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Posted: 12/5/2002 8:31:09 AM EDT
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I'm not sure if this has been discussed or not, but if it has, then please forgive me. I'm looking at surplus ammo. Mostly, the Portegese and the South African. Has anybody tried these? Pros and cons of each? I'll be using this ammo in a brand spanking new Springfield M1A. Thanks for your input, John |
| I've used both. Portugese is considered the more desirable of the two (by people more knowledgeable than me, I'm not completely sure why). I've fired 300+ rounds of each and had no problems, every round went bang and seemed fine. Aim has more port coming in for 140 shipped, great deal that you should look at. I'm not sure if there is some problem with using port at some ranges because of steel in????? the bullet??? -not sure about that. |
| There is a bunch of British linked .308 ammo on the market right now too. Bought 1,800 rounds off of an FFL friend recently and am FINALLY almost done delinking it for use in my FAL. Seems like really good stuff - can't remember the exact price but I think it was about $20 per can of 180. I'm really leery of some foreign ammo. ever since I bought Malaysian(?) and Guatamalen .223 ammo - where I had multiple stoppages and primers ripping out of the brass when I fired. I haven't had any problems with South African ammo. - probably SA ammo. or anything from Europe that is NATO spec. should run good - stay away from the really bad third world countries though.....my "live and learn" lesson. |
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I've shot Portuguese, So. African, & the British linked stuff out of my M1A. The So. African has been real consistent, but a little dirty. The British is about the same, maybe not quite as accurate. The battlepack of Portuguese I bought has given me a lot of headaches though. The 1st couple of boxes shot fine, then all of a sudden they wouldn't eject or else they would eject but the next round wouldn't load. I tried a few rounds in my Winchester Model 100 semi-auto and they wouldn't fire at all out of it - dimpled primers but no BOOM. Then I put the same bullets back in the M1A and they fired - but no ejection.......and the Model 100 then fired every other bullet in my arsenal without a problem. Most everybody I see on these forums praise the Portuguese stuff, so I figure I got a batch with some defective primers in them. There had been rumors about a bad batch of Port. ammo floating around........looks like I got a piece of it unfortunately. |
Great, I just order 1,000 rounds. |
| I have purchased about 1200 rounds of the Port stuff from two different sources. I have fired about 400 rounds of it so with no failures, at all. Just picked up some of the South African but have not tried it yet. The Port is magnetic - the South African is not (steel is prohibited at most ranges here in dry SoCal). |
| The Port shoots almost as well as Federal Gold Medal Match in my M1A, but your mileage may vary. Off a bench, scoped, I can get just a hair over 1 MOA with the Federal and about 1.5-1.75 with the Port. For my abilities, that makes no real difference in match shooting, but a heck of a difference in my wallet. |
| Both Port and SA are good ammo. The Port does have a mild steel jacket, so ranges where such ammo is unwelcome will not allow it. There is little more penetration ability, if any, but a magnet will stick to the bullet. SA is not steel jacket and, thus, OK for these ranges. No appreciable difference in performance I can tell. There have been a few batches of Port that have had some problems with misfires. You can go to FALFiles and do a search to find some of them, but all in all, Port is very good stuff. I will buy more for sure. |
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I've heard that the German is also reliable and accurate ammo. Check the bottom section of this arcticle where the author discusses US vs German 7.62x51 rounds. www.fen-net.de/norbert.arnoldi/army/wound.html |
Ray, I think you mightve misinterpreted century's web page
here is the ordering page for consumers www.centuryarms.com/store/en-us/dept_51.html or click on www.centuryarms.com/indexc.html then click consumer catalog --> ammunition --> 308 shooter's dream |
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