Your thoughts on Olympic ammo

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Your thoughts on Olympic ammo

Posted: 8/25/2003 10:33:00 AM EDT

Just picked up a case of Olympic and haven't had a chance to get to the range. I was just wondering what your thoughts and experiences were with this stuff. Thanks in advance.

Posted: 8/25/2003 10:57:02 AM EDT

[#1]

There used to be a thread tacked to the top of the page, but now it's gone. General consensus is that it's not good ammo with lots of problems with both the M193 and M855 stuff. Either way, you probably shouldn't buy a whole case of something unless you've tried it out first on a couple of smaller boxes.

In all fairness, there have been some people who had no problems with the stuff either. I couldn't resist and bought a box of 50 at the recent gunshow just for grins; I haven't had the chance to try it out though. If it works, fine. I'll have another kind of ammo I can buy cheaply. If not, no big deal - I'm out $8.95.

Posted: 8/25/2003 2:08:52 PM EDT

[#2]

Most of ppl have problem with these ammo, some don't. And it seems to be gun specific. For example, My M4 upper from Bushmaster (FTE) and my factory colt 20" (Short cycling) does not like this ammo, but strangly, the 16" Colt heavy barrel upper works fine. Accuracy is horrible by the way. In general observation, AR owners have most problem with it, while others (FNC, AR-18, Mini-14, Stoner M63, etc) that uses gas piston design seems to have less problem cycling the gun. If it works for you then it's cheap plinking ammo, don't count on it as SHTF ammo though.

Also general observation, Olympic failure with AR seems to fall into two catagory: Fail to extracts and blown primers.

Posted: 8/25/2003 3:41:50 PM EDT

[#3]

Bought a box of 50 SS 109's last weekend just to try the stuff out for myself. Loaded two USGI 30 rnd mags with ten rnds each. In both cases the second round failed to feed. They do seem a tad on the long side. After that I'd tap the rounds back to the rear of the mag real good and the rest fired without failure. Accuracy was only fair though.

Posted: 8/25/2003 5:30:15 PM EDT

[#4]

I made the mistake of buying a case of the M193. It was very poorly made ammo. I had to buy a case gauge and gauge the entire lot. I had over 70 cartridges that would not go down into the gauge at all. Those were disposed of, another 100+ fit tightly. You could tell by looking at the ammo that the cases were not properly trimmed. I will never buy any of that ammo again. I would rather shoot Wolf!!

Chris

Posted: 8/25/2003 5:38:57 PM EDT

[#5]

I haven't used any of the M193 or the M855, but my Ruger P85 have had about 2k rnds of the 9mm through it without a hitch.

Vulcan94

Posted: 8/25/2003 5:43:39 PM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
I made the mistake of buying a case of the M193. It was very poorly made ammo. I had to buy a case gauge and gauge the entire lot. I had over 70 cartridges that would not go down into the gauge at all. Those were disposed of, another 100+ fit tightly. You could tell by looking at the ammo that the cases were not properly trimmed. I will never buy any of that ammo again. I would rather shoot Wolf!!

Chris

View Quote

Same here. I had to reject almost 100 out of 500 due to it not even coming close to fitting in the c/g.

Posted: 8/25/2003 6:52:05 PM EDT

[#7]

These are all perfect examples that illustrate the age old statement "you get what you pay for". Since Federal XM193 and Winchester Q3131A are not that much more expensive, I would much rather spend the extra $10-$20 per case and get stuff that has a much better reputation. If you have to toss out 1/4 of the rounds because they are unfit to fire in your weapon, where are the savings?

-Charging Handle

Posted: 8/25/2003 7:02:00 PM EDT

[#8]

Olympic 5.56 x 45 FMJ M193 55gr

bought from sportsman's. 1000 rounds. Shot 100 last time at the range. 60 was olympic.

No problems.

I loaded 13 30rd clips with olympic. Out of that, only found one defective round (imperfection in the casing.)

OlyArms PCR-16. bull barrel, chromemoly steel.

I'm happy.

Posted: 8/26/2003 3:57:00 AM EDT

[#9]

I also had problems with Olympic M193 55 gr stuff dated 01 on the headstamp when fired in a 20" Colt HBAR and either of two Bushy carbines. No problems in a converted .223 Saiga.

Others that have since fired 02 headstamped .223 ammo have reported no issues, but for blasting ammo I have settled on lacquered Barnaul and the zinc plated Silver Bear. I have had NO problems with either of those and have probably burned through 2200 to 2400 rounds in two years.

That said, I very much like the 9mm Olympic 124 grain and have fired over 3000 rounds of it the past three years. My HS2000 (Springfield XD9) loves it, and it functions in BHPs and P-38s as well.

Noah

Posted: 8/26/2003 6:18:24 AM EDT

[#10]

I've had a very few problems with the ammo. Out of about 1500 rounds, there have been 4 or five failures to extract. Overall, Olympic has been a positive experience.

Posted: 8/26/2003 12:44:32 PM EDT

[#11]

I have also experienced good quality in the Olympic 9mm ammo. However there was just too much badd 5.56 going around, I read about one KB with the stuff so I'm staying away from it.

Chris

Posted: 8/26/2003 6:57:06 PM EDT

[#12]

Fired 1000rds of SS109 without problems, try it, see if you like it, then buy a case if you do.

If you want, try www.jgsales.com and get some HotShot SS109, its GREAT ammo...

Posted: 8/26/2003 10:50:36 PM EDT

[#13]

There is a rumor floating around on another forum that Olympic is actually commercial reloads, not new production. Some guys are saying they have seen mixed headstamps in the same box. I have used the 9mm without incident, but based on what people have said here, I would probably avoid the 5.56.

Posted: 8/26/2003 11:50:42 PM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:

Quoted:
I made the mistake of buying a case of the M193. It was very poorly made ammo. I had to buy a case gauge and gauge the entire lot. I had over 70 cartridges that would not go down into the gauge at all. Those were disposed of, another 100+ fit tightly. You could tell by looking at the ammo that the cases were not properly trimmed. I will never buy any of that ammo again. I would rather shoot Wolf!!

Chris

View Quote

Same here. I had to reject almost 100 out of 500 due to it not even coming close to fitting in the c/g.

View Quote

Ditto. I didn't use a case guage but the difference was obvious eyeballing next to known good cartridges. I had roughly 1 out of 10 fail to fire. No more Olympic ammo for me.