Reply #65: Yes but it isn't armor piercing.

[Statistical]

It is steel tipped lead core.

The steel tip isn't to penetrate armor.

The M855 is an OLD OLD OLD round (40 years+).

The reason for the steel is actually rather mundane.

The Army found that the combination of feeding mechanism on the M4/M16 series of rifles and the small 5.56mm round which has a long thin point was causing ammo to wear down.

Soldiers loading and unloading weapons were tearing up the round tips and the lead would end up in the receiver.

So the Army engineers found using a steel tip over lead core solved the problem.

The Army has used the M855 for everything since then, not just combat.
Target practice, drills, even rifle zeroing is done with the M855.

If you need AP capabilities you use the M955 round.

BTW: The M855 is one of only 2 rounds the BATFE has specifically named as "NOT ARMOR PIERCING" under Federal Law. They did it because of the amount of confusion caused by the law and number of calls/questions they had on this single round.

hundreds of thousands of surplus M855 is sold every year (well not recently due to Iraq).

Steel doesn't make a round AP.
HARDENED Steel penetration making up a substantial portion of the bullets weight is required to make a round stay intact when punching through armor plate.