Description

HORNADY FRONTIER 5.56 info

 

HORNADY FRONTIER 5.56 Frontier® Cartridge features Hornady bullets and is available in 223 Rem, 5.56 NATO, 300 Blackout, and 6.5 Grendel. Applications range from plinking, target shooting, and hunting to law enforcement training and self-defense.

FEATURES of the HORNADY FRONTIER

CONSISTENCY IN EVERY CARTRIDGE

State-of-the-industry loading techniques and quality control procedures ensure the reliability of every Frontier® Cartridge round.

ROUNDS FOR ALL APPLICATIONS

Frontier® Cartridge offers ammunition configured for a wide range of shooters and applications, everything from plinking, target shooting, and hunting to law enforcement training and self-defense.

BRASS CASES

In addition to Hornady® target-friendly, non-steel core bullets in a variety of offerings, Frontier® Cartridge features brass cartridge cases and military-grade boxer primers and propellant.

Hornady Frontier is sold at a competitive price point, but does this mean it’s the best choice for you and your beloved rifle?

In this ammo review, we will take a look at Hornady Frontier 5.56 ammo and help you decide if taking the plunge on a 500-round box of Hornady Frontier ammunition is a good investment for all your shooting needs.

If you’re ready to buy, check out this Hornady Frontier ammo; otherwise, keep reading!

Hornady Frontier Ammo Overview

Rereleased in 2018, the Hornady Frontier line of ammo was developed to compete with brands like Federal American Eagle, Winchester USA, and Remington UMC to provide shooters with low-cost ammo to feed their semi-automatic rifles.

However, the Hornady Frontier brand of ammo is much older than it looks, as it was the company’s first brand of loaded ammunition and was initially released in 1964. Since its founding in 1949, Hornady Bullets has established itself in the shooting community, providing high-quality Hornady bullets to hand loaders and hunters.

Frontier Ammo was the brainchild of Joyce Hornady, the company’s founder. At the time, Joyce Hornady theorized that shooters would appreciate factory cartridges loaded with Hornady bullets. It was a gamble, as Hornady faced tough competition from Federal, Winchester, and Remington. However, it was a bet that they won.

Hornady Frontier was initially released in 30 Carbine, 30-06 Springfield, and 308 Winchester to meet the needs of shooters using older WWII and Korean War surplus rifles.

The Frontier brand slowly grew and added more cartridges to its arsenal, including 243 Win, 22-250 Rem, 38 Special, 9mm Luger, and 7mm Remington Magnum. However, as the company grew into an ammunition manufacturer, newer brands of ammo were released, like Precision Hunter, Hornady Match, Superformance, Custom, Black, Varmint Express, LEVERevolution, and Critical Defense.

These newer brands of ammo all but made the original Frontier line obsolete. So, in 2009, the Hornady Frontier ammo was discontinued except for specific Cowboy Action shooting calibers until 2018, when it was resurrected.

One thing Hornady came to understand was that their ammo filled niche sections of the market. Business was good, but they did not have a brand of ammo that filled the needs of everyday shooters who just wanted to do some plinking or target shooting and not spend a ton of money on ammo.

Hornady wanted a piece of the action in the low-cost/high-volume part of the market, and the Frontier line was selected to fill this role.

Hornady partnered with the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant to utilize their excess production for Frontier Ammunition. Hornady was also able to source military-grade rifle propellants for their new production loads through Lake City, allowing them to manufacture their Frontier cartridges with the same gunpowder used by the U.S. military, loaded in mil-spec brass cases, and topped with Hornady bullets.

The Lake City ammo plant is capable of producing millions of rounds per day, allowing Hornady to offer American shooters excellent rifle ammo at an affordable price point. Hornady Frontier is currently available in 223 Remington, 5.56x45mm NATO, 6.5 Grendel, and 300 Blackout.

Our Hornady Frontier Review

If you’ve read any of my other Hornady reviews, you’ll probably remember that I’m a big fan of the company. Hornady bullets always fly true for my hand loads, and their ammo has always been reliable and accurate for me.

However, there is an elephant in the room that we need to discuss because Hornady Frontier 5.56 ammo got off to a bit of a rocky start.

If you dig a little on the interwebs, you’ll rather easily find stories of shooters reporting that Hornady Frontier 5.56 ammo damaging their rifles. If you dig into it a bit deeper, you’ll note that most of these reports happened around 2018 when Frontier ammo was re-launched.

This sullied the brand’s reputation a bit, as Hornady ammo has always been reliable and safe, in my experience. After 2018, these reports seem to have all but disappeared, leaving us to believe that Hornady had resolved whatever manufacturing issues allowed these over-charged rounds to make it off the factory floor.

From the rounds I’ve run through my AR-15, I’ve not had any issues or concerns about over-charged rounds. They’ve functioned flawlessly, just like I’ve come to expect from Hornady Ammunition. I like how Hornady offers multiple packaging sizes for their Frontier ammo to fit any budget or stockpiling needs.

Furthermore, their heavier 68gr and 75gr match-grade bullets are great for long-range shooting and competition. However, these won’t cost you as much as traditional match ammo, so it’s a great option for some long-distance plinking or if you simply don’t have time (or reloading components) to prepare for a match.

In summary, although the Hornady Frontier brand got off to a rocky start in 2018, the company seems to have rectified any production issues and is now putting out safe, reliable ammo for the everyday shooter. I’d have no problem heading to the range with a couple of boxes anytime.