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American Ammunition Company 77gr SMK HPBT

I wonder if they're riding the edge of pressure to get the velocity up but doing so with a powder that's a little more temperamental.
 
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Having not shot more than 40 rounds (and no chono on any of it), it seems like these loads are on the hotter side even for 556 pressures. I did not have any issues in my 14.5" Rainier barrel though and all was sub MOA.

I am waiting until they have the TMK version available to get an idea of which shoots better for me
Not sure they're going to have a TMK version. Aren't they making the projectiles in house as well as the loaded ammo?

Apologies if they've said they'll be doing just that and I missed it.
 
Hey Gents, just another guy throwing my experience here- shot 100 rounds of the new AAC 77gr myself, and wasn't impressed.

For Context, running a 14.5 suppressed (BCM/Aero, the Reddit special), nothing fancy. Never had any issues shooting sub-MOA with Black Hills/IMI Razorcore and thought I'd give the AAC a try, especially at a lower entry price.

First box held roughly MOA, no major issue.
Box 2 - 3 -Blown Primers, 2 dented rounds not fired
Box 3 - 5 - Blown Primers
Box 4 - 3 - Blown Primers, 1 dented round not fired
Box 5 (had spotter shoot) - 3 blown primers, shot out of his Criterion 18" Radian Build

All bought at the same time, so maybe a bad batch? Not worth the PP IMO to try again

I even shot other types of ammo throughout the day to ensure it wasn't a system issue, occurrence did not repeat with anything from white box 55gr to IMI 77s.

just my .02

Also if anyone has a criterion 18" core in .223 wylde... my DMs remain open....

Interesting first post.

What lot number?
 
Just ordered 600 of the SMK loaded stuff. I'm sure my PRI built, Douglass barreled Mk12 will like it.

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I recently picked up 400 of the 77gr OTM that was on sale for Easter. This was 20 at 100 from a brand new build with a 20” Kreiger barrel spun by CLE. This was shot at 8x with a Trjicon Credo 1-8x28.

Hopefully the SMK’s provide similar or better performance once I can get ahold of some. I was quite happy with how the OTMs performed.
 

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Took the 75gr out to the range with the mk12 Mod H. Grouped okay, need to go at it again today. First shot was 2915. Had to delete that one. Also had one blown primer. As i said if they can get the QC down it’s going to be hard to argue with for the time on the range and behind the gun. Surprised i was hitting 2700 with my 16”
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So you just delete data from a string if it fails to meet your preconceived notions?

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Yeah i would hope that is an oddity of the chrono or the load. 200fps over advertised seems a bit off. I’ll run another string today to see. Also it would surpassed my preconceived notions at that velocity not failed to meet.
 
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Yeah i would hope that is an oddity of the chrono or the load. 200fps over advertised seems a bit off. I’ll run another string today to see. Also it would surpassed my preconceived notions at that velocity not failed to meet.

Shoot a statistically significant string over the chronograph. The fact that you had a blown primer is a huge problem, particularly since this isn't the first report of blown primers for this company.

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Shoot a statistically significant string over the chronograph. The fact that you had a blown primer is a huge problem, particularly since this isn't the first report of blown primers for this company.

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No doubt. Which is why i mentioned the fact. One data point that far out of the rest of the set one single time is spurious data. If it does it more than once, ok, time to look at it differently. But people throw extremes out of data sets all the time. I’ll run another 10-20 today and get a pic.
 
I hope you let PSA customer service know. Good feedback data in important for product improvement.

What's important is companies not using their paying customers as guinea pigs. Producing ammunition that doesn't have an extreme spread of 262 FPS and doesn't blow primers is not a matter of product improvement, it's a matter of customer safety

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What's important is companies not using their paying customers as guinea pigs. Producing ammunition that doesn't have an extreme spread of 262 FPS and doesn't blow primers is not a matter of product improvement, it's a matter of customer safety

....
I totally agree with you. Better testing and being more conservative with loads, etc.
 
I wasn’t impressed. I had 200+ fps ES and a blown primer. My stuff was purchased Dec 2022. The seating depth was also all over the place. PSA happened to catch my negative review and deleted it. So much for feedback.
 
I wasn’t impressed. I had 200+ fps ES and a blown primer. My stuff was purchased Dec 2022. The seating depth was also all over the place. PSA happened to catch my negative review and deleted it. So much for feedback.
Wait what?
 
Wait what?
I was getting ready for a gas gun match and decided to pick up a few boxes to test out since they were cheap and new to the market. I chronographed one box of the few I had and saw velocities were all over the place with an extreme spread of a little over 200 FPS. In that same box I also had a blown primer. I also noticed that seating depth were varied. Did I measure them? Nope. My calibrated eyeball said so.
So I decided to leave PSA an honest review over the weekend and also attached a pic of the case of the blown primer. By Monday it was removed. Only glowing reviews from others remained.
 
