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Posted: 4/12/2006 12:40:03 PM EDT
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This ammunition review is for Barnaul, or the "Monarch" branded ammunition made by the same manufacturer. Please note that "Monarch" is made for Academy stores by Branaul AND Prvi Partizan. The Barnaul variant is 55gr FMJ, green "lacquer" coated - NOT the SP hunting ammunition as manufactured by PP. Since the previous poll about Barnaul has been archived, I have started a new thread to collect more information as this ammunition is still for sale, and questions come up at least once a week in the ammo forum. The previous results were: 109 TOTAL votes 88 Have Not had any problems at all 14 Had some problems, but would continue to use the ammunition 7 Have had major problems, and would not use the ammunition again. IF YOU HAVE ALREADY VOTED IN THE PREVIOUS POLL, PLEASE DO NOT VOTE AGAIN. I will add the totals and generate a correct count for the ranking in the Ammunition review thread Please add your personal experience to this thread. When you do, please give information about: 1) Firearm used in 2) Approximate number of rounds fired. 3) Ammunition type I am trying to solicit only information about your PERSONAL experience with this ammunition. If you haven't used it, then please don't clutter up the thread. Information about proper functioning (or lack thereof) is obviously the most important, but factors such as the accuracy or other peculiarities you've noticed are informative also. If you have had problems with this ammo which were severe enough to cause you to stop using this ammo, then please describe them. And one more minor request: keep your reviews objective. |
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Summary of content from archived post: bigdb1 1K of the 62 and 500 55 FMJ's in a 20 inch 1:7 Colt HBAR. No failures of any kind. Accuracy only fair with the 62's working better in my rifle. Dirty, but not enough to cause any problems in 2-400 round range sessions. 2Manchu 500 rounds of their 62-gr. BTHP load through an Olympic 14.5" CAR97M4 w/ SS barrel. No functioning problems. Accuracy was about 3"@100-meters, rested. Edited to say that this ammo wasn't as dirty as the PMC that I've tried. out4trout 500+ rounds thru my RA M-96. No problems with sticking, failure to extract, failure to eject, torn rims or the like. Of course my RA M-96 shoots everything without complaint. Not real tacking driving ammo, but OK. Here's the way I rate it: Better than Wolf About the same as S&B Almost equal to SA Not even in the same league as IMI, Fed 193, X193 or Win Q3131A Is it good enough for casual plinking? You bet. Do you want to use it at the range to show off your new Bushie to your buds? I doubt it, there's always the confusion of is it the ammo or is it the rifle. Would I bet my life on it? NO WAY, stick with the good stuff. DavidDetroit I would echo the last guy exactly. Better than Wolf. Not as good as SA. Not in the same world as XM193. I can't get it to group better than 2" at 100 meters out of my Oly PCR 1. Not great, but not as bad as Wolf. I can't get the Wolf to group in the same State. Value is the relationship between quality and price. This ammo is a good value for average ammo at a great price. When I find it below $50/500, I stock up. photoman My only experiance with burnaul was with the 62grHP. And I'm not happy with it. I've shot 1k rounds of the stuff from an olympic PCR1 with a bushie 14.5in/ y-comp M4 profile 1/9 (marked match) barrel. It's the only Russian ammo I've tried that I've had problems with. Though the problems may be mag related. It won't feed reliably from orilite mags. And it actually wouldn't feed from a colt mag either. Though that one has to be the mag as it would not feed them in a friends gun out of that mag either. He also was having problems with the ammo feeding from his orilites. I'll try their 62gr FMJ before i decide to not use this stuff anymore, as I've had not one problem from the wolf 62gr FMJ. Other than that no other problems. QuidProQuo 62 gr Barnaul. Underpwered and inconsistent as usual. Does not hold back bolt in any of my ARs. Very occasional short stroke in one of them. Have reserved it for the Mini-14 where it performs flawlessly for plinking. 