OPINION ON 9x18 AMMO please!!

trailblazer02

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i recently bought a FEG 9mm MAK.

now, i'm looking for target ammo.

what are the +s & -s of, Wolf?...Silver Bear?..CCI or any others you have experienced.

thanx,
trailblazer
 
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mak ammo

its all good. I have shot up all my 90.00 a thousand Wolf ammo from years ago and now buy Silver Bear( 190-200.00ish a case) take a look at Camps Hipowers and Handguns web site. there is alot of info on the 9x18.
 
I don't much care for the Wolf I have tried. I have used both the JHP and FMJ Silver Bear, and find it to be good ammo. S&B and PRVI are both excellent.
Hornady JHP is overpriced and underpowered. Overall, I prefer FMJ in 9mm mak. I shoot it in both a Polish P64 and a CZ82.
 
The Russki stuff, be it Wolf, Brown Bear or Silver Bear, all performs virtually the same for me over the chronograph. S&B is warmer, as is Federal's American Eagle (which performs almost identically to S&B). Newer Fiocchi is very weak, and the old green box Chinese isn't too impressive, either.

The FÉGs are neat guns. :) Which one is yours, a PA-63, an R61, an R59, or a SMC-918? For what it's worth, my experience has been the small design improvements incorporated in these inexpensive Hungarian guns make them more reliable and pleasant to shoot than Walther PP/PPK series guns (though the quality of finish may certainly be better in a given Walther) - I'd rely on an FÉG 9x18, but would hesitate to do so with a Walther .380. (This is certainly not a popular opinion, though it is an informed one. Don't ask me about my thoughts on Star Model BMs vs. 1911s, either! ;) )
 
I seem to recall Hornaday still makes a very decent 9 Mak round that is quite decent. I have shot it out of both of my Maks, they both eat hollowpoints just fine and it is quite accurate. I wouldn't use it for plinking but that's what I put in on the rare occasion I carry the Mak. I have been very happy with the Wolf for burning powder, and load my own with a lead bullet and a moderate powder charge as well. The round seems to be very easy to load for.
 
Although it certainly won't be "target" ammo, as an FYI Buffalo Bore will introduce a 9x18 Mak round this spring/summer. Specs/ballistics posted on site under coming soon.
 
The FÉGs are neat guns. :) Which one is yours, a PA-63, an R61, an R59, or a SMC-918? ;) )

it's a PA-63. my next question is about Wolf. it's a steel case cartridge, & i'm under the impression steel case ammo is not good.

the Prvi Partizan is lead core, & i also heard lead is not good.

i won't have it until next week so i still have time to research the ammo situation.

trailblazer
 
Nice, reliable gun. I've worked on a couple of killings with those - they work.

Your gun was designed for use with Sov Bloc ammo, including steel case stuff. It's no delicate flower, hombre; don't sweat the Wolf. :)

the Prvi Partizan is lead core, & i also heard lead is not good.
Almost all ammo is "lead core" . . . I'm not sure you have good info there.
 
The magazine for the PA-63 is a little shorter than the Makarov magazine, stick with 95 gr. FMJ unless you can try the ammo first.
 
I've had a PA 63 in the past and presently own a CZ82. All the ammo I've tried worked flawlessly, so I think it's more a question of ammo availability.

I reload 9x18 using bullets from the Lee Mak mold, cut down 9x19 brass and 3.5gns of Bullseye powder. I found that load on the old MAK.com site and it worked so well I've never tried another.
 
I was buying Barnaul 9X18 FMJ & HP for just $5.00 per 50 round box up till 4 years ago. Wish I would of bought a bunch and put it back, as the price has more than doubled, at least around here.
 
I don't trust the PA63s, having had one discharge on me when I decocked it. The parts of the safety mechanism are prone to wear, making this a possibility, and FEG isn't exactly a world leader in QC and workmanship, particularly regarding their surplus commie era guns. Stick a pen or pencil down the barrel (empty chamber) and decock it periodically, check to see if the pen or pencil goes flying or even moves much at all. If it does, that's a bad sign.

