Well the cheapest 7.62/.308 I've found besides Wolf seems to be either ZQI at Walmart, or surplus Hirt that's pretty old. Also some surplus German stuff at SG Ammo, but don't know much about it either. All looks to be about the same price. Any reason to buy the surplus over the new production ZQI?

Seems like the ZQI is OOS everywhere .... It was plentiful not long ago

Hirt is some of the best surplus 7.62 out there

Hirt.
Not even a question, imho.

Txl

sealed battle packs of hirt 556 is my stash of choice

Hirtenberger is the most accurate surplus 7.62 I've used, and I've tried 'em all (well lot's of them anyway)

PSA has Hirt for 200/ 360rnd pack. Don't know if it's the boxer-primed or not. If it isn't, I'd take Federal XM80 for around fifteen bucks more.

Radway green and Ball M-80 are for sale on our own E&E right now.  I've managed to grab 500 rounds of M80 and another 500 rounds of M119 over the past 3 years.  I suggest you look at the CMP website and The Armory website for bulk deals.  1K is fine for me because I was firing so much that I tore the Retina in my right eye and am restricted from firing too much over 5.56 at this time.

this

Luckygunner has Hirt in stock, including the sealed battlepacks.

SG has the Magtech in stock for $0.55 a rd. 2014 production.

Even though the Hirt. is decades old... I would trust it more then the ZQI.... and the Hirt. is far more accurate from my rifle. ( YMMV )

Sportsman's Guide has the Magtech in stock for $0.55 a rd. 2014 production.

Palmetto State Armory also has recent-production 7.62 M80 ammo by Magtech (Brazilian-made) for 0.50 a round.  CBC Brazil/Magtech makes quality mil-spec ammo.  Something to consider.  Good luck.

I personally would buy new production stuff over 40 yr old surplus; particularly if you intend to sock it away for a rainy day.


Not to imply that you should get the ZQI-- that stuff is gross.

What does your rifle like?  

I'm no expert on the shelf life of surplus ammo.  But I would think it's better ammo than ZQI.  We shot a lot of M2 ball from the 60's through our Garands with no issues.  Not a metric ton, but enough that I was convinced shooting old ammo isn't that big of a deal.  Might depend on the ammo though.  It was lake City.  I've got some other stuff from the 50's that I never shot...  I think it might be corrosive.....  So I never shot it.  I should though.

Just to clarify, it's SGAmmo that has has the Magtech not Sportsmans Guide.

Which rifle were you shooting that caused your retina to tear from the recoil?

Hi, the first time I was on the 63ARCOM National Match team and we were firing a match at Pendleton.  When we got to the 600 meter line, prone, my shots began to be all over the target.  Colonel DePasque came over and he watched me fire two rounds and each time I had my cheek in a completely different position.  He called a medic over and they sent me straight to the hospital.  That time I had to lay face down for a week because the tear was just starting and it fixed itwrlf.
Ten years later I was teaching the shotgun part of our Inter-Agency course on Range 3 at Ft. Huachuca and demonstrating how fast a Shotgun can be run at 100 meters with accuracy when, wham, bloody spots were in my eyeball.  Think f the Ty fighters n Star Wars just flying around.  I had a Doctor on the range and he called Tucson Retina Associates and they had me there in an hour and a half.  Again the Retina was still in place but torn halfway.  Both Docs told me to gut it out because they had a good possibility of using a laser to staple the Retina back together.  
I laughed because I thought the laser would be sort of like Lasic surgery, painless.  I laughed and made some stupid comment about being tough.
Wrong statement.  Each time the laser tacked a piece of the retina together it felt like I was hit in the eye with a hot needle.
I had to turn my eyeball the direction they told me and hold it.  That surgery took nearly a half an hour and when it was finished both Docs were happy as heck.  The surgery was successful.  (Both Docs turned out to be in the same NG medical unit) They said that was we get older our eyeball shrinks a bit and simply cannot take the shock we could when younger.  Soooo I have been warned to be very careful when shooting big stuff and should not make a habit of shooting anything over 7.62.  
I've gone to a 20 gauge shotgun or 12 gauge with reduced recoil rounds.  
So, Old folks don't be stupid. (As a 19D I thought I had an ok to do stupid stuff pass)

I'd take 40 year old Hirtenberger any day of the week over any ZQI crap.

Hirtenberger for the Win!
No question about it..

DAG has some interesting bullet construction,,would lay in a couple of case of that for good measure...

Waveoff on the ZQI.

Maybe the Hirt, but I'd vote neither of the other two.  ZQI is all around garbage, German is bi-metal, and even the Magtech mentioned earlier is bi-metal.  SG has Privi 165 grain Soft Point @ 65cpr - I'd buy that before spending 50cpr on 145gr surplus poo.

FWIW, I bought a case of ZQI when everyone had it for cheap and it is garbage. At least my lot is. Out of my Savage 11 me and another person could not get it closer than about 8 inches at 100yds. It wasn't the rifle because we both turned around and put 175gr FGMM into an inch directly afterwards. And I'm new to precision/group shooting; as in, those were my first 20 rounds.

Granted that's comparing nice match ammo to cheap Turkish imports, but still...count me out.

I would take the zqi over Hirt anyday of the week, not only is the zqi new production, it is boxer primed unlike the Hirt which  is berdan primed.

Years back when surplus was inexpensive I stocked up on 762 x 51 (308) Portugese military ammunition and some Hirtenberger. Both were manufactured in 1978-1979.  The Port came in sealed heavy plastic waterproof/ weather proof battle packs of 200 and crated while the Hirt was just packed in 20 rd boxes in a crate.  
Both still look clean, bright, new ,shoot with accuracy and work great in the HK91/G3 or CETME rifles that they were manufactured for. Its not how old your ammo is but how it was stored.  Stored well, quality ammo can last many many years..

Some of the west German surplus has the thinner jacket and the corresponding M193-type terminal performance.  That's the stuff to get.

If you can't get that, then get fresh boxer-primed new production.  It will do anything that most expired surplus will, and you can reload the empties or trade them.

I have shot some nice tight groups with the port surplus from 1978, but now what that it's all gone?

There is nothing magical about Hirtenberger except the premium it commands over newer,  better ammo.

What about the Privi in battle packs? How does it compare to Magtech? SGAMMO has decent prices on both...

privi 5.56 is good to go. cant imagine their 7.62 is bad.

You all need not buy all that nasty ZQI so I can get all I want, okay? My rifles love the stuff.

Ive been picking up a couple boxes of zqi every once in a while from Wal-Mart, then I picked up a case from AIM with free shipping on black Friday fir .50cpr shipped.

It solid 3moa ammo from my hoghunter with an occasional 1.5moa. For shooting steel, or rocks in the field im happy.