Target Sports Delivering Again - Megathread

That military brass has not been run through the tumbler long enough to remove the visible annealing marks at the mouth/shoulder like commercial ammo would. Cosmetic.

I can't tell from that pic if the primer has been ring crimped in. Somewhere on the web is the ammo spec, I'd assume. That would have the whole list of what's been done, or not done to it.

"Military Grade" - just barely good enough, but still....good enough.
 
follow up on the exotic ammo

I am finding that the Igman is kind of dirty. Very reliable, no ftf's in over 500 rounds, but it definitely leaves its grungy mark.

The Sumbro XTS (white box) is equally reliable, but it seems cleaner. I think I'm going to skew my ordering to the Sumbro.

I have some Belom, but its buried in the inventory pile somewhere. I haven't shot it. What are you guys finding? Is it clean?
 
G Port said:
follow up on the exotic ammo

I am finding that the Igman is kind of dirty. Very reliable, no ftf's in over 500 rounds, but it definitely leaves its grungy mark.

The Sumbro XTS (white box) is equally reliable, but it seems cleaner. I think I'm going to skew my ordering to the Sumbro.

I have some Belom, but its buried in the inventory pile somewhere. I haven't shot it. What are you guys finding? Is it clean?
Click to expand...
Dirty compared to what?

I have shot a few thousandrounds of Belom. No complaints. One or two malfunctions a ~year ago. Little dirtier burning than your Federal AE or the like... enough of a difference to make a difference? Probably not.

Good practice ammo from my experiences with it. Recent cases headstamped "22" have been flawless. Shot a few hundred rounds of it over the last week or 2
 
G Port said:
follow up on the exotic ammo

I am finding that the Igman is kind of dirty. Very reliable, no ftf's in over 500 rounds, but it definitely leaves its grungy mark.

The Sumbro XTS (white box) is equally reliable, but it seems cleaner. I think I'm going to skew my ordering to the Sumbro.

I have some Belom, but its buried in the inventory pile somewhere. I haven't shot it. What are you guys finding? Is it clean?
Click to expand...
I've burned through two cases of Belom in the past year or so. I find that its decent ammo. Accuracy is not terrible and it's not extremely dirty. The only real downside I've found is some primer issues. Maybe a half a dozen to a dozen for both cases. For whatever reason I seem to have more of the issue with my m&p2.0 9c then either of my Glock 19s (gen4/5) haven't shot any of through my 17.
 
general disorder said:
I've burned through two cases of Belom in the past year or so. I find that its decent ammo. Accuracy is not terrible and it's not extremely dirty. The only real downside I've found is some primer issues. Maybe a half a dozen to a dozen for both cases. For whatever reason I seem to have more of the issue with my m&p2.0 9c then either of my Glock 19s (gen4/5) haven't shot any of through my 17.
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Because Glocks are the most reliable firearms ever. They just go bang.
 
Spartan65 said:
Because Glocks are the most reliable firearms ever. They just go bang.
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Normally I would agree with that but i used some of the m(what ever) 115 milspec ammo that was fairly hot and it gave both those Glocks absolute fits and ran just fine in my M&P. Also I'm at 6700 rnds through my m&p and beside those primer issues it has been very reliable. I have to give it credit considering it's not my favorite gun.
 
AKMa3di said:
Dirty compared to what?

I have shot a few thousandrounds of Belom. No complaints. One or two malfunctions a ~year ago. Little dirtier burning than your Federal AE or the like... enough of a difference to make a difference? Probably not.

Good practice ammo from my experiences with it. Recent cases headstamped "22" have been flawless. Shot a few hundred rounds of it over the last week or 2
Click to expand...

I guess I would say Blazer Brass is my standard for clean ammo. It is by far the ammo I have shot the most of, thus it formed my baseline. I have to say I didn't notice any diff when I switched from Blazer to Sumbro. The cleanliness factor became really apparent when I switched from Sumbro to Igman.

For comparison. A while back I was shooting commercial reloads with lead bullets. Those were really dirty both in terms of general frame and slide spew as well as more difficult buildup in the bore. The Igman is cleaner than that stuff.

It seems to me the Igman is even dirtier than the russian steel stuff I shoot through my rifle. It's still good ammo, though. You just need to apply a little more elbow grease afterward.
 
G Port said:
I guess I would say Blazer Brass is my standard for clean ammo. It is by far the ammo I have shot the most of, thus it formed my baseline. I have to say I didn't notice any diff when I switched from Blazer to Sumbro. The cleanliness factor became really apparent when I switched from Sumbro to Igman.

