7.62 NATO ammo questions

[Coronach]

What's the current "best deal" for decent, milspec (either actual military, or the functional equivalent) 7.62 NATO ammo? Bonus points awarded if it is reloadable.

I've been looking around, and came up with the .308 page at Ammoman.com ...

Questions:

1. Is the argentine 7.62 any good? $260 for 1600 rounds. (that's 16 and 1/4 cents per round)

2. They also have Lake City, $239 for 1000. I note that it is marked "Training Only" ... would there be something wrong with that lot of ammo, or something? I'm unfamiliar with how the military designates its ammo...I would have assumed that the training fodder would be the same as the ball ammo used in combat, but apparently not.

Any better deals around (excluding gunshow pick ups) than this?

Mike

 

[Father Knows Best]

The Argentine may be fine, but you never know. The Lake City is a sure bet. You never know how foreign surplus ammo was stored, or what condition it's in. I've heard that much of it hits the surplus market only when testing reveals that a certain percentage of it has gone bad. If you plan to just use it up quickly for plinking, it's probably just fine. But if you plan to keep it around for a long time, and want to make sure it works when needed, then go with the Lake City stuff that was manufactured in the last year.

Besides, Lake City has a great reputation for quality, and it's boxer primed and fully reloadable (unlike the foreign surplus stuff).

 

[Ringer]

How about South African from AIM Surplus at $147 for 980 rounds in a case/can (15 cents a round)? Been thinking of picking some up. See this thread for some comments.

 

[Telperion]

Just because it's Lake City doesn't mean it is sure bet. On the AmBack forum (where I usually go for reports on .308 surplus), some guy noticed that a few of the XM80 bullets looked different, and pulled them. One was a tracer, the others he suspected were AP. There's also a thread on AR15.com about XM80 case cracks. Evidently the 01 lot has serious problems.

 

[Farnham]

How about South African from AIM Surplus at $147 for 980 rounds in a case/can (15 cents a round)?

+1, this is good stuff. Non-reloadable, unfortunately, but good stuff.

Haven't seen any Aussie, Hirt, or Port lately, and those are the only ones I've liked better. If you run across any of those in your search, let me know!

S/F

Farnham

 

[Coronach]

Any 411 on the Lake City? Its a 2004 lot.

 

[CPS1]

I've heard mixed reports about the Lake City. I think it might depend which batch you're getting. There certainly were some less than perfect batches.

I like the SA, but the brass is real soft, and may bend with aggresive extractors. Also it smells funny.

Has anyone tried the Maylasian surplus from Dan's? I've heard mixed reports but at 50 bones for 300 with the ammo can thrown in, it's hard to go wrong.

 

[kaferhaus]

Been shooting lake city ammo for a couple decades and have never found fault with any of it.

Any problems you hear about it are likely the fault of the VENDOR, not the manufacture.

Also, most all of the lake city ammo that's available to the public is DOD REJECTS, and although most of it is due to "sealant" issues, some could be due to out of spec loading...

I shoot about a 1,000 rds a month of Lake City ammo and have never once had any malfunction of any sort with it. Our DCM club gets this ammo by the pallet and I can honestly say in many many years that I've never seen any ammo related malfunction or problem.

I cannot say that of any other "surplus" ammo... I've seen guns damaged, case head separations, bullets lodged in bores, extractors ripped off, cases stuck etc... and it's all been either Middle Eastern, South African or South American ammo.

The Russian ammo, while garbage accuracy wise seems pretty much flawless from a function and safety standpoint.