Remington UMC Ammo?

[Ringer]

Dicks Sporting Goods has this stuff on sale. Was thinking of picking up a couple hundred rounds in .38 and .45 for range use. Been a while since I shot any of this, as I recall it shot OK but was a bit dirty. Anyone use this? How does it compare to the Win White Box?

Thanks

 

[Mike Irwin]

"I'm thinking of picking up..."

I wouldn't.

Rem-UMC is the most God awful filthy ammunition I've ever seen.

"How does it compare to Winchester White Box?"

Poorly. Very poorly. I simply won't use it in any of my guns.

 

[Preacherman]

I found it to be very dirty ammo, and the loading was inconsistent - when shot over a chronograph, 9mm. ball was showing a variation of over 100 fps in velocities. It's cheap practice ammo, but I think you can do better with Winchester White Box (if you want cases to reload) or CCI Blazer, which is often the cheapest when bought in bulk, and you don't have to worry about the brass.

 

[Ringer]

10-4, thanks guys I'll stay away from it. It stuck in my head it was dirty, but been a long time. Guess there is a reason I hadn't bought any for a while. Maybe I will try some of the Blazer for something different.

 

[foghornl]

Not a fan of UMC ammo, either. Try to find the USA brand Also Known As Winchester White Box. .45ACP 100-round value-packs are $19.97 + tax at Wally-World.

Last time I shot any .45ACP in the UMC brand, I decided the propellant was 2 parts used Kitty Litter, 1 part road tar, and 1 part "blackstrap molasses".

Don't like Blazer, but I prefer it over UMC.

Good stuff I have found (in My Humble Opnion) at reasonable prices:

Mag-tech
PMC (Precision Made Cartridges)
PMP Pretoria Metal Pressings (South African made, as I recall)
Sellier & Bellot (Czech made ammo)
American Eagle (Federal Cartridge made)

Other bad stuff:

American Ammuntion from Miamai, FL. Only ammo that failed to function in my KP-90 Ruger.

These are my experiences, Your Mileage Will Vary

 

[MJRW]

Generally agreed, but I still buy UMC .357 when I want an INexpensive round with a big muzzle flash and kick.

edited to make the adjective actually describe the relative cost of UMC .357

 

[warddc]

PMC trivia

<trivia mode on>

PMC is actually Eldorado Cartridge Company a subsidary Pan Metal Corporation based in Nevada.


http://www.pmcammo.com/pmc/faq.html#3

</trivia mode off>

 

[schadenfreude]

I have fired 1500 rounds of UMC in the last few weeks. I bought it because it is the cheapest ammo you can find in my city. I'm going to start getting the Win at wall mart if I can ever calm down enough to put up with that rat hole. I don't know about your neighborhood but around here......wallmart is GHETTO

Anyways.......the dirty factor didn't bother me as much, what bothered me was the HUGE felt difference in the power of the loads. I'll shoot 250 rds and some of the rounds would surprise the crap out of me. Really powerful sometimes and really weak others. It isn't consistent at all.

I would get some Winchester or I have had good results with Federal American Eagle.

 

[TonyB]

Ditto MJRW.....that 125gr stuff is like a cannon going off.........a crappy one,but a cannon....

 

[treeprof]

Ditto the filth factor. Stuff should be sold packaged with a bottle of Hoppes and a bore brush.

 

[Jim K]

Agree with all the above, BUT, that UMC ammo in 9P was the only stuff that functioned Lugers that wouldn't work with anything else. Strange.

Jim

 

[M58]

The UMC 10mm in nickle cases burns clean and leaves me with nice cases to reload...and they are easy to find on the ground...amoung the nasty brass .40s!

 

[Tropical Z]

I prefer CCI's blazer for inexpensive shooting but between UMC and WWB ive found WWB to be MUCH more inconsistent in its loadings.If my guns ever stovepipe on me its ALWAYS with WWB and ive never had UMC cause this malfunction.UMC is the more powerful of the two at least in my experience and their 130gr FMC is my favorite .38spl load by far.

 

[JoeWang]

To be fair I did just shoot 2 boxes of 4yo UMC 9mm 115 FMJ, 20 rds of which had been sitting in a magazine for 4yrs.

No problems at all, of course we were using a Ruger which had been sitting lonesome in its box for four years waiting to be fed.

 

[Dave R]

Yup. Winchester White Box is definitely better.

 

[schadenfreude]

ME= Happy camper

Went to the ghettomart oops I mean Walmart and sure enough, 100 rds of winchester for $10.96. Sounds like a deal to me. They only had 1 box left but said they get ammo shipments every day.

