Remington UMC is "Metal" Case?

flat_topp · Apr 28, 2013

So, I am shopping at the local Walmart yesterday and I swing by the ammo counter. I was shocked to see around 5 or 6 mega pack cases of Remington UMC 40S&W in stock. This was around one o'clock in the afternoon on a Saturday!! I had never purchased this brand of ammo before and I noticed that the box said "Metal" Case on it. I wanted to confirm that it was brass case (not steel or aluminum), but I could find nowhere on the box where it stated just what kind of "metal" they meant. The saleswoman was kind enough to open the box for me so that I could check it out. It indeed appears to be brass, but my question is,

Why would Remington put the inexact phrase "Metal Case" on the box instead of the words "Brass Case"?

I did purchase one box at $89.97 plus tax for 250 rounds.

wyccad915 · Apr 28, 2013

That is weird. I have never come across this type of ammo, but it does confuse you as brass, steel, and aluminum are all "metal". Nice find though. It's hardly a deal at that price as it's normally $20 a box but considering you can buy that much at once is pretty nice.

BUFF · Apr 28, 2013

The phrase refers to the bullet style, 'metal case' or FMC is the same thing as 'metal jackete' or FMJ. Remington-Peters/U.M.C. has used the term for years.

KJM · Apr 28, 2013

wyccad915 said:
That is weird. I have never come across this type of ammo, but it does confuse you as brass, steel, and aluminum are all "metal". Nice find though. It's hardly a deal at that price as it's normally $20 a box but considering you can buy that much at once is pretty nice.

He paid 90 for 250 rounds, not 50!

That is good ammo... as explained in a previous post, the metal case if referring to the bullet head. They call it that instead of "full metal jacket" or FMJ..........

shawn mccarver · Apr 28, 2013

flat_topp said:
So, I am shopping at the local Walmart yesterday and I swing by the ammo counter. I was shocked to see around 5 or 6 mega pack cases of Remington UMC 40S&W in stock. This was around one o'clock in the afternoon on a Saturday!! I had never purchased this brand of ammo before and I noticed that the box said "Metal" Case on it. I wanted to confirm that it was brass case (not steel or aluminum), but I could find nowhere on the box where it stated just what kind of "metal" they meant. The saleswoman was kind enough to open the box for me so that I could check it out. It indeed appears to be brass, but my question is,

Why would Remington put the inexact phrase "Metal Case" on the box instead of the words "Brass Case"?

I did purchase one box at $89.97 plus tax for 250 rounds.

Metal case is another term for full metal jacket, a type of bullet. This is common usage and you should not be alarmed by the terminology. It has been used for 100 years or so. It is not an indicator of the construction of the shell casing, but is the type of PROJECTILE.

It is funny how us old timers don't give some of this stuff a second thought until a newer shooter asks the question.

On another thread a poster was just going crazy over the term "foot-seconds," and he just refused to believe it was old time terminology for "feet per second."

Good question though!

flat_topp · Apr 28, 2013

Thanks for the replies, guys. It never crossed my mind that the term "metal case" would apply to the bullet type.

Yes, the box cost around $90 for 250 rounds, which works out to around $18 per box of 50.

speedyquad · Apr 28, 2013

this was the first box of ammo i bought when bought the sigma...that was a little less than 2 years ago(72.97/box). the sigma loved it. i bought another box last november(82.97/box) and it sits unopened in my safe as it was the last box i have since since. there are still 28 rounds left of the original box in the sigma mags.

the 40c also ate it without issue.

JJEH · Apr 28, 2013

Isn't UMC a brand?

wyccad915 · Apr 28, 2013

KJM said:
He paid 90 for 250 rounds, not 50!

That is good ammo... as explained in a previous post, the metal case if referring to the bullet head. They call it that instead of "full metal jacket" or FMJ..........

yes. I do not know if it's good quality or not. If it is then sure it's a good deal I guess, I was just saying from what I see, $20 more or less is the going rate for 50 rds. So multiply it by 5 and you save $10. Not a great deal but savings are savings.

btw thanks for the lesson. I didn't know that about metal case referring to FMJ

Skunkhome · Apr 28, 2013

UMC is a sub branding of Remington arms co. It stands or stood for Union Metalic Cartridge co. which was merged to Remington early in the 20th century. They have recently resurrected the name UMC I suppose for nostalgia sake. Metallic case I am sure refers to the cartridge case which was state of the art when UMC formed after the Civil War. And yes those are brass cases.

laskt9 · Apr 28, 2013

No. Umc is Remington ammo. It's the exact same as the stuff in the green and white box just in a yellow box and they call it a mega pack.

