Hopefully I can get out to the range tomorrow AM and try this stuff out, supposed to be chilly, but only 2-3 mph winds. I’ve got the 69gr SMK Flavor… anyone else try this? Its ~10.95 a box at many places, I got it from sportsmansguide w/ free shipping for spending over $50. I paid $.55/rd, if you are a club member you should beable to get it for around $.52/rd shipped.
Some observations so far.
Packaging: Much nicer than I was expecting… Only way if could be nicer is if it were fitted foam! I was impressed.
Ammo: Has “ADI .223 Rem” Marked brass, primers are NOT crimped.
Appearance: The ammo itself isn’t as nice as the packaging. Lots of small dents over the brass, a few small nicks on some projectiles. The brass itself looks to have “surface rust” looking stains.
Possible Issues: Appears the brass is NOT chamferred, there is a buildup of shavings of copper around the mouth.
First off, I had planned to visually sort through the ammo and weed out any rounds that appeared to have jacket shaving issues, but I wasn’t able to do it at the range. I needed more light. But it appeared most has slight shaving going on. Because I had moved my scope the previous time at the range I had my scope adjustments off of 0 - 0 and I moved them to 0 - 0 forgetting this. At 100 yards I fired 3 rounds of my Nosler 77gr Reloads***, they hit high right in a small group. I adjusted the scope and fired the first 5 round group of the Outback Ammo and I was instantly impressed. The first group was around .54 MOA. Then the accuracy started to go down hill. I fired two more groups, both exhibitting inconsistent behavior, which would suggest the shaved jackets have an impact as most groups would have the first 1-3 shots go into the same group, one round go an inch away, and the remainder land in with the rest of the group. All but the third group (top right on bottom left target) have 3-4 shots tightly grouped. The bottom right target is with my 77gr Reloads again.
After the first two groups of Australian Outback ammo was fired, I moved out to 200 yards and fired another 5 round group. I wasn’t expecting much because I was using a target with a large aiming point, and at 20x the mirage was starting to effect my sight picture, but I needed all the magnification I could get to make sure I was centered on the large orange center of the target. The first round landed right, and the next 4 all hit within an inch of each other, but the 5 round group itself was still .628 MOA. [(1.54"-.224)/1.047/2] It was gusting to 10-15 MPH. I again was impressed, but the last 3 groups at 100 yards were not all that great.
I think that if they would start chamferring the inside of the case mouths this ammo has the potential to be just as good as Federal Gold Medal Match, at half the cost. I sent them an email about this, and I am looking forward to a response.
*** My 77gr Nosler Reloads have been very inconsistent due to the batch I had having two different jacket types mixed in
Very cool. I’ve seen another manufacturer who does pretty sloppy stuff with SMKs and the ammo still shoots good. It’s almost hard to screw up a Matchking.
Interesting. I’ve seen this at local retailers but assumed it was a waste of money like a lot of the other small time ammo companies I’ve tried over the years. I’ll have to try a little. I wonder how it compares to the PPU 69gr ammo.
Went Out yesterday AM, calmer winds. This time I used a ton of sandbags to reduce the human element as much as possible, and really no improvement… Large Target was zeroing an acog, and top left was 77 Noslers
My final conclusion: Either the jackets are getting damaged in 30% of the rounds, or other variables are diminishing the accuracy potential.
I’m going to find some FGMM at a price I can stomach to see whats up. SO far it looks like Sportsmansguide is the best deal for FGMM, $25 a box, but free shipping on $50+ orders. I’m thinking of trying 2 boxes, but man thats a lot of money for 40 rounds of ammo!
