starfire ammunition?

[tater_salad]

Anybody here shoot starfire JHP? I have a SA XD-9 service and went to the range the other day and shot gold dot 124 gr. JHP and starfire 124gr. JHP. The starfire seemed much more acurate and had less preceived recoil (cannot remember for the life of me if it was a +P round or not, though I believe it is). I would prefer the starfire as I seem to shoot it better, but I have not heard much about it, where as I have heard a lot of good things about gold dot and it is what I currently have loaded for HD. Any input is appreciated.

[horge]

Starfire 9mm JHP is great stuff in the rental CZ-75B that I regularly (ab)use.
Hi tater_salad :)

Dunno about 'less' perceived recoil, ---to my small, girly-man hands, it's more like the impulse is shorter/sharper. To me it also produces more muzzle flash than a few other JHP's, and this could be present some disadvantge in a social situation...

but I agree it's accurate as hell, or at least it makes me look real good at the range... better than Remington GS, Cor-Bon or Fiocchi can, and over here, it's cheaper too.

:)



Trivia Question (no I don't know the answer):
PMC El Dorado, right? So...
does PMC stand for Pan Metal Corp, or Poong-san Metal Corp?

[Majic]

The Starfires came out not long after Federal's Hydra-shok. Where the Hydra-shok uses the post to boost they hydraulics for expansion, the Starfire uses the star pattern for the same results. At that time the Hyda-shok was the standard that other loads were measured by. I'm not sure I remember this right, but the same man designed both the Hydra-shok and the Starfire. I have used quite a bit of it in .45acp and a little in .357 magnum. I have one .45 pistol that just loves the stuff

[esheato]

Trivia Question (no I don't know the answer):
PMC El Dorado, right? So...
does PMC stand for Pan Metal Corp, or Poong-san Metal Corp?
Precision Made Cartridge

Ed

[tater_salad]

as far as I know, that is true that the starfire cardtridge was designed after the hydrashok, by the same person. i guess that is fairly notable.

[horge]

Precision Made Cartridge

Thanks, Ed :)

[bpisler]

I used to carry 357 mag starfires
in my 3" 65-3.It was accurate and
easy to shoot for a 357 mag.I've
switched over to hornady 140 grain
XTP's.just as accurate,less muzzle
flash and the XTP's cost less per
round.

[BluesBear]

does PMC stand for Pan Metal Corp, or Poong-san Metal Corp? It stands for Precision Made Cartridge.
Of course El Dorado is owned by Pan Metal.

PMC got their start in the US in the later 1970s by importing Korean surplus .30-06 M2 ball ammo.
The Precision Made Cartridge moniker was invented later to fit the initials.

[RyanM]

Test data has shown that Starfire performs rather miserably through heavy clothing. Unless you live in the tropics, a more modern design would be good.

[horge]

It stands for Precision Made Cartridge.
Of course El Dorado is owned by Pan Metal.

PMC got their start in the US in the later 1970s by importing Korean surplus .30-06 M2 ball ammo.
The Precision Made Cartridge moniker was invented later to fit the initials.

Thanks to you too, BluesBear :)
Your post got me to redouble my efforts towards finding the complete picture,
and I eventually dug up a fairly recent post by Allan Martel of PMC/El Dorado on GunBoards:



PMC does NOT sell ammo on clips or bandoleers !
The ammunition in question was most likely made in the late 70's to early 80's by the Poonsang factory in South Korea. PMC (Precision Made Cartridges) currently imports ammo from that factory. We do NOT own the factory, it is run by Poonsang Metal Company. What you have is Korean Military Surplus ammunition that has been RE-MARKED as PMC (Precision Made Cartridges). We will NOT warranty this ammo in any way!

All PMC cartridges have a headstamp of either PMC, *PMC*, -PMC-, or ELD
(Some Imported .50 Cal ammo and special orders may be stamped PSD.)
PMC Ammo that comes from the Poonsang factory has a headstamp of "PMC" , where the "M" is actually an inverted "W"

...


Obviously, there can be a bit of confusion regarding the many PMC's out there:

The original parent company was a U.S. Corporation called Patton Morgan Corporation, then the name was changed to Pan Metal Corporation. The factory is operated under the name Eldorado Cartridge Corporation, and is a subsidiary of Pan Metal Corporation. The ammunition was sold then, as it still is, under the registered brand name "PMC Ammunition", and the original slogan, "Precision Made Cartridges" has never changed.

Allan Martel
amartel@pmcammo.com

[tater_salad]

Test data has shown that Starfire performs rather miserably through heavy clothing. Unless you live in the tropics, a more modern design would be good.

This is kind of what I was concerned about. Any links to the data, or any others with the same experiences? I know the gold dots are a reliable round in terms of feeding, firing, ejecting, stopping power, etc. it's just that I shot the starfires better the first time out. However, since I'm a beginner, I probably should just stick with improving my shooting before I go picking rounds for their acuracy, opposed to stopping power. I'm sure the gold dots are fairly acurate too, I just need to get used to shooting, period. I was at the range today and put another hundred through the gun, and am noticeably improving my groups. As a matter of fact, I noticed about mid shoot how I was throwing my shots by my trigger finger, and have modified that to a point. My groups decreased to about half their size, and were closer to my aim point, so I'm happy with that. Less 'fliers' too. Only the 2nd time to the range and everything already is starting to feel 'natural' so as long as I go regularly and concentrate on the basics (stance, grip, breath control, focus, etc.) I shouldn't have problems shooting any round acurately. Thanks for all the replies.

[BluesBear]

Devote less time to worrying (about your ammo) -- and more time learning to shoot better. (Charles E. Petty - American Cop magazine Issue #1)

[RyanM]

Ammolab.com is a paysite, so the only data I have is opinions from here (http://www.tacticalforums.com/cgi-bin/tacticalubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=78;t=001041#000014). Apparently, in the Ammolab tests, expansion was pretty inconsistent through heavy clothing.

The stuff may do fairly well as a warm weather load, though, if it's much more accurate.