I bought a 9mm, a 40, and a 45 of it and it all has shot well

CTG_COLLECTOR · Apr 28, 2013

UMC is Rem's "economy" brand ammo, just like Fed's American Eagle and Champion, CCI's Blazer Brass, Independence, Estate and Win's USA (erroneously called WWB).

BigCityChief · Apr 28, 2013

flat_topp said:
So, I am shopping at the local Walmart yesterday and I swing by the ammo counter. I was shocked to see around 5 or 6 mega pack cases of Remington UMC 40S&W in stock. This was around one o'clock in the afternoon on a Saturday!! I had never purchased this brand of ammo before and I noticed that the box said "Metal" Case on it. I wanted to confirm that it was brass case (not steel or aluminum), but I could find nowhere on the box where it stated just what kind of "metal" they meant. The saleswoman was kind enough to open the box for me so that I could check it out. It indeed appears to be brass, but my question is,

Why would Remington put the inexact phrase "Metal Case" on the box instead of the words "Brass Case"?

I did purchase one box at $89.97 plus tax for 250 rounds.

Good for you! I buy it in .40 and .45 whenever I can find it. I love it - no problem in any of my pistols!

COL Jagdog · Apr 28, 2013

The term "metal case" refers to the copper cladding that surrounds the bullet both circumferentially around the lead bullet and underneath it -- think of a tall glass made of copper (the sides and bottom are copper) -- the lead inner projectile sits in the copper "glass" (i.e. a "metal case" ) -- because the bottom of the lead bullet is "metal cased" with copper, it virtually eliminates lead dust getting into the air/environment from the bottom of the bullet as it exits the barrel.
This is important not only on outdoor ranges but is particularly important on indoor ranges as it significantly eliminates/reduces lead
being released into the air, this helping reduce breathing in lead dust by shooters.

CTG_COLLECTOR · Apr 28, 2013

"Metal Case" is not synonymous with a bullet that has a lead core that is totally encased by the jacket. If you pull a REM-UMC FMJ bullet it'll no doubt have a exposed lead core base (unless Rem has just started making their economy FMJ loads with a total metal jacket). Enclosing a bullet's core gets expensive when using standard gilding metal as a jacketing material. Speer's TMJ ammo is becoming the norm for Speer has their electro-chemical copper plating down pat and rarely do they even use standard gilding metal for their handgun loads.

KeithR · Apr 29, 2013

Who cares what's it made of. You found ammo at a fair price!

The only thing on the ammo shelves at Wally World around here is a 6 month layer of dust.

tac803 · Apr 29, 2013

wyccad915 said:
yes. I do not know if it's good quality or not. If it is then sure it's a good deal I guess, I was just saying from what I see, $20 more or less is the going rate for 50 rds. So multiply it by 5 and you save $10. Not a great deal but savings are savings.

btw thanks for the lesson. I didn't know that about metal case referring to FMJ

I just put 150 rounds of umc through the Gk at the range today. Works fine.

flat_topp · Apr 30, 2013

KeithR said:
Who cares what's it made of. You found ammo at a fair price!
The only thing on the ammo shelves at Wally World around here is a 6 month layer of dust.

It's been like that around here for months, too. I've been checking the 3 Walmarts in my area (Joliet, Shorewood, Morris) since I bought my M&P40 last December about 1 or 2 times per week. I only saw ONE box of 40 cal in all that time until last week. Last Thursday night the Walmart in Morris had several boxes of Winchester 100 round value packs on the shelf. The salesman had just put them out (around 8:30pm) and he seemed a little offended that a customer like me would actually come along and buy some. Strange. Then, last Saturday I found the Remington-UMC ammo that is the subject of this thread.

str8liner · Apr 30, 2013

This showed up at my local wally world last night also....

Remembered you posting this and told everyone after 40 it was brass cased.

Remington UMC is "Metal" Case?

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