OK here is my delimma (so to speak)...

I am mid testing of my AR because for some reason I just like to know how good it can get, to know my weapon, and what (if anything) my barrel prefers. Knowing your ammo is a really big deal if you are shooting precision, but for other things maybe not as much, but it's nice to have consistency I guess.

I have boxes of different ammo. 55gr, 62gr, 64gr, and 69gr. Some of the stuff is .223 and others is 5.56.

There is a method to my madness so to speak because once I settle on a grain weight I will buy a couple cases of 1000 to have around the house. It seems like 55gr is the most popular, but I don't know why this is. Maybe it's just cheaper to make.

Obviously I have more than one kind of shooting I do. I have my plinking around stuff which could be almost anything, but so far I am drawn more to 62 gr. My initial first round of tests showed that to do good, it's plentiful, and not too expensive.

For my accuracy stuff and for those days when I just want to see if I can make the holes touch, I can either buy some match grade or get the stuff to make my own...either case isn't a problem. But general use I want to shoot something decent that isn't over priced.

I am pretty much leaning towards stocking up on some 62gr but I am not sure if I am just over thinking this or not. Once I decide for sure I need to figure out which 62 (brand etc).

So here's a poll for everyone:

Do you shoot just whatever you can find or do you more 'hand pick' what you like?

For bonus points: Am I over thinking this whole ammo thing?

Does anyone keep a mag around the house for SD? If so what's your preference for that?

Does anyone use the steel tip penetrator rounds for general shooting? (I am shying away from these in any large amount for a number of reasons but I would like to hear opinions). What about cheap steel cases? Also what about those nickel cases? Personally I won't let steel cases touch my AR and I tend to like brass better.

Case and point, for different applications on an AR platform (extreme accuracy, everyday plinking, self defense, etc) does anyone have a preference for one thing over another, if so what are they?

As of right now I am leaning to .62 gr because of the mix of price and performance (so far). But I have yet to determine which 62's I will stock up on. A nice balance between good price and good performance would be ideal.