PMC Bronze ammo, made in Korea?

[QuickDrawMcGraw]

Picked up a 300' round 38 spc "Battle Pack" from the local
Cabelas yesterday and was a bit surprised when I got home
to find "Made in R. O. Korea" ? .. I did not know that.
I mean I'm sure it's just fine & all that, but my question is
has anyone reloaded this 'Brass" ?? .. just wondering?

I'm just about geared up & ready to start reloading my own,
& this will probably be the first cases I use.

Any feedback (re-assurance) would be appreciated.

PMC Battle-Pack Handgun Ammunition : Cabela's

~ Don

[Culina]

PMC brass is good stuff. My only complaint is that a lot of times the flash hole is off center. Other than that, I like the alloy they use. PMC used to be everywhere back in the 90's I don't see them around as much these days.

[Eaglestroker]

I'm a fan of their ammo, I traded into a fair amount of 44 mag that is pretty hot for a factory load.

[AveragEd]

I just finished building a bench gun in .223REM using a new Remington Model 700 VSF barreled action and a Keystone Sporting Arms laminated benchrest stock. I have 100 pieces of new Remington nickel-plated brass on hand for it but didn't want to use it for load development. New brass is scarce in that caliber these days and all the empty stuff I have is neck-sized and fire-formed for the chambers of other guns so I set out to buy some cheap factory loads just to get the brass.

I usually buy Remington's UMC economy ammo when I just want the brass but I couldn't find any and didn't want to spend $25 or more for each 20 pieces of brass so I bought 100 rounds of PMC Bronze factory loads for $10.00 per 20-round box, pulled the bullets, dumped the powder and neck-sized them, removing the primers at the same time. The weights of the pieces were fairly consistent but the lengths were all over the place, so I had to trim them and true the primer pockets, which probably brought the weights closer. The stuff shot decently and I had one test load that shot into a 0.180" one-hole group. All but four of the 21 test loads I shot today printed groups under a half-inch with that 0.180" group being the best.

I have seven more loads to try tomorrow plus I'm going to retest the best two from today. I did find that the primer pocket sizing also varied as my RCBS case prep station ran at differing speeds and sounded like it was under a higher load when cutting some of the pockets but for cheap stuff, it's decent and is doing the job for me.

Ed

[Nick B]

Originally Posted by AveragEd

I just finished building a bench gun in .223REM using a new Remington Model 700 VSF barreled action and a Keystone Sporting Arms laminated benchrest stock. I have 100 pieces of new Remington nickel-plated brass on hand for it but didn't want to use it for load development. New brass is scarce in that caliber these days and all the empty stuff I have is neck-sized and fire-formed for the chambers of other guns so I set out to buy some cheap factory loads just to get the brass.

I usually buy Remington's UMC economy ammo when I just want the brass but I couldn't find any and didn't want to spend $25 or more for each 20 pieces of brass so I bought 100 rounds of PMC Bronze factory loads for $10.00 per 20-round box, pulled the bullets, dumped the powder and neck-sized them, removing the primers at the same time. The weights of the pieces were fairly consistent but the lengths were all over the place, so I had to trim them and true the primer pockets, which probably brought the weights closer. The stuff shot decently and I had one test load that shot into a 0.180" one-hole group. All but four of the 21 test loads I shot today printed groups under a half-inch with that 0.180" group being the best.

I have seven more loads to try tomorrow plus I'm going to retest the best two from today. I did find that the primer pocket sizing also varied as my RCBS case prep station ran at differing speeds and sounded like it was under a higher load when cutting some of the pockets but for cheap stuff, it's decent and is doing the job for me.

Ed

Have you tried any military 5.56 brass ?

[jdlii]

PMC is manufactured using US Arsenal equipment. I am sure that it has be upgraded since the end of the Korean War.

[Steve in Vermont]

I bought several cases of PMC .38s a few years back and have been reloading them (many times) w/o a problem. The one caveat, when loading hard cast DEWC, I noticed a frequent bulge at the bottom of the shell casing. When loading anything swaged, or jacketed, there's no problem. I can only speculate that this has something to do with the hardness and depth of the bullet being seated and the hardness of the brass. Otherwise you should get as much life from these as any others.

[THE PILGRIM]

Probably the overseas ammo that's the closest thing to US made ammo.

[Rule3]

PMC is good ammo,. The 223 Rem is CRIMPED primers just so you get to enjoy removing crimps. I bought a case of it years ago not knowing that . But the brass is as good or better than anything else. Yes, it is Korean.

