Day at the Range

This is my youngest daughter's last weekend in Texas 'til next year, so off to the range we went. Miss Roo got to choose what we were taking with us so we ended up with her .22 revolver, a Ruger Mark 1, the Erma Werke EM1, the AR-15 and the new Savage Scout rifle.

I'm thinking her favorite was the Scout. I hung my gong out at the 200 yard berm and she was ringing it left, right and sideways with .308 goodness. That was the biggest I've seen her smile this entire trip. Of course my camera was left sitting on the kitchen table.

We did find something very interesting this trip, cartridges that appear to be some kind of blank fire cartridge for an AR type rifle.

I threw an empty 5.56 case in for reference. As you can see, the cartridges have the capability to expand, the base slides in and out to a hard stop. The mouth of the case is is blocked off and there is a .22 cartridge that appears to have been used as the primer.

You can click on the images for a larger view.

I do not see an easy way to remove the spent .22 casings.

Seems to be an awful expensive way to run an AR with blanks, like maybe something the movie studios would do.

Update: Mystery solved.

The cartridges are a UTM (Ultimate Training Munitions) product. These are most likely the "Man Marker Round".

Man Marker Round: UTM MMR/5.56mm

The MMR (Man Marker Round) fires a composite 7.5 grain Aluminium jacketed bullet containing a marking wax which leaves a clear coloured mark on any surface it strikes. 5 standard colours are available.

The projectile is not required to break upon impact, which enables glancing blows on soft surfaces to be properly recorded. The cartridge system gives a fail safe impact energy of not more than 3.4 Joule (2ft/lbs.).

Typical accuracy: 125mm group at 25 meters dependent on the weapon (twist rate and barrel length).

Thanks to the guys at AR15.com for helping to solve this mystery.