New players obsess over which gun to buy. Experienced players know the truth: the round in the magazine decides the fight. A cheap pistol loaded with the right ammo will drop a fully armored PMC, while a meta rifle firing the wrong rounds will bounce off a chest rig and get you killed. Ammo is the single most important stat in Tarkov, and it is the one most people get wrong.

This guide is the full version. Start with how the stats actually work, then the master chart, then a caliber-by-caliber breakdown from budget to best, armor classes explained, and what to run in different situations. Ammo gets rebalanced with patches, so the values here are a current snapshot; the picks themselves are stable.

How to read Tarkov ammo stats

Every round has a row of numbers. These are the ones that decide fights:

• Penetration: how well the round defeats armor. Armor is rated in classes (roughly 2 to 6, 6 being heaviest). Rough rule: a pen value in the 40s reliably beats class 4 and chips class 5, the 50s handle class 5 and start cracking class 6, and 60 or higher goes through class 6. If your pen is below the class you are shooting, your rounds barely hurt the target.
• Flesh damage: how much health a round removes once it is past armor, or on an unarmored limb or the head. High-damage, low-pen rounds shred the unarmored; high-pen rounds punch through but often hit for less.
• Fragmentation chance: the chance a round splinters for bonus damage. High frag is brutal against flesh, but fragmentation does not happen when a round passes through armor, and not when the target is already low, so it matters most for lightly armored fights.
• Recoil and velocity: some rounds add recoil or change bullet speed. Higher velocity means less lead on long shots. These are tiebreakers, not the main decision.
• Ricochet: a few low-pen rounds (notably shotgun pellets) can bounce off helmets and sloped armor instead of landing. Another reason pen matters even for headshots.

The whole skill of ammo choice is matching penetration and damage to who you expect to fight. Aiming for the head sidesteps most of it, which is why a headshot with almost any round is lethal.

Your gun gets you to the fight. Your ammo decides whether you win it.

The first rule every Tarkov veteran learns

The master Tarkov ammo chart

The top penetrating rounds for every common caliber, with penetration and flesh damage. Use this as the quick reference, then read the caliber breakdown below for the budget and value picks.

Caliber	Top round	Penetration	Flesh damage
5.56x45	SSA AP	57	38
5.45x39	PPBS "Igolnik"	62	37
7.62x39	MAI AP	58	53
7.62x51	M993	65	70
7.62x54R	BS	70	72
9x39	BP	54	58
.338 Lapua	AP	79	115
4.6x30	AP SX	53	35
.300 Blackout	AP	48	51
5.7x28	SS190	37	49
9x19	PBP	39	44
.45 ACP	ACP AP	38	66
.366 TKM	AP	42	90
12 Gauge (slug)	AP-20 slug	37	164
12 Gauge (shot)	Flechette	31	200 (8 pellets)

Penetration and flesh damage current as of October 2026, cross-referenced with the live chart at eft-ammo.com. Ammo is rebalanced with patches, so confirm the live values before a high-value raid.

Rifle calibers, budget to best

Where most of your raids are won. For each caliber: the top pick, the value pick, and the budget option.

5.56x45 (M4, HK416, SCAR-L, ADAR). The all-rounder caliber. SSA AP (57 pen) is the top armor round; M995 (53 pen) is the classic high-pen pick with better flesh. The value sweet spot is M855A1 (44 pen, 49 dmg, high frag), which handles class 4 and shreds lightly armored targets. Budget: M855 (31 pen) for early game and Scav fights.

5.45x39 (AK-74 family, RD-704). Cheap to run and very effective. PPBS "Igolnik" (62 pen) leads on armor but has almost no fragmentation, so it is pure penetration. For most players BS (54 pen, 45 dmg) is the better all-round round. Value: BP (45 pen) handles class 4 cheaply. Budget: PP or BT for early game.

7.62x39 (AK-47, AKM, SKS). Hits hard. MAI AP (58 pen) is the armor king; BP (47 pen, 58 dmg) is one of the best value rounds in the game, beating class 4 while hitting like a truck. Budget: PS (35 pen) is dirt cheap and still deletes the unarmored.

