Thunderbird Ammo is local to me and I bought a bunch of ball from them for my M107. It ran through just fine and looks like its around 2moa ammo as expected from ball.

I recently found both FreedomMunitions and SurvivalOPS ammo stores online that sell for a pretty good deal, especially considering no taxes need to be paid on the purchase. Anyone have any experience on either one of these? Is one better than the other? It's nice to save some money, but I wouldn't want to buy a bunch and it will either be garbage or present problems for my M107.

Any guidance will be appreciated!

Don't bother with Freedom. Read this and the stuff in the link. I ran across another user that is also having problem with them.

I ran across one Survival round that was too long. Looks like it wasn't trimmed quite enough. Communication is sporadic and shipping may be slow. I would still order from them though.

Holy crap, I had no idea companies can put out shit like that. I figured it would be a liability concern considering how dangerous 1 bad round could be.


Wow. I'm not ok with risking 200+grains of powder going off wrong inches away from my face, to save a quarter.

Thanks for the link.

You know, I used to reload everything. Then slowly I got lazy and have less free time. So I now mainly only reload for my 338lm (I shoot it long range so accuracy is a must). I know I SHOULD reload 50 to save some $$, but not only do I have to find the time, but I gotta get all new equipment big enough for it too!

Get a lee setup. Fairly inexpensive. I got one and loaded some to test. Just waiting for good weather to test. I did buy from survivalops in the past but trying to order sucks. His web page has issues and trying to contact him sucks. The ones I did buy worked great. No issues. As was posted above, reload! Cheaper and you know your round.

I will get to reloading it eventually. I just don't know how much I'm gonna shoot it. If I shoot 50 rounds a year, there is absolutely no reason to reload... But if I end up shooting it more often, then I will get to reloading it.

Anyways, anyone have any comparison of Survival Ops ball (I'm assuming the match steel core is their version of fmj ball ammo) and Thunderbird cartridge company ball (TCCI). The TCCI is local to me and has worked fine so far, but after tax and such it ends up costing about $3 a round, while the Survival Ops ball looks to be around 50 cents cheaper. Anyone shot both? How do they compare in reliability and accuracy. I shot the TCCI stuff through my M107 and it printed about 2.5moa accuracy last time, which I suppose is considered decent for the platform with ball ammo. I don't want to give up accuracy or reliability, but if they are the same then 50 cents is a considerable discount per round.

Once you pull the trigger, your idea of 50 rounds in a year will disappear real quick while that large shit eating grin will over take your desire to shoot that monster more. Just friggin awesome to see the power up close and personal. Might as well start researching which reload kit you want now. I got tired of paying 3 bucks a round for the cheap stuff. Survivalops stuff shot good out of mine. Think I got it down to 1.75 or so now. Keep finding deal of folks getting out of shooting there 50 BMG and dumping bullets, powder and stuff. More fun for me.

I will shoot about 500 match rounds this year in 4 competitions, and about the same amount testing, rock busting, or inviting new shooters to the Sport.
I have to reload, and enjoy teaching others how to reload, whether 22 Hornet or 50BMG. and 42 others in between.

I actually already shot 30-40 rounds and it was indeed fun. The reason for not shooting it too much I think would be more about what there is to shoot at, rather then wanting to shoot it. The only place I can really shoot it is my long range spot which is an hour away and I don't get out there as much as would like. When I do go, it is for a fairly quick session to shoot really long range with the 338.

I just bought a 3/4" AR500 8" gong to put at 400-500 and a 1/2" AR500 12" gong to put at 600-700. I assume my 3/8" steel will be enough for 800+

Ordered 500 rounds from Survival Ops. I will see how it is.

One thing about 50 BMG is none are created equal. Each are picky on what it like going through the barrel. Good idea is order small amount from different vendors to test and see how well they shoot before ordering large amounts. Not loading properly, brass stuck after firing are a few examples. Since you placed a large order, try some to see how it goes. You can always sell it if it doesn't work out. Survivalops tones there rounds down so don't expect you will have issues but won't know until you test fire them. Let us know how it goes. Don't forget, post some pics here and one of your rifle in the 50 pic section.

I have the M107, which I'm assuming is a bit more LAX in what it feeds compared to alot of the 'precision' or match rifles.

Post a pic of that bad boy in the pic thread.