 

[Sarge111]

"Yeller-box" UMC .45 230 Ball...

is one of the most accurate renditions of that load that I've ever tried in my Sig 220; does 4-5" @ 50 yards with no problem.

Dirty? If you ever shot very much lead, your pespective on 'dirty' might be a tad different.

 

[Ky Larry]

Our local Dick's Sporting Goods had Ultramax ammo (remanufactured) at dirt cheap prices so I got several boxes of .38's. If you think Rem-UMC is dirty, you ain't seen nothing yet. This stuff turns my S&W 686 and my hands black. I've never seen anything like it.However it shoots very well and cleans up easy so I don't really mind.

I also shot 250 rounds of some Russian 9mm in my PCR today. It was made by Novosibirsk LVE-Plant PLC. It was fairly accurate and clean burning but the muzzle flash looked like a flame thrower!

 

[Kestrel]

warddc,

I thought PMC was a Korean (or, other asian) ammo company?

Steve

 

[Mike Irwin]

"Dirty? If you ever shot very much lead, your pespective on 'dirty' might be a tad different."

In my years of shooting I figure I've got somewhere between 100,000 and 125,000 rounds down range.

I'd say that upwards 80% of that has been lead, much of it my own reloads.

I've never run across anything as crappy filthy as Remington-UMC.

 

[Sarge111]

Okay Mike...

Are you actually telling me with a straight face that a gun fired with 100 rounds of UMC ball requires more cleaning than one that was fired with 100 rounds of lead-bullet reloads? I wasn't looking for an argument here, but I didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday, either- and while I won't pull a number outta my rear end, I figure in 30 years of handgunning, my numbers are up there pretty good with both lead and jacketed loads.

In fact, I bought case lots for department qualifications for years, and got a lot of feedback on the ammo we used. We were on a budget of course, so we bought a lot of what was cheap in both bullet styles. I figure I have a pretty good grasp of what they'll both do.

UMC ball is not the cleanest stuff I ever fired, but at least you don't have to scrub lead deposits outta the bore. For departmental use (or any high-volume application) I'd take it over lead ANY day.

It don't shoot too bad, either.

We may just have to disagree on this one. I reckon I can live with that if you can.

 

[Tropical Z]

Ive never noticed UMC being any dirtier than anything else but i clean all my guns after shooting them.WWB is NO DREAM ROUND-TRUST ME!!!

 

[mini14jac]

I buy .380 and .45 at Dick's for my Keltec P3AT, S&W 457, and Colt Defender.
It is dirty, but so is Winchester, Wolf, S&B, etc.
That's why I clean my guns.

If functions fine in my guns, and is a good value at Dick's sale prices.

 

[SteveS]

I picked up a case of 9 mm UMC at Dicks over the weekend. It was already 20% off the regular price and another 10% for buying a case. I have bought cases of it before in 9mm and .45 and agree that it is not the "cleanest" stuff, but I honestly couldn't tell the difference between it and WWB or CCI Blazer. S & B seemed more dirty. Despite this, all seemed to function fine and I usually just buy whatever is cheapest at the time.

 

[Mike Irwin]

"Are you actually telling me with a straight face that a gun fired with 100 rounds of UMC ball requires more cleaning than one that was fired with 100 rounds of lead-bullet reloads?"


In order to fall off the turnip truck, you've got to climb into it first, Sarge.

That's EXACTLY what I'm telling you.

The lead-bullet Rem-UMC ammo that I've fired has uniformly given me ENORMOUS leading problems -- the bullets are just too damned soft.

My lead bullet reloads, on the other hand, use QUALITY hard-cast, lubed bullets.

Since early 1999, I've put around 3,000 lead bullet reloads through my S&W Model 19 4", and haven't cleaned it yet. There's no lead in the bore, and while there's sooting, it's not nearly as bad as that caused by 100 rounds of Rem-UMC .38 Spl. lead 158-gr. loads I fired through it some years before that.

I've put a lesser number of my reloads through my Model 28 6", probably in the 1,500 range. Again, no leading in the bore, no undue deposits of unburned powder, no thick, nasty, greasy sooty fouling like that to be found with Rem UMC lead bullet loads.

The .45 ACP and 9mm stuff is, in my experience, also dirtier than any other commercially available new ammo.

A friend quit using the .223 REM-UMC ammo in his AR because it fouled the gas system so badly.

Thanks but no thanks. I'll spend a little extra money and buy Winchester.