For comparison. A while back I was shooting commercial reloads with lead bullets. Those were really dirty both in terms of general frame and slide spew as well as more difficult buildup in the bore. The Igman is cleaner than that stuff.

It seems to me the Igman is even dirtier than the russian steel stuff I shoot through my rifle. It's still good ammo, though. You just need to apply a little more elbow grease afterward.
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Interesting. How often are you cleaning? I use grease as lube and I never have to use anything more than a microfiber rag, a soft bristle toothbrush and CLP with very little effort.

Been using a big old tube I have of Echo Red Armor red grease I have from when I did small engine repair on the side. It's very thick, doesn't drip, burn, sling or evaporate off like oil does. It also doesn't drip and dissapear like oil does when it's a concealed carry gun. I don't know if it's the right or ideal stuff, but it's a lithium based grease so I'd assume so
 
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AKMa3di said:
Interesting. How often are you cleaning? I use grease as lube and I never have to use anything more than a microfiber rag, a soft bristle toothbrush and CLP with very little effort.
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I clean it after every trip to the range, which is taking a lot of the joy out of shooting. I've tried to condition myself to cleaning less, but apparently, I have ocd when it comes to guns. Our cleaning rituals are basically the same. I rag wipe it, schmear a little hoppes 9 on, brush it up, and then wipe again with the rag and cleaning patches. With the Igman, I need to wipe a little longer and harder on both ends to get the same level of clean.

My plan was to just wipe the gun down and oil it for 4 range trips, then give it a more thorough spritzing every 5th trip. That plan fell apart.

I guess you can see why cleaner ammo is important to me.

If you read and believe the fps stats on the tsa website, the Igman is a little zippier than the Blazer. A little more dirt for a slightly more powerful round was a tradeoff I was grudgingly going to accept. The Sumbro changed that up; it's got the same zip as the Igman with a cleaner delivery. I'll have to dig out the Belom and see how that works.
 
general disorder said:
I've burned through two cases of Belom in the past year or so. I find that its decent ammo. Accuracy is not terrible and it's not extremely dirty. The only real downside I've found is some primer issues. Maybe a half a dozen to a dozen for both cases. For whatever reason I seem to have more of the issue with my m&p2.0 9c then either of my Glock 19s (gen4/5) haven't shot any of through my 17.
Click to expand...
Belom has some hard primers. My FN509 had the most issue with it. all in all not bad stuff for the price at the time. The other noticeable thing was the burnt powder had a fowl odor to it.
 
G Port said:
I clean it after every trip to the range, which is taking a lot of the joy out of shooting. I've tried to condition myself to cleaning less, but apparently, I have ocd when it comes to guns. Our cleaning rituals are basically the same. I rag wipe it, schmear a little hoppes 9 on, brush it up, and then wipe again with the rag and cleaning patches. With the Igman, I need to wipe a little longer and harder on both ends to get the same level of clean.

My plan was to just wipe the gun down and oil it for 4 range trips, then give it a more thorough spritzing every 5th trip. That plan fell apart.

I guess you can see why cleaner ammo is important to me.

If you read and believe the fps stats on the tsa website, the Igman is a little zippier than the Blazer. A little more dirt for a slightly more powerful round was a tradeoff I was grudgingly going to accept. The Sumbro changed that up; it's got the same zip as the Igman with a cleaner delivery. I'll have to dig out the Belom and see how that works.
Click to expand...
I am not a gun cleaning expert, but that is excessive imo. I never use solvents for cleaning, CLP and maybe a soft brass brush gets the hard carbon off. I shoot 1 sometimes 2 times a week, often multiple firearms and that would be impractical for me. You really do not need to clean every single time. Got probably 5-7??k rds thru a glock I got a year or two ago. Did a deep clean of the frame, trigger bar, etc. Everything came off with a toothbrush and a little CLP. Clean it every several hundred rounds. Runs great

The igman is NATO loading so it's loaded hotter than normal 9mm luger.

