I took my late 80's Norinco 56S to the range today for some plinking.

I shot three ammo types from the 50 yard line, seated position, as an informal ammo test. I used Winchester Soft points, Chinese copper wash steel core, and Wolf JHP.

The Chinese Steelcore was the most accurate, and always has been from this rifle.

The Winchester 123Gn JSP had the hardest recoil. It was actually painfull to shoot as the comb of the stock impacted my right cheek bone. accuracy was almost as good as the Chinese steel core.

The Wolf JHP had the worst accuracy, smelled very bad, and shot did not shoot to point of aim.  I will burn up the Wolf ammo plinkin gna duse the Chinese steel core for target shooting.  The Winchester 123Gn JHP will continue to be my deer round and self defense round in this caliber. For Groundhogs i will continue to use Georgia Arms 125Gn Ballistic Tips (which i didnt shoot any of today).

Of Course the rifle was 100 percent reliable with all ammo types and from three different magazine types (Chinese, German, and Bakelite)

Combine this with the testing we just completed and it shows that A) No two rifles shoot the same ammo the same.  & B) Wolf tends to be pretty crappy across the board.

My MAK-90 really shot most ammo about the same, but shot the Chinese steel core the worst.

We also forund the Winchester Super X soft point to be accurate, but did not notice any difference in recoil.

You should try the Barnaul SP.  It was very accurate and would have about the same balistics at 1/4 the price.