7.62x51 (M1A, RFB, SR-25, DVL). Big damage, high pen. M993 (65 pen) for the heaviest armor; M80A1 (55 pen, 75 dmg) is the superb all-rounder; Ball 11 Long Range (63 pen, 95 dmg) pairs high pen with huge flesh damage. Budget: M80 (43 pen, 80 dmg) is cheap and brutal against lighter armor.

7.62x54R (SVD, Mosin, SV-98). The sniper caliber, and it carries class-6-cracking pen. BS (70 pen) tops it, with SNB (62 pen) close behind. Value: BT (55 pen). Budget: PS (45 pen, 84 dmg) is cheap and one-taps most chests to the thorax.

9x39 (VSS, AS VAL, SR-3M). Subsonic and quiet, with excellent CQB stats. BP (54 pen) is now the top round, then SP-6 (48 pen). Value: PAB-9 (43 pen). Budget flesh: SP-5 (28 pen, 71 dmg) for unarmored work.

Shotguns and pistol calibers

12 Gauge splits in two. For armor you need AP-20 slugs (37 pen, 164 dmg) or Flechette (31 pen), the only shot that penetrates. Against the unarmored, buckshot is devastating (300 to 400 damage per shell) but near-zero pen, so it bounces off helmets and plates. Carry slugs or flechette if you expect armor; buckshot only for Scav hunting.

9x19 (MP5, MPX, pistols): PBP (39 pen) and AP 6.3 (30 pen) make SMGs viable against class 4. 5.7x28 (Five-seveN, P90): SS190 (37 pen) is the go-to. 4.6x30 (MP7): AP SX (53 pen) is shockingly strong for a PDW, cracking class 5. .45 ACP (UMP, 1911): ACP AP (38 pen, 66 dmg). .366 TKM (budget VPO): AP (42 pen, 90 dmg) is a cheap armor-and-damage option for new players.

Armor classes, and why pen is everything

Tarkov armor runs from class 2 (soft early vests) up to class 6 (the heaviest plates). Roughly: class 3-4 is the common mid-tier rig, class 5 is well-geared, and class 6 is the end-game plate on a kitted player. Two extra wrinkles matter:

• Durability. Armor degrades as it takes hits. A battered class 6 plate stops rounds like a lower class, so a target late in a fight is easier to pen than a fresh one.
• Blunt damage. Even when a round fails to penetrate, a fraction of the damage bleeds through as blunt trauma. Spraying a high-damage round into armor still chips health, just slowly. It is not a plan, but it is why volume of fire is not useless.

The takeaway: match your pen to the armor you expect. Overbringing max-pen ammo into Scav-heavy raids wastes money; underbringing it into a geared lobby gets you killed.

Best ammo by situation

• Early game and Scav runs: high-damage, low-pen rounds. Cheap, flea-friendly, and lethal against the unarmored majority. Think PS, M855, buckshot.
• Standard raids: the value tier. Rounds that beat class 4 and chip class 5 (M855A1, BP, BS) cover most of what you meet without draining the stash.
• Geared lobbies, Labs, late raid: the top-pen rounds in the chart. Everyone is in class 5 and 6, so penetration is the only thing that matters.
• When you do not know: carry two. A penetrating primary magazine and a high-damage backup, swapped based on who you run into.

The quick answer: best ammo to buy right now

If you just want the shortlist, these are the rounds to keep stocked:

• 5.56: M995 or M855A1
• 5.45: BS
• 7.62x39: BP
• 7.62x51: M80A1 or M993
• 7.62x54R: BS or PS (budget)
• 9x39: BP
• Shotgun: AP-20 slugs
• 9x19: PBP

Get those in your stash and you are correctly armed for the vast majority of fights without overspending.

Knowing the enemy's armor before you fire

Every choice above assumes you know what the other player is wearing. Usually you do not, which is why ammo choice is a gamble. This is where Escape from Tarkov ESP changes the maths: player ESP can surface an enemy's gear and health before the fight starts, so you know whether your rounds punch through their class 6 plate or whether you need to go for the head. Instead of guessing which ammo to bring, you fight knowing exactly what is in front of you. For a game decided by the round in your magazine, that is the biggest edge there is.