One time I wish I cleaned every time was when I bought 2k of unknown 7.62x39 that was sold and labeled as non-corrosive, but was corrosive and rusted a really nice AK I had a little bit. Not an issue with 9mm tho and it'd still have rusted unless I used water
 
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ErnstStavro said:
Belom has some hard primers. My FN509 had the most issue with it. all in all not bad stuff for the price at the time. The other noticeable thing was the burnt powder had a fowl odor to it.
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I also noticed a strange smell the first few times I shot Belom. Kind of sulfur/pungent smell when you shoot it
 
AKMa3di said:
I am not a gun cleaning expert, but that is excessive imo. I never use solvents for cleaning, CLP and maybe a soft brass brush gets the hard carbon off. I shoot 1 sometimes 2 times a week, often multiple firearms and that would be impractical for me. You really do not need to clean every single time. Got probably 5-7??k rds thru a glock I got a year or two ago. Did a deep clean of the frame, trigger bar, etc. Everything came off with a toothbrush and a little CLP. Clean it every several hundred rounds. Runs great

The igman is NATO loading so it's loaded hotter than normal 9mm luger.

One time I wish I cleaned every time was when I bought 2k of unknown 7.62x39 that was sold and labeled as non-corrosive, but was corrosive and rusted a really nice AK I had a little bit. Not an issue with 9mm tho and it'd still have rusted unless I used water
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You're probably correct that I am cleaning it too often. I worked with a guy who never cleaned at all, and he never had any problems. Just oil and shoot.

As I said though, this is a personality quirk rather than a necessity for firearm maintenance. I just can't seem to break it. Funny though, you use a soft brass brush to get the hard carbon off. Carbon never stays on mine long enough to harden. I use a soft nylon brush for cleaning.
 
G Port said:
follow up on the exotic ammo

I am finding that the Igman is kind of dirty. Very reliable, no ftf's in over 500 rounds, but it definitely leaves its grungy mark.
Click to expand...
I just shot 105 rounds of Igman x39 and it’s very dirty as well. Leaves a ton of unburned powder in the chamber and barrel.
BUT it runs 100% in the AR so I can’t complain too much.
I can honestly say steel case wolf Tula etc doesn’t leave this much crap behind 😂
But I clean it often so it doesn’t matter too much. I thought I was shooting 22lr remington golden bullets aka golden turds lol E6261F0D-3B1F-4575-ADA8-112B4C74B554.jpeg F5A6E9F4-8646-451E-8F8C-2902A5FBE2BA.jpeg
 
andrew1220 said:
I just shot 105 rounds of Igman x39 and it’s very dirty as well. Leaves a ton of unburned powder in the chamber and barrel.
BUT it runs 100% in the AR so I can’t complain too much.
I can honestly say steel case wolf Tula etc doesn’t leave this much crap behind 😂
But I clean it often so it doesn’t matter too much. I thought I was shooting 22lr remington golden bullets aka golden turds lolView attachment 655539View attachment 655540
Click to expand...

Ty. I'm glad the extra crud wasn't my imagination. But I do have the additional dirty patches to substantiate my belief.
 
Coyote33 said:
All these no name brands still showing up here. When are the real brands going to come back to near normal pricing and availability?
Click to expand...
We've seen blazer brass and aluminum being close in price, under 30 cents per round. The huge demand and lack of supply in the last couple years brought a lot of out-of-country manufacturers to import a lot of ammo into the US. If they can keep their prices below the average US brand mainstays (Blazer, Federal, Winchester, et cetera) then I don't think they're going to go away anytime soon.
 
Coyote33 said:
All these no name brands still showing up here. When are the real brands going to come back to near normal pricing and availability?
Click to expand...

The thing is, these exotic no name brands are actually pretty good. Aside from the dirty Igman, I have found this cheaper import stuff to be reliable, quality rounds. Even the Igman has been completely reliable.

Today I happened to load mags with Igman and Blazer. It actually looked like the Igman brass was superior. The Blazer had more little blemishes and discolorations. A couple of the Blazer rounds also had very small nicks in the bullet itself. The Igman bullets were uniformly perfect. The Igman rounds are also a little spicier than the Blazer.

This is kind of like watching the American auto industry fail to recognize that the Japs were starting to produce a quality product. They ignored the imports until they were losing market share.
 
Coyote33 said:
All these no name brands still showing up here. When are the real brands going to come back to near normal pricing and availability?
Click to expand...
There are normal brands up for sale....buy all you want.

The no name brands are cheaper and probably always will be as compared to the normal brands, no matter if the normal brands come down in price to.

In other words if Blazer goes down to 10 dollars a box (unlikely) the Belom will be 8 dollars a box. And people will still buy it over the Blazer. Or at least
I will be cause its a waste if your just range shooting.
 

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