I bought some Prvi Partizan 38 spc. 158 gr LRN and shot it in my "new" Colt Python the other day, and the **** keyholed and tumbled all over the targets. I took it back to the gun store for a refund. I checked the gun by shooting other major brand ammo, no problem. I normally don't shoot ****, but I was looking for a less expensive alternative for practice in this caliber.

I was so disgusted with this ammo, I didn't bother trying to fire it thru my M27 or GP100 to make sure it wasn't the Python, but I can't imagine it was a problem with the Python, as it fired the american stuff just fine.

Have you guys experienced anything like this, and do you know what causes this problem ???

Any education or advice appreciated.

Um,check your gun,I just shot a **** ton of the Prvi 158gr LRN through both my 66 and 686 over the last two months-el zilch in the problem dept all I noticed is the stuff is rather dirty.

Of course yours shot other ammo fine so...dunno doesn't like the Prvi?

What in the heck is Prvi Partizan and where does it come from?
I've never heard of it.

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The Last Standing Knight

I think it's manufactured in Russia.

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Get off my lawn.

Serbia. Used to be part of Yugoslavia.


T-Star

the gun store guy who sold it to me said the same company produced 556 ammo for the US military, so I figured if it was good enough for them, it was good enough for me. frustrating. the guy at the gun store didn't want to take the ammo back, he gave me some bs about the python, until I showed him the targets from the american ammo. night and day. I couldn't believe he was crisizing the python - one of the best revolvers ever made (sorry, but i own a M27 too - as good a gun as the python ever was).

Maybe these russian fellows on the production line don't know how to use a micrometer ? I can't believe that. A big mystery for me.

No explanation, just a comment, I got a good price on 100 rounds of Partizan 6.5 X 55 Swedish Mauser rifle ammo, been shooting it in my CZ 550Fs, no complaints whatsoever, does great. Be interesting to try shooting some of your ammo in a .38 special revolver, something other than your Python, see how it does.

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Ed

I does seem odd as Prvi Partizan has a pretty good reputation for quality ammo. They make and import a lot of military cartridges that are difficult to obtain in the US. If I'm not mistaken, they are the major manufacturer of the Wolf Gold line of ammo.

I've used a lot of it and haven't had any functional or accuracy issues. See similar reports on many mil-surp collector boards.

Would be helpful if we knew what the actual problem was... undersize bullets, lead to soft or ?

Sounds like a good possibility the lead was too soft and quickly caused a buildup in the barrel, especially if your snake has a tight bore. Also very possible that in another gun Privi would shoot just fine. It's not real common but I have seen this happen with other brands in different guns. Generally Privi is good ammo. I've shot a bunch of their 7.62X51, M1A loves the stuff.

Prvi makes two types of ammo: brass cased and steel. Which are you shooting?

I've never shot the 38 spcl, but I have gone through several cases of 9mm and 40S&W - all brass cased - without a single problem.

I had very good results recently with the Prvi .38 158 LRN. Found it online about 8 weeks ago. It shot just fine out of a Trooper III, M-28, M-442 and several M-19's. In fact, it was impressively accurate out of a 4" Model 19 off the bench. Maybe a bad batch?

Brass cased.

I suspect that a soft alloy for the bullets might be the problem. By reputation the Python was "choke bored" instead of having a constant bore size from forcing cone to barrel crown. What I have read is that the barrels on the Pyton had a very slight taper from the forcing cone to the crown and this is one reason given for the Pythons accuracy. If that is true, it's also quite possible that the Python may be more sensitive to the alloy hardness of any bullet used in it and use of a soft alloy may lead to leading issues. Bottomline, it was probably a "bad fit" for your Python and would be fine for almost any other revolver.

I concur (and will add this part in parenthesis to make the 10 digit minimum).

I've used PP's .223 ammo with no problems. I would try the suspect ammo in other .38's to see if the keyholing is unique to that Python.

I wanted to revive this thread because I just experienced problems with PRVI Partizan .38 Special 158gr LRN ammo similar to those reported by wrightd in 2009. I shot 50 rounds of a recently purchased lot through my 28-2. At the end of the session, the face of the cylinder was coated with lead deposits and lead had built up on the outer surface of the cylinder above each bore. There was a large amount of lead fouling in the grooves of the rifling. Of the 50 rounds, at least two clearly keyholed at 15 yards, and several more impacts were rips in the paper rather than rounds holes. The keyholed rounds were noticeably high, and accuracy in general was less that I've gotten with Magtech LRN, Magtech .357, or Remington jacketed ammo. All the ammo in the box did go bang, and I didn't sense that any was low recoil.