[QuickDrawMcGraw]

Hey Thanks for the great response guys!
I kinda figured as much, but just needed a little kick in the butt.
And Steve I'll be loading mainly hornady 140gr xtp's
.. a little spendy I know, but that's what first started hittin'
the shelf's several months ago, got about 1400 of em.

~ Don

[MyDads38]

PMC is pretty plentiful around my area. I've bought 9mm, 45acp and 223 REM and X-TAC 5.56. Have reloaded brass in all the calibers with no issues. Have to say it's been pretty decent ammo, at least for me. Shoots at least as good as me, probably even better than that, with someone else behind the gun! :-)

[medic15al]

Man, I used to buy the heck out of it back in High School in late 80s when the 223 came in the little camo boxes. My 183-series Mini-14 loved it!

[lebomm]

I've had no experience w/PMC.38 Spl, but I have several boxes of their .44 Spl brass. I've found it completely satisfactory from "cat-sneeze" to Keith-level loads.

Larry

[Mack]

You do realize that PMC really stands for Poongsan Manufacturing Company? They do make some ammo in the USA stuff like .44 Special or 10 MM and were based in Nevada at one time but a lot of their bulk ammo is made in Korea.

[AveragEd]

Nick, I bought some military .223s 30 years ago to fireform to 7mmT/CU. I had to cut the crimp from the primer pockets but the stuff seems to work okay (I still have it as that isn't a gun I shoot a lot). A 14" Contender isn't going to shoot one-hole 100-yard groups but it shoots into an inch at that range with that brass.

Rule3, the stuff I bought did not have crimped primers - they popped right out and new CCI BR-4s slipped right in. My primer pocket uniforming tool head does not remove a crimp ring so one couldn't have been there. Maybe "Bronze" is a better or more "civilian" line for them?

Ed

[Rule3]

Ed,

Yes mine is Bronze but many years ago. I bought a case as I was going to reload it after shooting. I did not think of crimps as it is 223 Rem not 5.56 marked. So I just keep it for the end of the world ammo I hate crimped primers!!

Made in S Korea.

[Steve in Vermont]

Don, Keep an eye at Powder Valley for Hornady 148 gr HBWC as well as LRN and SWC. Also, Midway has Speer 148 gr HBWC in boxes of 500 for a decent price (not available right now). I load all of these in mild loads and the brass seems to last forever.

[QuickDrawMcGraw]

Wow! .. thanx again fellas for all the great info*
And Steve, I picked up 2000' HBWC's & a couple lb's of Trail Boss
just for some mild plinking loads' then I found out the local Range
(Norpoint) does not allow Lead? So I'z gots to stick with Jacketed'
for a while..

~ Don

[Bkreutz]

Originally Posted by QuickDrawMcGraw

Wow! .. thanx again fellas for all the great info*
And Steve, I picked up 2000' HBWC's & a couple lb's of Trail Boss
just for some mild plinking loads' then I found out the local Range
(Norpoint) does not allow Lead? So I'z gots to stick with Jacketed'
for a while..

~ Don

Here's an lower cost option instead of jacketed that will be allowed at Norpoint. .38/.357 - RMR Bullets

[QuickDrawMcGraw]

Originally Posted by Bkreutz

Here's an lower cost option instead of jacketed that will be allowed at Norpoint. .38/.357 - RMR Bullets

.. Hey thanks for that B.K.' my neighbor to the south*
Been lookin' into Berrys & Rainers at the local Cabelas
up here in Marysville, I like the prices on the Rocky Mt's.*

~ Don

[Bkreutz]

Originally Posted by QuickDrawMcGraw

.. Hey thanks for that B.K.' my neighbor to the south*
Been lookin' into Berrys & Rainers at the local Cabelas
up here in Marysville, I like the prices on the Rocky Mt's.*

~ Don

Glad to help. I get all my bullets from them for the last year. Good prices, fast shipping, and they always seem to have stock. One warning, they ship USPS flat rate boxes so your carrier may grumble a bit about the 70 lb boxes, mine honks his horn as he pulls in my driveway and I meet him with my hand truck. Just ordered 7,000 yesterday.

[Maximumbob54]

The only brass I trash is marked "A-Merc" and I don't just toss it, I smash it with a hammer first.

[joeintexas]

The only caliber I have reloaded in PMC brass is 9mm. No problems at all, good brass as far as I can tell.