555R well my vmatch seems to like this quite well not that I am a great shooter or anything but grouping around 5 inch avg at 100 yds off the bipod and EoTECH. good enuff for me seems loaded hotter than Wolf no failures after 200 rounds today went thru steel and aluminum plate like butter its the red box wrapped nicely in a paper sheet. nice stuff I want more FYI I usually get 3 inch groups with XM193 off the bench I didnt have the bipod that day so to me the 5-6 inch groups offhand arent bad and still on the silhouette. green fingers and all geoffdaniels FWIW, I have the least amount of experience of anyone that posts here, but I have fail to ejects about 30% of the time with JSC/Barnual. Never had a FTE or FTF with Q3131A. However, my crappy Ruger Mini-14 eats the stuff flawlessly. Flawlessly means 8" groups at 100 yards though, as opposed to about 3" with the good stuff makattack Don't have alot of experiance with it. Just shot about 350 rds of the 55gr fmj. yesterday. no problems.Really good for cheap ammo. About 21/2" groups @ 100 yds if I do my part. Seems a little weak though. I does function well in My 16" AR. Alot of richoches( think thats how you spell it).Steel jackets like to bounce more than any ammo I've ever fired. al_bum I ran 1k rounds through my armalite M-15A2 20" and RRA LAR-15A2 16" without a hitch. Just some mag related probs, that being they were bad mags anyways. Groups were 2"-4" @100yds. Didn't really matter cause I used'em for shooting steel. As compared to Wolf, I can't tell alot of difference cause I don't use either brand that often. Seemed abit hotter and accurate. I say go for it if you're looking for cheap plinking ammo; something I have a habit of not doing when I probably should. thumbho1e I bought 500 rounds on sale just before Y2K, I just brought it out recently and have been shooting it in my standard bushmaster 20" hbar. With iron sights at 100 yards I get very acceptable tactical accuracy. Not as good as South African but good enough for me. Figure about 2 inch groups if I shoot from a rest. This is the 55gr stuff. Zhukov Shot about 1000 rounds through my RRA M4, and it feels about the same as Wolf. Most definitely loaded lighter than M193, as I mixed up a mag of XM193 and Barnaul. The Barnaul still has the red neck sealant, but I guess it's fine in my rifle which shoots Wolf without complaints also. I got the ammo for a very good price, and would buy more, but the new Wolf Polymer coated stuff sounds like it's the way to go now... trapguy I tried some of there 62 grain fmj in my colt 20" a2 and had about 30% of them stick in the chamber. Accuracy wasn't to bad but i think i'll burn the rest in my mini14 and give up on the commie 223rd. yekimak I have shot about 1200 rounds of this through an armalite 180b, it has a tight chamber and has not been cleaned in a while. recoil is heavier than wolf, and indistinguishable from q3131a. Had one FTF (bolt did not close all the way), but all rounds have fired without a hitch otherwise, only a couple mag related problems (USA ACK). This is by far my favorite blasting ammo. It is half the price of xm193 up here. RELOADER-BOB I got 7k of 55gr Barnaul from Widener's on a closeout sale last spring. My sons and I have run about 2k of it thru 3 Olympic Arms parts kit guns with no problems. Loads good and fired every time. Just used it for blasting though. Brerarnold 55 gr FMJ in a Colt HBAR 20 in. No problems. Accurate enough for plinking ammo. I will keep using it, as it is about the cheapest I can buy hereabouts that shoots well in my AR. pas59 I've shot 2500+ rds of SMA223FMJ 223 AMMO 55GR FMJ $56.00 / 500rnds from Widener's in the last few months. No failures, no problems. Excellent plinking ammo. |
| put about 100 rds of 55gr though my 16" bushmaster dissy. No problems at all. Chrono'd 5 rounds of it, and it varied from 2940 to 2990. I let a round chamber and sit there for 10 minutes to see if i'd have any problems with the laquer sticking, and it ejected fine after i fired it. |
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Firearm: RRA middie Approx # rds: 500 Type: 55gr FMJ Not a hiccough or bobble. Good consistency, good performance, and not as dirty as some U.S. made ammo I've fired. POI is just about exactly the same as with Q3131A, at least at 50 yards through my rifle. If I could find their stuff in 62gr, I'd buy all of it I could carry. Note: I buy Barnaul from Academy Sports and Outdoors under the "Monarch" name-it's the same stuff, just labeled differently. |
| did about 300 rounds of barnaul in a tactical rifle class i had today. Rifle is a Bushy super light 16" and used cproducts SS mags. No problems at all, this is great ammo if you dont need a high level of accuracy (i was shooting with irons at man sized targets out to 100 yards, and it was accurate enough for that). |
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DPMS 1:9 14.5" ~800 rounds fired Barnaul 55gr FMJ from Academy Overall satisfied with Barnaul. Shoots a little hotter than Wolf and just a tad bit dirtier. Able to consistently hit turkey-sized plate @ 100yds offhand and 10" steel plate @ 200yds supported with iron sights. The only problem with Barnaul is occassionally FTE (1 out of about 120 rnds). I think it's due to dirtyness, but Wolf has never had a problem. Could be because Wolf is polymer coated & Barnaul is lacquer coated. |
