Anyone heard of Monarch ammo?

[greyhound]

I picked some up dirt cheap at the local Academy. (7.62x39) In fact it LOOKS dirt cheap, has some circa 1970s cowboy on the box.

I'm kinda skeptical about the reliabilty of this stuff though my SKS does not seem to be picky. Says its made in the "JSC Barnaul Machine-tool Plant" in Russia.

Been on THR for 2 years and I cannot recall hearing about this stuff.

Not expecting much, but seeing as its sold at a chain like Academy I would bet someone has an opinion or 2.

 

[Stinger]

I wouldn't be skeptical about the reliability of any Russian ammo in an SKS.

I have fired about 1000 of these through a Yugo with no problems.

Regards,

Stinger

 

[Eric86GT]

That's the same box for Barnaul brand ammo. If it's made by Barnaul it should be fine. I've shot Barnaul w/ no problems.

 

[foghornl]

I've fired Barnaul Arsenal ammo in both my Yugo SKS [7.62x39]and Mosin-Nagant M-44 [7.62x54]. From my experience, Barnaul is as good as any other "Soviet-Bloc" ammo.

I hvane't heard of the Monarch brand, though.

 

[Preacherman]

Russian ammo called "Monarch"???



Don't they mean "Tsarist"???

 

[357Texas]

Monarch Has gave me no prob

Now that I have said that I only have put about 500 rds thru my Yugo SKS. I had no stoppage or jams, it hit what I wanted it to. I don't know about reloading them Due to I don't reload yet. But they all shot just fine.
John

 

[Lonestar.45]

What the other guys said, Monarch is made by Barnaul, which is pretty decent stuff. I get the same stuff at Academy all the time, and my Yugo SKS just eats it up, with no problems.

However, as cheap as it is for $2.99 a box, I am going to the gunshow here in Austin this weekend to get some ammo. I picked up 500 rds of Silver Bear for $44 at the last show. Got 200 rds of 154gr Wolf SP for $18. You can't get it any cheaper locally, or online with shipping charges and whatnot.

 

[BluesBear]

Monarch was a trade name for a budget line of ammunition from Federal Cartridge Company.

There was most likely a trademark problem with Barnaul using Federal's name for their ammunition. Since a cease and desist is usually all that's needed when this happens this ammo is probably just old stock that was produced before a new name was chosen.

Of course this could have been ammo that was imported and marketed by Federal under their Monarch brand?

Perhaps some of the more avid ammo collectors here could shed more light on it.