7.62x51 Military Surplus Report: DAG / MEN / A.B.

[GBMaryland]

Had a chance to go to the range today to plink with my new Larue OBR (20 inch barrel) and compare "military surplus" ammunition.

I brought the Chrony and test fired my own loads, surplus ammo from Germany (DAG and MEN), and American Ballistics M118LR.

Here is the data:

AB 22, 20 Patrone, 7,62MMx51, DM111, Weichkern, LOS DAG93D0340

String 1 - 10 Shots:

Low: 2656.34 (ft/sec)
High: 2679.87
Adv: 2669.19
Variation: 23.53 (ft/sec)
SD: 7.93

1: 2678.09
2: 2673.95
3: 2672.77
4: 2679.87
5: 2669.82
6: 2657.51
7: 2671.00
8: 2662.19
9: 2656.34
10:2670.41

String 2 - 10 Shots:

Low: 2657.51 (ft/sec)
High: 2697.78
Adv: 2675.41
Variation: 40.27 (ft/sec)
SD: 12.32

1: 2688.20
2: 2685.22
3: 2669.82
4: 2657.51
5: 2680.46
6: 2670.41
7: 2697.78
8: 2673.36
9: 2667.47
10:2663.94

AB 22, 20 Patrone, 7,62MMx51, DM111, Weichkern, LOS MEN94F0008

String 1 - 10 Shots:

Low: 2688.20 (ft/sec)
High: 2736.20
Adv: 2707.75
Variation: 48.00 (ft/sec)
SD: 14.38

1: 2688.20
2: 2708.65
3: 2698.39
4: 2709.26
5: 2696.58
6: 2718.99
7: 2964.78
8: 2736.20
9: 2720.22
10:2706.23

American Ballistics M118LR (175gr BTHP not SMK)

String 1 - 10 Shots:

Low: 2521.34 (ft/sec)
High: 2636.67
Adv: 2561.84
Variation: 115.33 (ft/sec)
SD: 32.98

1: 2564.61
2: 2571.15
3: 2524.50
4: 2567.33
5: 2559.73
6: 2582.67
7: 2552.17
8: 2538.26
9: 2521.34
10:2636.67

(Not horrible if #10 was omitted, but there was clearly a flier in there...)

String 2 - 10 Shots:

Low: 2485.62(ft/sec)
High: 2627.51
Adv: 2565.25
Variation: 141.89 (ft/sec)
SD: 38.93

1: 2565.70
2: 2627.51
3: 2536.13
4: 2595.40
5: 2556.49
6: 2575.52
7: 2559.73
8: 2485.62
9: 2600.42
10:2550.02

(Once again, we have a round very different from the others.)

GBMaryland Plinking Loads (M118LR clone using Varget)

175Gr SMK, 42.5gr Varget, LC 07 LR Brass [trimmed, not weighed], magazine length

[Not even remote pressure signs.]

String 1 - 9 Shots:

Low: 2548.41(ft/sec)
High: 2567.87
Adv: 2558.00
Variation: 19.46 (ft/sec)
SD: 7.21

1: 2553.79
2: 2558.65
3: 2553.25
4: 2567.87
5: 2564.61
6: 2564.07
7: 2548.41
8: 2562.44
9: 2548.95

Based on this, I'd say the American Ballistics has the occasional quality control issue, the DAG and MEN stuff is good with the DAG edging out the MEN in these lots.

My loads turned out very well for ammo where I did not weigh out the brass prior to use. Also, I don't think I was using match primers. (I didn't prime the brass myself...)

 

[Grump]

Re: 7.62x51 Military Surplus Report: DAG / MEN / A.B.

Nice numbers for theoretically minimizing vertical beyond 300 yards out.

But I wanna know what the precision of the loads was--groups or patterns?

 

[GBMaryland]

Re: 7.62x51 Military Surplus Report: DAG / MEN / A.B.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Grump</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Nice numbers for theoretically minimizing vertical beyond 300 yards out.

But I wanna know what the precision of the loads was--groups or patterns? </div></div>

So I was plinking... and collecting data.

However, when I took time, I was putting 3-5 shot groups in slightly under an inch. This was universally the case.

The DAG and the MEN we easily 1 MOA.

The AB stuff was good, but I had a few fliers... and I'm more inclied to assume it was me. ...but the load data does suggest at least 2 shots that were V was more than 100FPS different. So I can only guesstimate at about 1 MOA without fliers.

FYI: I did weigh the AB brass after the fact, just to see if one or two of the rounds had brass that was hughely different from the rest. However, that was not the case. The spend brass all weighed within 1.25Gr from the lowest to the highest. Usually toward the lower end or middle. So the fliers on the AB loads were most likely powder charge issues (quality control).

My own loads were absolutely shooting at 3/4-1MOA. Not being used to an AR-10 style rifle, it was not hard to shoot, but it didn't seem as easy to group as my TRG. I dunno if that's in my head...

I can tell you at 100 yards I got what I expected. Out of mostly 10 shot strings I was able to group 4-6 shots within 1 inch, with fliers, usually high and right (also grouping into about 2 inch area).

All of the ammo types seemed to do fairly well. Only the AB had consistancy issues that were NOT the shooter. -grin-

<span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">I should note:</span> The DAG first string of shots was with a COLD rifle. So the second string of shots was with a warm rifle. The data above shows the temperature differences between using the DAG hot and the DAG cold. (I shot 10 rounds of MEN and 10 rounds of my handloads in between the last string of the DAGs)</span>

 

[GBMaryland]

Just as a followup:

Re: American Ballistics M118LR sold as surplus...

So, I had about 400 rounds of the stuff that I picked up while ammo was on the less expensive side, and as posted above I chrono'ed some of it.

I'd think I should point out that there is absolutely bad runs of their ammo where the rounds were undercharged enough to effect the accuracy and, in some cases, operation, of various rifles.

For example, in bolt action rifles, POI would be affected, in M1 Garand rifles the location of the thrown brass would be effected, and it would be similar in the Larue OBR.

The only solution was to weight the bullets, and determine if a round fell outside of the up to 1.25gr case deviation noted above. What I found was that American Ballistics had a ~10% incidence where the rounds are more than 1.5 grains of powder off from each other, more often ~3 grains.

The brass is very good, and I'll certainly reload it. If a police department purchased this ammo inexpensively, I'd make sure to weight every round.

Interestingly, the "off" rounds were actually very close, so if you had a huge amount of them, you could weigh them and use them separately after re-zeroing.

(Why does my post count only read 4?)