PMC ammo and surplus (or, how to be cheap)

Status
Not open for further replies.
I've shot a lot of PMC ammo.

Matter of fact, if I don't buy Eley, RWS, or Federal Gold Medal Match rimfire, I buy PMC Scoremaster for my target .22's. It's that good.

Now, the PMC 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser ammo, that's another story. Two boxes I had were loaded hot. Way too hot, as in flattened primers, big stretch rings, hard bolt lift, and a noticeable harsh recoil, which is something one doesn't normally expect from a 6.5x55 M96 Swede. The paper clip stretch ring feeler found the ring in all the rounds fired, so there was no way I was going to reload them. The unfired rounds and brass went back to PMC, and they sent me a free exchange, with a different lot number. Remington, Winchester, Norma, and Hansen 6.5x55 never gave this problem, so I handed the replacement PMC fodder off to somebody with a gas-operated AG-42B Ljungman. Hopefully, they changed their pressures...
 
Now, the PMC 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser ammo, that's another story. Two boxes I had were loaded hot.
Click to expand...

Do you by any chance have the lot #s? I've got some old 6.5x55mm PMC that came to the surface this weekend and if it looks like a problem, I'll pull the bullets and recharge with a known safe load.
 
No problems here.I've used it in .38 sp,.357mag,& .41 mag.


Funny,I thought that PMC originally stood for Pusan(sp?) Metallic Cartridge Co.?
 
I had the same experience with PMC 6.5x55 that I bought a couple of years ago, sticking bolt, flattened primers. Had two boxes of the stuff, ened up pulling it down and reloading it.
 
I bought 6 1k round cases of PMC .45ACP from the distributor about a year ago. There was a delay because the ammo was made in S. Korea and there was SARS, some import issue, or something or other, but the fact it was made in SK stuck in my mind. They have factories in several countries, IIRC.

Personally, I've found PMC to be well worth the money. It is at a good price point, I've never had any functionality issues with it, and the brass is among the most reloadable around. I'm not sure what else you can ask for.
 
I've fired quite a bit of their .357 magnum through my Marlin 1894C and Taurus 66S revolver. Never had a bit of trouble out of it and it was quite accurate. Good cheap range ammo.
 
Funny,I thought that PMC originally stood for Pusan(sp?) Metallic Cartridge Co.?
Click to expand...

I used to have some boxes that said that but they are long gone now. PMC use to have trouble in 45acp because of the OAL being long. With the name change to Precision.... they seemed to have fixed it. Other than that I have shot a lot of it and was not unhappy with it but I now reload my pistol stuff.
 
PMC has a great price point, and the compact packaging allows one to stuff more boxes into each ammo can.

That said, several years ago I had the oddest experience with some PMC in .380:

I had quite a bit of .380 ammo inventory on hand, and my .380 pistol was not and is not used very often. Thus, it took quite some time to deplete my stash. I remember shooting a slew of it in the summer months*, and both the ammunition and the pistol functioned without complaint.

The .380 pistol wasn't used again until the dead of winter, when the ambient temperature did not exceed ~ 35 degrees F. At that time, during slide cycling, fully 50% of the cases would get wedged in the chamber. I was thus contending with ridiculously high failure to eject percentages.

To this day, I cannot explain why the aforementioned occurred. It has not occured with any other firearm or calibre or brand of ammunition that I've used on a particular winter's day.

I still have three boxes of the original, offending PMC .380 ammo on hand. The pistol, admittedly an entry-level product, was retired when the Glock bug bit me.

TM

*All shooting occurred out of doors.
 
I've used lots of PMC .45 ACPs, 9x19s and quite a few .357s over the years. I've found it to be extremely reliable, at least as accurate as any other "generic" ball, and the cases stand up very well to repeated reloding.

A couple of my .45s actually prefer it functionally to a couple of other brands. My guess is that it's loaded closer to true Mil-Spec based on subjective criteria such as perceived recoil and POI relative to POA with my fixed sights. So far it's been very consistent from lot-to-lot, FWIW.

PMC .45 ball ties with Federal American Eagle as Most Accurate Generic from my S&W 625, and I can normally get the PMC for substantially less.

Good stuff, IMHO.
 
I was asking specifically about the 6.5x55 problem. I've shot a lot of PMC ammo with mostly good results. Got a case of 9x19 a few years ago that must have been undercharged (beats the alternative). The 130 gr hardball .38 Special is a great load in many of my revolvers - very accurate, pleasant to shoot, cheap.
 
Poongsan Metal Corporation? They use equipment purchased or donated (can't remember which) from our government to manufacture ammo. All PMC ammo made in Korea is manufactured to US gov. specs. I have heard that PMC 5.56mm is considered the same as M193 and since it is made in a foreign country on US equipment it is somehow illegal to import. Good stuff.
 
My 2 cents worth...

I bought a Remington 788 carbine in .243. I sat down to shoot some test groups to see what it could do, and which load I should use in it.

My first shots were with PMC ammo, a 5/8" group. The best group I've ever shot in my life. I couldn't believe it from a short bbl rifle. I said to myself - "My job here is done..."

This gun, this load - PMC is super. Dat's all I know.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

T
  • Locked
  • Poll
Cheap surplus ammo & reloading
Replies
8
Views
1K
Monte Harrison
M
D
  • Locked
Surplus Ammo, any good websites?
Replies
2
Views
392
1coolchick
1
T
  • Locked
PMC ammo is not American made.
2
Replies
34
Views
8K
Yosemite Sam
Y
4
  • Locked
Is it Ok to USe Military Surplus Ammo for my DPMS LR-308 and DPMS 5.56
Replies
6
Views
2K
Speedo66
Speedo66
B
  • Locked
Most accurate 5.56 and 7.62 (308) surplus ammo
Replies
23
Views
2K
BeltfedMG
B
Back
Top