If you reread all the posts you will discover that the rifle in question was having trouble with commercial ammo too.
Springfield Armory says to avoid South African surplus ( I tend to think the stuff they tested was the Hotter M1A3 stuff since they did not specify which they did test, you also have to dig for this little advisory) but they also say do not use reloads, this rule is even on the tag that comes with ever M1A they build. (And how many people violate that little rule)
I also stated, there were two different types of SA .308 surplus that I was aware of
M1A2 and M1A3
That both my M1As functioned fine with both types and that is was only in bolt gun that I had any trouble with the hotter M1A3 ammo. The first time I tried the M1A3 was at a match in a new Built M1A chambered so tight that it barely qualified as having the correct head space. I have never had a fail to extract with any PMP surplus .308 ammo.
Is the PMP ammo any good I would say its in the middle of the pack as far as surplus ammo goes with
Hirtenberger, Lake City, IMI and Radway Green in the top bracket but better than the Indian and Malaysian .308 at the bottom.
the Rhodesians used a lot of it for years before they gave up at the peace table.
The simple fact is any surplus ammo can be suspect. The US Army routinely condemns ammo when the failure rate gets to high. Some ammo is bulk packed loose(especially from Israel which could be IMI, Lake City, Radway Green and others) because they keep so much stored on their ready vehicles and ever so often the collect all the ammo up off these vehicles and dump it in a box and sell it. This ammo has been stored under poor conditions and knocked around quite a bit so it is highly suspect no matter who made it.
All of the PMP ammo .308 surplus I have seen so far has had bright and shiny brass cases, clean copper bullets and were packed in air tight plastic bags which suggests to me that at least they pack and store it well.
Its your choice, but I usually check out my surplus by getting a small quantity from a dealer I have dealt with before and then pull a few down to check the bullet and propellant weights and the condition of the powder then test fire a few ( in both a M1A and a small ring Spanish mauser which is really a pretty picky gun to begin with) If I like it then I go back to that dealer and buy two or three cases from the same lot if possible.
Not all surplus ammo is created the same but just as importantly it hasn’t all been handled and stored the same either, which could be just as important. Most Governments attempt to load all their Military ammo to similar Specs on common caliber’s like 5.56 7.62 and 9mm, It guarantees interchange ability in a wartime situation. So while all ammo isn’t the same quality when its manufactured it should have functioned within the specs for that caliber when it was manufactured. After its been stored who knows.
The whole point of this rant is ----there is no hard and fast rule on Mil Surplus ammo, No matter where it came from, because there are too many variables to account for after its manufacture let alone before.
