PPU .223 Ammo - Anyone Have Experience with This

thegazelle

thegazelle

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On a lark, I bought some PPU .223 55gr SP ammo today at a good price. Never heard of the stuff except it's from Serbia. Was planning to just use it as plinking / target practice ammo. Anyone have any experience with this brand? I am heading back to the store tomorrow to buy more of what I should have bought today and thinking of getting more PPU primarily due to the good price.

Would love to hear about your experiences with PPU, both good and bad. Thanks.
 
Have shot very little of the PPU ammo, but what I did worked well. If it's a good price I would probably go for it.
 
I've had good luck with PPU 55gFMJ, LGS had some for $15/bx. (ca $1.50/rnd tax incl) very accurate with my Ruger Am-Std 223 w/ 1:8. BTW, Basspro sells Herters .223 FMJ in 150/bx for about $79+tx that's pretty accurate too. Ca. 1-MOA @ 180 yds using a 6-25x50 Bushnell Engage. That's $0.61/rnd tax incl in NB(15% tx).
 
Bought more today, and even got a slightly discounted price on a bulk purchase of a bunch. The ones I got were Soft Points. Will try them out tomorrow at the range.
 
vp6111 said:
Where did you buy it?
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Small mom and pop gun shop in Port Perry which doesnt have an online presence at least not for ammo.

Just to advise how good of a deal this is, Tenda has it regularly on for $25.99 for a box of 20. It is currently on sale there for $21.99 at Tenda for the 55 gr SP.

For this store, price is $16.95 a box. With a bulk order the price turned out to be $16.25 a box. These are soft points not FMJ.

I think part of these awesome prices is the store really caters more to the local community so you really have to go in to see what’s there for ammo. There is other ammo there that I found was cheaper than anywhere else so I picked some of those up as well
 
thegazelle said:
Small mom and pop gun shop in Port Perry which doesnt have an online presence at least not for ammo.

Just to advise how good of a deal this is, Tenda has it regularly on for $25.99 for a box of 20. It is currently on sale there for $21.99 at Tenda for the 55 gr SP.

For this store, price is $16.95 a box. With a bulk order the price turned out to be $16.25 a box. These are soft points not FMJ.

I think part of these awesome prices is the store really caters more to the local community so you really have to go in to see what’s there for ammo. There is other ammo there that I found was cheaper than anywhere else so I picked some of those up as well
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Williams Arms is an awesome little shop. If you stop in and take a look around you can often find items at better prices than a lot of other larger retailers that have a big online presence. They are one of the few places left that maintain that old school small town way of doing business.

RIP John Williams you left us too soon.
 
when you do end up testing the 223, please post your thoughts.

I am very pleased with the PPU 7.62x39 123 PSP and RN as well as the 9.3x62 as they were both good value for the money. The 7.62x39 shoots very well in my CZ527 the combo works great for deer. It was about that price, 15-16$, from trade ex last year. I picked up a few more boxes recently from Tenda to round out an order to get free shipping and it ended up being 17.10$ / box with the gift card promo they ran recently. I bought the 9.3 mainly for the brass since it was 34$ a box last year, which was cheaper than buying the components separately. I was pleasantly surprised by the accuracy of the 9.3 ammo even though the velocity is a bit low.
 
jiffx2781 said:
Williams Arms is an awesome little shop. If you stop in and take a look around you can often find items at better prices than a lot of other larger retailers that have a big online presence. They are one of the few places left that maintain that old school small town way of doing business.

RIP John Williams you left us too soon.
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Agree. I don't typically drive 1 hour each way to go to a gun store, when there are literally four (4) within a 15-30 minute drive but I did that yesterday and today. Totally worth it. I like the old fashioned way of doing business. Handwritten invoice. Business with a handshake. Professional, knowledgeable staff (not just about firearms but also about distribution channels, warranty-related topics, gun manufacturer history, etc. Very well rounded knowledge. Fabulous prices. Good selection. There are boxes of ammo there that are $10.00 cheaper than elsewhere per box. Some items I can't get anywhere else. And they can special order items. A couple of CGNers recommended it to me and I am so glad they did. Their gun selection is good and the prices are more than competitive. I will definitely visit there again.
 
doctor_meltdown said:
when you do end up testing the 223, please post your thoughts.