Has anyone else had similar experiences with this PP ammo? Any thoughts as to the problem? Lead softer that it should be? Bullets out of spec? I had previously put 30 rounds from the same lot through my 15-3 without noticing the same problem, although I did get a fair amount of lead out of the cylinder bores when I cleaned it. I think I'll go back with my 686 (which has had a steady diet of lead RN, WC and SWC ammo) and see if other boxes yield the same results. At least the stainless won't look as bad as the blued guns with lead all over it.

I missed this thread the first time and don't buy Serbian anything since they made an art form of genocide. As I read the thread, it seemed likely the bullets were just too soft for the powder charge. Slowguy's post confirms it.

I have a shooting buddy who casts his own bullets out of any lead he can get. He has no idea how hard or soft his bullets are. When he shoots IPSC-style matches, he frequently keyholes the targets. He doesn't care.

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Bob.
SWCA 1821

I've shot most of the European block countries ammo with no problems.

The sellier & bellot seems to be the best and loaded correctly in the military calibers. The Russian wolf and priv partisan have been good too. The yugo ammo uses quality brass that can be reloaded many times if your not shooting max loads.

What you did was similar to putting unleaded 87 octane into a Dodge Challenger Hellcat. What other result did you expect?

Well, I went back and put another box of the ammo through my 686. This time, no keyholing, no undue lead residue, and good accuracy. So I have to think that the problem is box by box rather than batch by batch. All three boxes that I have shot came from the same 500 round batch. I'll keep shooting it (probably through the stainless gun so that clean up from a bad batch will be less of a chore) but I wouldn't buy it again.

I have shot a ton of Prvi Partizan ammo over the years, both handgun and rifle with no issues.

Very unlikely that the lead is "too soft" as it's likely about pure lead swaged to shape. Which is what about every commercial manufacturer does for bare lead bullets. All "dead soft", as are hollow based wadcutters.

Could be a lube failure, as in "none", which would still look about the same as a normal "waxed" bullet.

Also could be the cases have sized down the bullet shank, so that the bullet is now too small for the barrel. Fairly likely, if the mfg. used the same tooling to load jacketed rounds, which can survive a fair amount of case "pinch" without being affected.

Shot a case lot (or two? Will have to check how much brass is about.) of PPU 158gr LRN .38 Spl. a couple of years back and my only real complaint was that accuracy was somewhat substandard for precision work. (can't remember if the Pythons got any, probably did at least a little.) Pulled a few bullets and did find them a little undersized, which was no surprise as there was no cannelure in the case behind the bullet, which is what was standard from Rem., Win., Fed., etc. back when 158gr lead .38 was probably the most common centerfire handgun round. (Mechanical bullet retention front and rear more than the common interference fit used with jacketed bullets.)

ETA: Oh, I remember now what was most annoying about the PPU(Prvi) .38 Specials! The wretched box dividers! Weak based posts that kept breaking and allowing the ammo to come adrift.

Their rifle ammo has been good to excellent, though.

Count me among the unhappy campers too. I've used Prvi ammo for my pocket pistols (.25, .32 and 380 acp) for several years and been pleased with it. Of course, they all had FMJ bullets. About a month ago, I was in Cabelas and bought a box of Prvi in .38 Special, 158 RN lead. After following this thread, I figured it was a good time to try it out, so I went to the range this morning and put the box through my 686-6. The bad news was that one or two rounds from each 7 round string keyholed. The really bad news was when I got home and saw the worst case of leading that I've ever had. I don't own a Lewis lead remover, but it looks like I soon will.

I will continue to use the FMJ Prvi ammo, but I'm going to avoid their stuff that uses lead bullets.

Interesting thread. I’ve used a lot of Privi 158 grain round nose in a number of .38s (Colts and S&W) with no issues. None the less, it’s pretty clear that the OP had some sort of problem with the ammo.

Some years ago, while with the NYPD Firearms and Tactics Unit (I served as a sgt and a lt there) we had a lot (as in an entire shipment) of Winchester 148 grain wadcutter that was bad ammo. The rounds would barely stay on a combat silhouette target at 25 yards and keyholed like crazy. So, ammo is manufactured by humans and sometimes they mess things up.

Rich

Vwat? You no like the old Serb tumbling projectile comrade? In Serbia ve say; 'a bigger hole in bad man, deh better'.

haha, couldn't resist....