A box of rifle ammunition carries two names. The cartridge, such as .223 or .308, tells you whether it fits your rifle. The maker tells you about the bullet, the quality control and often the intended job. A few makers' histories make the shelf much easier to read.
Three old names
Fiocchi is an Italian company that goes back to the 1870s and has long supplied target and training loads. Its .223 range is what you will find at fiocchi 223 ammo for sale.
Hornady began in 1949 as a bullet maker in Grand Island, Nebraska, and still sells bullets to handloaders as well as loaded cartridges. The .223 loads built on those bullets are grouped at hornady 223 ammo.
Federal dates to 1922. Its Power-Shok line is the traditional soft-point hunting load and its Gold Medal Match line a target standard. A 150-grain bullet is the classic deer weight in the .308, and that is the kind of load behind federal 308 150 grain ammo.
A bullet maker that loads ammunition
John Nosler designed his Partition bullet in the late 1940s and founded his company in 1948. A house built on premium bullets can afford to load an orphan like the .260 Remington, a .308 case necked to 6.5 millimeters in 1997, and the result is nosler 260 remington ammo.
Military names are specifications, not brands
M193 and M855 are not companies. They are U.S. military specifications that many makers load to. M193 means a 55-grain full-metal-jacket bullet at roughly 3,200 feet per second from a rifle-length barrel, and m193 ammunition is the page for that pattern. M855 is the 62-grain steel-core round whose tip is painted green, and m855 green tip 5.56x45 62 grain ammo covers it.
Brands can borrow that credibility. IMI stands for Israel Military Industries, the arms maker that long supplied the Israeli armed forces, and shoppers who look for imi 5.56 ammo are choosing a name with a military pedigree for the 5.56.
Two outliers
Winchester, founded in 1866, introduced the .405 Winchester in 1904 for its Model 1895 lever-action rifle. The cartridge has been loaded ever since with a 300-grain bullet, the weight named in 405 winchester 300 grain ammo.
The .222 Remington is the small-bore outlier. Remington, founded in 1816, brought it out in 1950, and owners of those rifles still look for 222 ammo for sale. Eastern European makers hold the 5.45x39 corner, and 5.45 ammo is the short form of its name seen on many shelves.
Makers change lines and discontinue loads from time to time. Read the bullet weight and type printed on the box rather than relying on the brand alone, and confirm current stock and state shipping rules before ordering.