I am very pleased with the PPU 7.62x39 123 PSP and RN as well as the 9.3x62 as they were both good value for the money. The 7.62x39 shoots very well in my CZ527 the combo works great for deer. It was about that price, 15-16$, from trade ex last year. I picked up a few more boxes recently from Tenda to round out an order to get free shipping and it ended up being 17.10$ / box with the gift card promo they ran recently. I bought the 9.3 mainly for the brass since it was 34$ a box last year, which was cheaper than buying the components separately. I was pleasantly surprised by the accuracy of the 9.3 ammo even though the velocity is a bit low.
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I shot 67 rounds of these today. Overall very pleased. I had a multi target pin-up, so each target I was using different .223 ammo. Was on a bench rest sitting down. The PPU gave exceptionally good accuracy, compared to the other two brands I used (Winchester white box, and Federal AE, both FMJ, while the PPU was SP). The brass came out fairly clean compared to the Winchester (looks like it was BBQed) and the Federal. I know 67 rounds may not be enough to form a conclusive opinion, but initial impressions exceeded expectations. Also, both the WWB and the AE had a couple of FTF, but the PPUs had no issues whatsoever. Same LAR15 mag used for all rounds.
 
All PPU ammunition is excellent and for the most part shoots on the hotter or higher side compared to some other ammo, I find it snappy to shoot on average, Except 8x57 Mauser which sadly is the worst ammunition to ever roll off a factory floor.

It may just be the rounds I have but out of 2 K98's and a M48 I have never hit paper with ~60 rounds between any of these rifles. The crazy part is that these rifles will shoot 2 inches or much less with any other ammunition. I assume the rounds become unstable in flight so I stopped using them as who knows where the pellets go. The main difference being the standard and 1913 light load 8x57 which is what most North American companies load for due to liability. The result is usually just a round that hits 8-12 inches low from point of aim at 100meters for Winchester 8x57SP compared to standard ammunition like Sellier and Bellot. Some early mauser actions were built for lower pressures than later models resulting in a potential danger with older 8mm firearms using modern ammunition.
 
Some added colour here after tonight's range visit.

I took my son to the range tonight and he didn't want to shoot my .223 precision rifle so I offered it to a couple of range members who wanted to check out the new scope on it. I gave them a box of .223 PPU ammo to use.

I went to see them 10 minutes or so later and brought an additional box of S&B .223 for them to try. They told me many of the PPU rounds had very deep primer strikes - almost like there was a hole in the back of the casing instead of a dent. They gave back the remaining PPU rounds to me and said I may want to keep an eye on it. I gave them the box of S&B .223 and I took the rest of the PPU back to my lane to shoot them off. The guys told me later that the S&B shot perfectly and all the casings showed normal pin strikes. Strangely, the remaining six or so PPU rounds I shot out of my WK and I observed the casings afterwards and they appeared to be normal.

Is it possible that my precision rifle just doesn't like the PPU? It doesn't appear to be the rifle, as it shot the S&B without issue. But I wasn't able to replicate the issue with my WK and the PPU, so maybe some marriages just weren't meant to be.
 
Well - The primers were either pierced or they weren't... If they weren't then there is no issue. Which shot better, the Privi Partisan or the Sellier and Bellot?
 
cosmic said:
Well - The primers were either pierced or they weren't... If they weren't then there is no issue. Which shot better, the Privi Partisan or the Sellier and Bellot?
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That's a good question. I think the guys threw out the casings. I had to go back to supervise my son shooting so I didn't ask too much about it except take back the remaining rounds which I later shot. As for their shooting, they said the PPU and the S&B were about the same though one guy said the PPU felt "hotter" when shooting (presumably he means more pressure). They didn't tell me there was much of a performance gain. When I shot the rest of the PPU from my own gun later, there wasn't a different between those and the PMC Xtacs that I was shooting.
 
I was One of the Three members shooting "thegazelle" Rifle at our club last night using .223 PPU ammo and although it shot much the same as the S&B there were 4 rnds out of the box with primmer strikes that you could see through the brass casing. I have shot other cals in PPU with out issue, so just maybe there was a bad batch that had left the Factory and thanks "thegazelle" for allowing us shoot your very accurate Savage Rifle.
 
gmj said:
I was One of the Three members shooting "thegazelle" Rifle at our club last night using .223 PPU ammo and although it shot much the same as the S&B there were 4 rnds out of the box with primmer strikes that you could see through the brass casing. I have shot other cals in PPU with out issue, so just maybe there was a bad batch that had left the Factory and thanks "thegazelle" for allowing us shoot your very accurate Savage Rifle.
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You are quite welcome, gmj. Glad to see another member of our club here!

I am going back on Sunday afternoon and will bring a rifle or two and shoot more of the PPU. I did buy quite a few boxes of this on sale. Presumably, based on the price point at other retail channels, I would have assumed that there was a commensurate performance gain as opposed to the standard .223 plinking offering. I agree that S&B is fairly solid and I have seen that in the .223 and 9mm rounds as well - I think their factory QC is fairly high. The PPU at some retail channels is about $6.00 - $8.00 more than the usual stuff (I got it on a good discount at a local place) - the reviews have generally been good on these.

I am glad you guys pointed out the deep primer strikes - this is not something I would typically have paid attention to, even when picking up the brass and putting it away. Thank you also for the feedback on the trigger adjustment. I may try to get that done before showing up Sunday.
 
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