Anyway, all commercial handgun ammunition sold in the U.S., save certain exotic and frangible offerings, is going to have a lead core. There are steel core 9x18mm rounds made in Russia and elsewhere that are designed to better penetrate soft body armor. ATF regs prohibit these from being sold commercially in the United States.

Prvi ammo is generally okay, and the Wolf brass cased Gold pistol ammo that I've bought was actually Prvi. Georgia Arms loads a JHP offering with Gold Dots for the 9x18mm last I knew. Otherwise, most people just use cheap steel cased Russian ammo. It's dirty and often smells terrible, particularly on indoor ranges with bad ventilation (the combustion gases may well be toxic for all I know, try to breathe the vapors....). Since most 9x18mm guns are inexpensive, most users don't worry about using the steel cased ammo and it was likely what some of the guns were run with originally anyway.
 
I have never had any problems with Brown Bear 9x18 FMJ. Thousands of rounds put through two CZ-82s - not one jam, stovepipe, etc.
 
(This is certainly not a popular opinion, though it is an informed one. Don't ask me about my thoughts on Star Model BMs vs. 1911s, either! ;) )

+1 on that.

not to hi-jack, but since you are all here, I recently noticed a small crack in the frame of my PA 63. It is on the right hand side of the frame, coming out of where the crescent steel piece is that is on the opposite side of the frame from the magazine release. It comes back and down toward the grip about for about .095-.100"

I am really not sure when the crack originated, but I have put about 200 rounds through the gun since I acquired it. Does this sounds like something that could be fixed or shot as is given the size/location of the crack, or should I be shopping for a new frame?

BTW,

I shoot S&B 9x18 and find that it is good. Light on the wallet also. The only annoying thing is that the their red primer sealant will build up around the firing pin area. I also shoot Silver Bear JHP. I have shot the old Norinco, but it is like setting off fireworks at an indoor range. Tried the Hornady, and I had SERIOUS SETBACK ISSUES!!! (maybe where crack came from???) I shot a few, racked the slide to extract an unfired one, and saw the bullet setback significantly. Manually ran some through the action and about half suffered measurable setback... on the first loading...

Hope that helps, and you all have some opinions on my gun.
 
not to hi-jack, but since you are all here, I recently noticed a small crack in the frame of my PA 63. It is on the right hand side of the frame, coming out of where the crescent steel piece is that is on the opposite side of the frame from the magazine release. It comes back and down toward the grip about for about .095-.100"

I am really not sure when the crack originated, but I have put about 200 rounds through the gun since I acquired it. Does this sounds like something that could be fixed or shot as is given the size/location of the crack, or should I be shopping for a new frame?

The frame is the serial numbered part of the gun, and in the U.S. at least, is what makes the gun "a gun", thus you're unlikely to be able to simply buy a replacement frame. The PA63 has, if I remember right, an alloy frame and thus is probably less durable than something like a Cz-82 (a heavy bit of steel). FEG sometimes has QC issues (such as the one that killed my futon years ago), but if you suspect that your Hornady ammunition damaged your gun, you might want to contact them. Cracks on a frame of a gun are generally a bad thing. Still, many people would just keep using it anyway. If all else fails, there's always Gorilla Tape and/or glue I suppose.
 
brown bear works well s&b too

i use brown bear 95 gr fmj for plinking in my m-pa 63 i carry brass s&b 95 gr have over 2000 trouble free rounds out of this copy of a walther pp perfect truck gun. ;)
 
PA 63 frames are not that hard to find. I have a buddy who has built up several pistols from the frame. I've been more than a little surprised with how these pistols shoot - accurate and reliable. Also, those that I am personally familiar with have been very durable. BTW, the alloy frame on these pistols is an aluminum & titanium mix. From what research I've done it seems that the Hungarians started making them this way in the 70's to address the durability issue. In the last decade, more than 30 years after the Hungarians, S&W started mixing scandium with some of its aluminum framed pistols for the very same reason. Didn't expect high tech metallurgy from the Hungarians, did you? The PA 63 was the standard issue side arm for the Hungarian military and police for more than 40 years.

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