Foreign vs. domestic ammo

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Ulfilas

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This crossed my mind the first time I went through my HK manual. I guess it's one of the stumbling blocks of this "global village" we're supposedly aiming for.

One of the instructions stated to avoid firing foreign-made ammunition. Well, there's a problem there. My HK is German-made (I know, one of the manufacturing plants is in Sterling, VA, but hear me out), so, what defines foreign ammo?

Don't ya love it when people split hairs? :-)

While I'm on the topic, what foreign ammo is decent, and what should definitely be avoided?

jth
 
Ulfilas: Ummm...that is an odd pronouncement for HK. As I see it, foreign ammo is any not manufactured in the US.

Anyway, my experiences with foreign ammo have been, for the most part, good. I spent almost 5 years in Germany and always used German/European ammmo in my rifles and shotguns when hunting. If you stay with the well known brands (especially those recommended by the indig) you probably won't go wrong. Czezh ammo was also excellent. Ammo from the then Soviet Union...in a word, sucked. A buddy and I occasionally bought Soviet Baikal 12ga skeet loads at the Nurnburg Rod and Gun club if they were out of components we needed to roll our own. You never knew what the Baikal would do...sometimes it was perfectly normal, then the next shell would barely get the shot string and wadding out of the barrel. Then you'd have one that would look and sound like a 90mm recoiless rifle going off...literally a muzzle blast and flash that were frightening! Luckily, no damage to our Beretta O/Us. Probably a little too much Stoli consumed during the break that day at the factory.

Although I haven't shot any, I understand that Israeli and South African ammo is also quite good. Hope this helps.

Mike

[This message has been edited by Mike Spight (edited August 05, 1999).]
 
I've also heard that South African ammo is decent. I haven't had too much experience with Soviet-made shotgun shells, but I have shot a lot of Russian-made 9mm ammo (Wolf brand). It's also decent, and surprisingly clean.

I've also heard to avoid Mexican-made ammo at all costs.

jth
 
The Sellier & Bellot 9mm (115gr fmj) and .45 (230 gr fmj), and the IMI (Israel Military Industries) 230 gr. .45 ammo is very good stuff. But a lot will depend on your gun, and whether it LIKES a particular brand of ammo.

All of my 9mms seem to really shoot S&B well, and my .45 shoots a little better with S&B than IMI, but the difference is minor.

I much prefer this stuff to American made. (The last 9mm S&B I bought, I got for $5.73 a box, in case quantity. That is very reasonable!)
 
Greetings. I've had mixed results with foreign ammuntion. Unlike others, I have had poor luck, accuracy-wise, with Sellier & Bellot in 9mm, although I've no complaints with its .45 and .40 ammo. Fiochhi is among the more accurate foreign 9mm in my Brownings and CZs. South African (PMP) 115 gr 9mm ball
has proven accurate, but is a bit slower than most 9mm loads in this weight. I also experience about 2% failures to fire with this ammo, so I shoot it only at the range as it's accurate and economical. I've heard others say that PMP's rifle ammo is fine. Best.
 
How about handloading your own ammo.That way no matter where you are you know it is'nt foreign. :)
I have found this to be the least expensive alternative.With excellent accuracy and reliability.
Give it a try I promise you won't be sorry.

My $.02 worth.
 
Couple of points.

1. Some ammo, mostly foreign but some U.S., now being imported dates from the WWII era and has corrosive primers.

2. Most foreign center fire ammo has Berdan primers and cannot, as a practical matter, be reloaded.

Jim
 
A really stupid recommendation. Some European manufacturers make better ammo than many American mfgs, for example Lapua, Geco etc.

I think it should read use only quality ammo. What I avoid is cheap military surplus and steel core ammo (often Chinese), and any other I can suspect to be made with corrosive primers. My HK USPC eats all ammo without reliability problems so being careful with ammo is to protect the (very corrosion resistant) gun from corrosion.

Ossi
 
My experience has been that S&B in .30 Tokarev, 9mm, and .45 ACP is plenty accurate enough for practice. I have run at least 200 rounds of each of the above through various pistols and suffered no malfunctions. I had some Norinco 9mm a few years back, no problems in my P89(250 rounds). Hirtenburger 100 gr. 9mm was disappointing in the same pistol for accuracy, but no problems with function.
IMI 230 grain .45 ACP was okay in my 1991 Commander. I just recently experienced a couple of rare malfunctions with that round and pistol, that being a 2 failures of the slide to close completely. Easily remedied, however. Also, the problems may have been caused by insufficient lubrication.
The worst foreign stuff I've run across was some Aguila .357 158 grain FMJ. I had 6 rounds out of 100 fail to fire. I was shooting from my 2.125 inch S&W Model 60 (ouch!). I tried each failed round a second time in a different revolver (4 inch Model 66) and 4 still failed to fire.
 
PMC is manf. in South Korea and I have no probelms with it yet in my AR-15 clone. I've put just about 1300 rd. through year to date
Fiocochi(sp?) I thinks is italian goes through My 1911A1 Clone very well, I've only work though about 1/2 of my first case (500 rds).

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It ain't mah fault. did I do dat?
 
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