Q. Where did all the South African Battlepack Ammo go?

South African surplus M193 was packaged in green, brown, or clear vinyl, environment proof pouches ("Battlepacks") with clever handles and was imported into the US for a little over 5 years. As of the summer of 2003, the supply has run out.

It used to sell for about $30-$35 per pack (300 rounds packed into 10 boxes of 30 each). It is excellent plinking ammo with M193 specs, but being a minimum of 17 years old stored under unknown conditions, it does NOT make good defensive ammo because you just cannot be sure it would go "bang" when it needed to.

Generally, it was VERY reliable. Q3131A or XM193 are probably the best cheap M193-spec plinking ammo alternatives and they can also be good defensive ammo since they are relatively new production (or brand new) and most likely stored under good conditions.