Praise for PPU in Milsurps

[Mountain]

I can't really say why, but I used to turn my nose up a little regarding PPU ammo. Perhaps in some caliber I had poor results in the past. At that time, I wondered why some had a relatively high opinion of PPU. Now I know...

Below pic shows a comparison of .308 match ammo in my recently completed M1. Criterion barrel, iron sights prone w/ sling at 100 yards. Ammo tested was Black Hills 168 BT HP Match, PPU 168 HP BT Match, and Hornady 155 ELD Match.



PPU was best of the bunch, with a really tight group of 4 and the 5th not far away. Good enough to get a fantastic score in a CMP match. The Hornady was pretty good too. Interesting that the Black Hills was all over the place- 4 rounds barely in the black and one round was barely off the paper (where I tore a notch at left). I thought Black Hills was supposed to be pretty good. Certainly this rifle doesn't like it.

Though groups are getting better since I reconditioned the bore on my K31, with GP11 I was getting hits all over the black and into the 8-ring on the SR-1 target. Popped in some PPU 7.5 Swiss and the groups tightened up, with all hits in the black.

Added bonus is the brass holds up well.

 

[DW357]

Very nice. They seem to make great rifle ammo but I've had issues with their 357 and 44 mag brass.

Glad to see the cheaper ammo is working best for you. That's convenient.

 

[Mountain]

Maybe that's where I had the trouble in the past- PPU pistol ammo. I think I have a little left over for 357.

Perhaps good news if CMP will be selling PPU when they run out of HXP.

 

[mac1911]

Looks like they already are in with S&B and creedmoor at the moment.
PPU has been making ammo for a very long time. I'm sure when they want to they can do it well.
Black hills is strange ammo. I think it depends on what you buy.
Back in the early days their remaned line of ammo loaded with a 77grain match king was very good for the price point.
I shot some of the 30-06 gold line ammo from my 1903a4 and it was spot on.
PPU 223 match is very good for the money also.

The ppu brass seems to be good stuff also.
I picked up some 54r match ammo several years ago and the brass sitting waiting to be reloaded.

PPU has 2 things going for it.
It does very well in most rifles and it's much cheaper than others.

 

[Mountain]

Hear anything about the S&B? I buy the Creedmoor when I want the good brass that comes with it. Seems to be a couple versions of the Creedmoor- so you have to look for the stuff in Lapua brass.

I reloaded PPU 54R brass for the M39. Some of it had pretty good dents from shooting in my VEPR, but unless the dents were huge I went ahead and ran it. I won't be shooting anymore of my brass cases in the VEPR- it will get the crap from my spam cans. The PPU 54R brass so far is holding up quite well after a couple reloads, not growing when resized.

Lapua is my benchmark for good brass- several reloads in the Garand and/or '03. No signs of problems yet and after firing it still drops right into the case gauge. Almost a shame to FL size it. We'll see how the PPU brass does over time, but it may take me a year or two to have an adequate evaluation.

 

[mac1911]

I can't really say why, but I used to turn my nose up a little regarding PPU ammo. Perhaps in some caliber I had poor results in the past. At that time, I wondered why some had a relatively high opinion of PPU. Now I know...

Below pic shows a comparison of .308 match ammo in my recently completed M1. Criterion barrel, iron sights prone w/ sling at 100 yards. Ammo tested was Black Hills 168 BT HP Match, PPU 168 HP BT Match, and Hornady 155 ELD Match.

View attachment 202239

PPU was best of the bunch, with a really tight group of 4 and the 5th not far away. Good enough to get a fantastic score in a CMP match. The Hornady was pretty good too. Interesting that the Black Hills was all over the place- 4 rounds barely in the black and one round was barely off the paper (where I tore a notch at left). I thought Black Hills was supposed to be pretty good. Certainly this rifle doesn't like it.

Though groups are getting better since I reconditioned the bore on my K31, with GP11 I was getting hits all over the black and into the 8-ring on the SR-1 target. Popped in some PPU 7.5 Swiss and the groups tightened up, with all hits in the black.

Added bonus is the brass holds up well.

Also remember your now super clean barrel needs a,little time to "foul" to the bullets. Also complicating things is changing bullet profiles.
Some rifles show a large variation with this some don't.

 

[Mountain]

I had fired quite a few shots before the above targets, so the barrel should have been reasonably 'seasoned'. Behavior of the different ammo brands was pretty consistent. Maybe that Black Hills would settle down eventually but probably not enough. I also have some Creedmoor .308- it performs similar to the Hornady now that the M1 has been sorted out to its current state. Still needs a trigger job and the NM treatment to the front handguard.