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I had issues with the Barnaul/Monarch steel cased .223 regarding tumbling bullets impacting the target sideways @ 25 yards in my 16" POF 1/8 twist upper. When I finish the remaining rounds through my 16" Bushmaster HBAR, I will not purchase any more of the Monarch .223 steel cased variety. I will try some .223 brass cased FMJ when (or is that IF) Academy ever gets them in stock. |
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I voted major problems won't buy again. Reason being Monarch 55 gr. psp short stroked in both of my 20" rifles. I run Wolf XP buffer springs with 3 coils clipped to avoid short stroking. They do not short stroke on surplus ammo(.556) or Remington 55 gr. psp.(.223). Wolf is the only other ammo I've found that won't run in my rifles. |
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RRA midlength 1:8 16" SS barrel I've fired approx. 1K of the 55 gr. FMJ's through the RRA. One failure to fire out of the entire lot. The primer strike was good, just no boom. No failure to feed, eject, etc. with any magazine that I've tried. I never chronographed or shot it for accuracy. Plinking only. I will continue to buy it just as long as Academy has it. I'll try the brass cased stuff when I get a chance. |
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1) CMMG midlength upper, 16" 1/7, 5.56 chamber. 2) 1k 3) Barnaul 55gr FMJ from Widener's. Green lacquered steel case, copper-coated steel jacket. ~1k rounds, no problems. I love this stuff! Great plinking ammo, price is the same or cheaper than Wolf, burns a bit cleaner, feels a tad hotter. Green fingers. |
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I am going to have to change my vote on the Monarch Steel Cased stuff from Academy. It shot like a dream in my 16" 1/9 twist Bushmaster. No keyholes or anything like that. I started the day off mag dumping just to finish the ammo out, and then I decided to try aimed fire, and was pleasantly surprised at the results! I think the 1/8 twist on the POF may have had issues with stabilizing the bullet. FWIW, the POF tends to favor heavier grained bullets. I will use this stuff again because the price is right for plinking with  .
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It is physically impossible for bullets that stabilize in a 1/9 to NOT stabilize in a 1/8. I say again, it defies physics. Your accuracy problems were caused by something else. Severely out-of-concentricity bullets would cause tumbling even when shot through a barrel that has a fast enough twist. |
It might be physically impossible, but what is depicted in the photo below DID NOT happen when shot through the 1/9 Bushmaster:  Granted, I may have been lucky enough to have two boxes with slightly out of round bullets, but the fact remains that the POF keyholed at 25 yards whereas the Bushmaster did not. And the POF keyholed roughly 10 out of 40 rounds, whereas the Bushmaster appeared to stabalize the remaining 100 rounds that I was just going to burn off. It is all a moot point now since I heard rumors that Academy raised the price on the blue box Monarch ammo. I refuse to pay more than $2.89 for this stuff and I have not returned to Academy since they marked the Green Box FMJ Monarch up to damn near $7/box. |
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Barnaul Golden Bear 64 gr. HP's work well in my 16" midlength AR. Sabre chrome lined 1/7 M4 barrel. Put a little over 100 rounds downrange with no probs. Smokes a little but not bad. The smell is much better than the Wolf stuff. Accuracy is fine for me, but I use iron sights and no bench so I cant give you exact numbers. Price is right for good quality plinking ammo and being 64 grain HP they may be good for other purposes as well. |
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Bought 15 boxes of it yesterday at the acadamy (brass cased green box monarch) My rifle is an M4gery that I built with great quality parts (or later replaced cheap stuff with great quality parts. Runs 100% with xm 193 and black hills but short strokes almost every shot with monarch. After firing the monarch it reminded me of what everyone says wolf will do to your rifle. It was nasty, I mean NASTY. As bad as it was, I then fired 170 rounds of XM193 through it, and even after one of the mags took a dump into clay (I loaded it anyway) it functioned 100%. Guess my carbine just likes the hot stuff. |
It's only slightly off topic because it impacts the availability and affordability of the product. |
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Just ran 100 rounds through my RRA Varmit E4 and only about 60% cycled correctly. Problems with ejection and feeding/cycling. This became extremely annoying. Also the best I could group with this ammo @100yds was about an 8" circle. Will not buy or use this stuff again. I can buy Remington UMC for about the same price and it cycles great and groups much better. Texplinker |
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