Mexican Match ammo

sniper58

sniper58

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I'm posting this here because more SKS owners might see it.

In an attempt to get some hunting ammo for my SKS and avoid having to buy factory ammo to get reloadable cases, I simply pulled the FMJ bullets from some Chinese surplus ammo. I checked the powder charge in the rounds and made sure that charges were the same. I seated Hornady SST 123 grain bullets (to the cannelure) and gave the rounds a moderate crimp with the Lee FCD.

I got out yesterday and tested the rounds. I tried 10 rounds (2x 5-shot groups). I'm impressed! At 100 meters with my '51 Tula, equipped with a BC Tactical scout mount and a Bushnell TRS25 red-dot sight, the ammo gave 2.5" groups. One of the groups had 3 rounds in a 3/4" triangle and the other 2 about 1" on either side. I'll definitely be making up more of this ammo.

The un-modified Chinese surplus gives me 3"-4" groups out of the same rifle, so my loads were a definite improvement.
 
Curious. Do you think the improvment was the bullet or the uniform charge? Did you chance to weight the pulled FMJ to see what varience you had and were the SST 123 also matched. I don't reload, yet, but enquiring minds may want to know.
 
Beermaker said:
Curious. Do you think the improvment was the bullet or the uniform charge? Did you chance to weight the pulled FMJ to see what varience you had and were the SST 123 also matched. I don't reload, yet, but enquiring minds may want to know.
Click to expand...

I think the improvement was a combination of everything.
I didn't weigh the pulled bullets, just pulled them and threw them into the garbage. The SST's weren't weighed either, just pulled out of the box and seated into the cases. The factory powder charges were between 24.6 and 24.7 grains of a fine stick powder. 80% of them were 24.6 gr. That's what I used for a charge. I think that the Lee Factory Crimp Die does make a significant difference. In a couple my .223 Rem loads, crimped loads outshoot non-crimped loads by a good margin.
Overall, I'm just satisfied that the ammo didn't spray all over the target. With the setup that I'm using, max range that I'll shoot will be 150 yds anyway.

Just a point of interest, I didn't have to change the sighting on my red-dot sight. Both factory and my loads shot to the same spot on the targets.
 
Good info.

I tried making Mexican match with the Hornady 123 SP bullets, using the same powder charge and a half grain more and a half grain less. It all worked about the same. I did not crimp. Have to try that.
 
So I guess a test is in order. I will assume you could just Lee crimp the stock loads, no pulling etc required, and see if just the crimp helps. As per Lee web site "This higher start pressure insures a more uniform pressure curve and less velocity variation."
 
You could try crimping the factory loads. The factory bullets are sealed with a black tar-like substance that could or could not contribute to their performance.
I chronographed some of the ammo this past summer and found that the Chinese stuff was pretty consistant already as far as velocity goes. I think I started a thread here about my test. I crimped in order to make sure that the bullets didn't move around because pulling the factory bullet eliminates the sealant. I do believe Lee's hype about the benefits of using the FCD, so that was part of the reason that I crimped the loads
 
Thanks Ganderite!

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/875787-Chronograph-results

Found the thread that I started with regards to the chronograph results from my ammo.
I'm surprised that I never recorded the results in my computer..........I'm usually pretty good about doing that.
Anyway, results show that the Chinese ammo had the lowest extreme spread of the ammo that I tried.
I just might Mex-match some Russian and S&B just for $hits and giggles
 
Last edited:
Beermaker said:
Curious. Do you think the improvment was the bullet or the uniform charge? Did you chance to weight the pulled FMJ to see what varience you had and were the SST 123 also matched. I don't reload, yet, but enquiring minds may want to know.
Click to expand...

OK, you got me thinking..........................I made another 20 rounds this morning. SST's were between 122.8 and 123.4 gr. Most right on 123 gr.
The pulled bullets were between 122.1 and 122.8 gr. Most of the pulled bullets were around 122.3 & 122.4 gr
 
Sooo, If you were to a) reseat and crimp with original bullets or B) just crimp without pulling, what would be the net effect?
Sounds like the weights have similiar tolerences so it would be more the ballistic coefficient making any varience in grouping or the extra crimp and allowing the pressure to build up a bit more.
Things like the shape i.e. tip/tail and balance nose/tail heavy causing a wider spread between the nice bullets and the standard FMJ.
 
Beermaker said:
Curious. Do you think the improvement was the bullet or the uniform charge? Did you chance to weight the pulled FMJ to see what variance you had and were the SST 123 also matched. I don't reload, yet, but inquiring minds may want to know.
Click to expand...

I used to make a lot of Mexican Match ammo for target shooting. The conclusion was that most of the improvement in accuracy came from a better bullet. I would say about 90% better bullet, and 10 % the other things like uniform powder charge, uniform neck tension, uniform crimp.

These loads were all 7.62x51, loaded with 155gr match bullets. One of the things I discovered was a big improvement in grouping by going to a tighter neck tension. To do this I use a sizing die (Neck or Full length) with the decapper rod removed in the die station just before the powder thrower. This gives a very tight neck tension and cuts groups in half. Not sure why. Don't care.

In 7.62x51, Mexican Match would yield 3/4 MOA vs, about 2 MOA for military ball.
 
Beermaker said:
Sooo, If you were to a) reseat and crimp with original bullets or B) just crimp without pulling, what would be the net effect?
Click to expand...

I guess that will be the next thing I try.
I know that I'm not going to pull and re-seat all my factory ammo. The rifle's used for plinking at the range anyway.
Just curious to see if it makes a difference.

I'll probably crimp 10 without pulling, pull and clean the sealant off of 10 and reseat and crimp.

don't forget, I'm using a red-dot sight, so precision is not an option. Maybe do the testing at 50 yds.
 
Found my best results with

uniforming charge weights, just used factory powder
neck sized (yes, steel cases)
better bullet, this case Hornady Z-max

worked really will in my XCR and a little better in SKS. The limitation in SKS groupings "might" be me using open sights.
 
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