian C7



When stationed in the Golan Heights with the Canadian Military Engineers in 1999, we challenged the Polish Mountain Troops to a shoot off. We shot a course of fire at 100m then 200m with our Elcan scope mounted C7's while the Poles fired their iron sighted Tantals. Then we swapped weapons and fired the the same course with the other's rifles. Have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised by the accuracy of the Tantal, which I was expecting to be significantly less accurate than our C7's which I had fired several times with iron sights. I thought the cheaper manufacturing and shorter site radius would be the difference, especially at 200m. The Tantal held it's own, all things considered. We tried to borrow an IDF Galil for comparison, but unfortunately, it wasn't allowed. Would have been interesting to compare the 5.45 vs 5.56 on the two similar rifles.

Derek.