I was getting ready for a gas gun match and decided to pick up a few boxes to test out since they were cheap and new to the market. I chronographed one box of the few I had and saw velocities were all over the place with an extreme spread of a little over 200 FPS. In that same box I also had a blown primer. I also noticed that seating depth were varied. Did I measure them? Nope. My calibrated eyeball said so.
So I decided to leave PSA an honest review over the weekend and also attached a pic of the case of the blown primer. By Monday it was removed. Only glowing reviews from others remained.
I think he may have been referring to the december date.

Are these the 77 SMK or the new 77OTMs?
 
I just ordered another 60 rounds of their in house 77 OTMs and 40 rounds of TMKs to see how they run.

Anyone have info on their Sabre bullets? Looks like their version of a VMax that comes in 55, 62, and 77 gr. May be an interesting predator round too
 
Keep us posted I’ve been tempted time and time again especially with their 77gr OTM. But i still have like 100rds or so of the 75 that was blowing primers.
 
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Keep us posted I’ve been tempted time and time again especially with their 77gr OTM. But i still have like 100rds or so of the 75 that was blowing primers.
Hmm blowing primers. Sounds spicy. I like spicy ammo lol

Just seemed like a no brainer when I’m getting aale emails for blaster ammo for $0.50

Crazy times

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It looks like you at least opened up one box. Does it look decent or all dented up?
 
Maybe Il shoot a box for sd es

Accuracy too but I suck here lately Crotch goblins and 7 day work weeks take all your practice time and energy away
 
Looks better than the 77 OTMs I got. They shot fine, just had a bunch of small dents.
 
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What rail are you using? Nice rifle I have a similar using WOA barrel but still undecided on optic.
It's this complete upper receiver

 
I was getting ready for a gas gun match and decided to pick up a few boxes to test out since they were cheap and new to the market. I chronographed one box of the few I had and saw velocities were all over the place with an extreme spread of a little over 200 FPS. In that same box I also had a blown primer. I also noticed that seating depth were varied. Did I measure them? Nope. My calibrated eyeball said so.
So I decided to leave PSA an honest review over the weekend and also attached a pic of the case of the blown primer. By Monday it was removed. Only glowing reviews from others remained.
Crazy
 
So reached out to Matt on reddit (Palmetto CS representative) they exchanged the remaining 100rds of 75gr BTHP for 77gr and not only that but gave me the entire order. So despite having shot 200rds of the 300, with the issues as documented. They gave me 300 of the 77gr OTM. I hope to get to the range this weekend.
 
So reached out to Matt on reddit (Palmetto CS representative) they exchanged the remaining 100rds of 75gr BTHP for 77gr and not only that but gave me the entire order. So despite having shot 200rds of the 300, with the issues as documented. They gave me 300 of the 77gr OTM. I hope to get to the range this weekend.
Glad PSA took care of you! I ordered some of their 75 grain match, and 77 grain OTM...will be going to the range today if conditions are decent (forest fire smoke)...I am also trying some Blackhills MK262 Mod 1-C, IMI 77 to see how they group at 100 yards out of a Ruger Precision Rifle 5.56 and my 18" SPR with Wylde chamber (PSA)...will be comparing groups....5shots each. UPS really slams around ammo shipments...the best ammo packing is either Norma or IMI...even the Blackhills could use better packaging on their MK-262...I got it in the 30 cal can fortunately for that reason! I will post a report when I get a chance...so I hope you do likewise. PSA has done more for our 2nd Amendment than any other American company...so I would rather spend my money with them than anyone else!
 
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Finally opened my first box of AAC TMKs ordered a while back and started humming “one of these is not like the other…” until I realized it’s not just one 😂
maybe you won something?
 
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maybe you won something?
I wish!

Got to shoot this ammo yesterday over a chrono and I'm still sorting out some accuracy items before making too much of a statement there.

20" RRA Predator Pursuit barrel threaded and suppressed over 11 shots of TMK ammo averaged 2754 fps with an ES of 128 and SD of 45. Not great, especially considering this ammo should be supersonic to over 950 yds at sea level (nearly 1k at my DA).

My only comment on accuracy is it was less consistent over the 11 shots than my reloaded 77 SMKs over TAC (which has been 1 to 1.5 MOA in other rifles). I had some of those reloads and they shot better too. My assumption is since the TMK is more sensitive to seating depth, they were not as forgiving as the SMKs.

Overall, I really hope AAC can get their QC dialed in but I'm not holding my breath. I'd guess they will find the most success with their in house OTMs or traditional SMKs since they should be more tolerant of varying seating depths. For me, I'm probably going to test their SMK / OTMs further and hope they get the TMKs figured out. Until then, the IMI stuff at less than $1 per round is probably going to be my go to