Sorry about the weak search-fu. Is it alright for general use/class? It’s marked .223, but I read somewhere that it’s loaded to M193. Good? Bad? Indifferent?
Thanks in advance.
The only similarity to M193 is that PMC Bronze uses a 55gr bullet. The similarities stop there. M193 is a 5.56, PMC Bronze is a .223. The PMC will have a lower velocity, as well. Different animals.
This is weak 55gr .223 ammo, so it should go without saying that this is not going to be very effective for social purposes. It depends on what you consider “general use”, but I would probably only trust this for punching paper. If you want to use it at a class, make sure to shoot plenty of trouble-free rounds of it first. You might want to spring for some of the higher-end stuff to keep in reserve in case the PMC causes you problems - you want to be able to keep going in class if it doesn’t work out with the cheap stuff. It shoots pretty dirty, so it may require more cleaning than some other rounds which be tedious if you have a strict cleaning regiment. Weak ammo may cause problems with some ARs because they use the gas pressure to cycle the system. In 10 months I have shot about 3000 rounds of PMC through various rifles (ARs, mini-14, Rem700 ) and haven’t had any problems using it for practice purposes so far. The brass is always polished and rarely dented. Occasionally I’ll get a batch with a red sealant around the primer, which leaves a waxy residue on the bolt-face. The quality is mediocre, but at least it is reliably mediocre and pretty cheap.
Thanks for the response. I was under the impression that velocity for M193 was around 3165 fps from a 20" barrel. I have not chrono’d the PMC, but Ammunition To Go claims 3200 from it, and they haven’t steered me wrong yet. For me general use is punching paper (or cardboard) Social use, that’s what 75 gr. TAP is for. I already bought 1000 rds. of the PMC for part of my stash for a Magpul carbine 1&2 class coming up in April.I did get a few hundred extra to run before the class tocheck function. I just wanted to hear if anybody had any bad problems with it. As far as velocities, do you consider 3200 to be “weak” ? Just curious.
That’s a laugh! I think you’d be lucky to get 2900 fps from Bronze out of a 20" barrel. It’s the weakest ammo you can get.
I happen to like mild ammo for practice. So if I didn’t reload, I’d shoot it.
Not at all. What length was the barrel that they used to obtain the 3200fps reading? Reports on this forum (lots of posts here back this up) and elsewhere tend to support the idea that PMC is going to chrono substantially weaker than M193. I’ve shot plenty of both M193 and PMC out of the same rifles and I can tell a significant difference in the way my AR cycles. Yes “feeling different” is not empirical data. As for AmmunitionToGo, I am okay with them as a vendor, but when someone is trying to sell me something… I’m inclined to be skeptical about numbers they provide. Maybe Molon will stop by and provide some chrono data I can trust. Until then, forgive me for being a bit skeptical of PMC Bronze achieving 3200fps through anything short of a rail-gun.
Your tone comes across as defensive. I’m not sure if that’s intended or just the Internet prism effect. I was just telling you what I’ve learned in over 3 thousand rounds of shooting the stuff within the past year or so. I never said “weak” was a bad thing. Call it mild instead, if you prefer. As MarkM points out above, some people (myself included) prefer mild ammo for practice.
I guess it’s that internet prism thing, “just curious” means just that. I read somebody’s account of chrono’ing PMC 55 gr. at a hair over 3000. So I was wondering if that was usual. I appreciate you sharing your experience. Mild or not, dirty or not it’s going to go downrange! Thanks…
Works fine for me. I use it in everything from 11.5" - 20" guns. I have shot atleast 3000 rds, just bought another 1000rds for a class next month.
Accuracy ain’t Black Hills, but I’ll say the guns ain’t match guns and the trigger puller ain’t that good either.
It was good enough to get hits on steel @ 200 with a 4x off hand. It runs all my guns just fine. As far as clean vs. dirty, I shoot suppressed alot so that’s pretty much a non issue.
The Internet often makes people think someone means one thing when they mean something else entirely. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt especially here on M4C which tends to be the most civil and well-behaved site I visit. 
BTW, it’s worth noting that link I posted in my second response (or this one). When I want to search M4Carbine for something, I find that the “Search” function here is not that useful to me. Try this:
go to google.com and enter:
site:m4carbine.net +PMC +bronze
You can substitute whatever terms you care about for “PMC” and “bronze”. That’s how I generally find what I want here.
That’s funny… I followed your link and I thought “That’s how they do that!” I feel my search-fu improving… That alone was worth my original post. And Jeep Driver, thanks for the input. Maybe shooting “mild” ammo in a 2000 rd. class won’t be such a bad thing. 
I prefer mild ammo for paper punching or running drills. Don’t feel as beat up at the end of the day. Most of my reloads are for practice and I load it pretty weak, about PMC standards. Saves a little money in the long run on powder.
I agree completely. I’ve never understood the logic of people who want to copy M193 or M855 ammo when reloading. For inside of 100 yards, you’re just burning more powder and puting more wear on your gun.
I have shot a good amount of PMC Bronze and had no issues with it. I have not chronoed it, so I can’t comment on it from that perspective.
FWIW, the last lot of M193 I chronoed through a 16" barreled AR got right at 3100fps.
I’ve used PMC Bronze with good success in a 5 day carbine class. In my 223 class at Gunsite last year I used mostly M193 with some PMC Bronze mixed in from time to time. I couldn’t tell a difference in terms of accuracy or reliability out of my 6920. Most of the class was using PMC. I continue to use it with good success on the range.
PMC Bronze chronos 2702 fps out of my 16" Stag. For reference I get 2972 fps from 27.0 gr Varget behind a 55gr FMJBT. Sorry, I have no reference for M193
For inside of 100 yards, you’re just burning more powder and puting more wear on your gun
Agreed. It also seems that PMC velocities vary greatly. I guess it will be on par with the Centurion I also picked up for the class.
I’ve never had probs with PMC Bronze. I agree with other posters that if your just punching paper or shooting “things”, I’d rather shoot the mild stuff.
PMC Bronze gets a average of 2807 FPS from my 16" DelTon upper.
I love PMC bronze, it’s worked very reliably in my Noveske 14.5" with a H buffer and extra power spring (i run suppressed whenever I can).
In this same setup, I can get short strokes if my ammo isn’t loaded to to the middle of published reloading data… and i’ve never had short strokes with PMC. So while PMC is slow compared to 5.56 stuff, it’s good enough for carbine class and gun game use IMHO.
my piston lmt loves it…