Korean Surplus .30 Carbine ammo

Looks nice.  Anyone shot it?

We have 10.5% sales tax here in Arkansas.  With shipping and tax the price goes WAY up.

Range Report

Fortunately, SE Wisconsin has had warm weather the last few weeks, I had a few days off work, and a can of the Korean surplus from SGAmmo to test drive!

Can received was Lot PS-81K161-468 (1981 vintage). Can in great shape with a bit of dust on it. The can did not have a tight seal, when originally packed several of the bandoleer strap edges were under the seal. However, the ammo inside is very nice. There were some minor corrosion spots here and there, but nothing concerning. Stripper clips have the integrated spoon.

I set up a target @~50 yards from a bench rest. Accuracy was very good and on par with Lake City 71 used for comparison. After the paper targets, I shot at steel range targets ~130 yards. No problem dinging the 6" and 8" targets most of the time. Rifle is a late Inland handstamp I just finished building up from parts, 6/45 barrel with a muzzle <1.

In total, I've shot 180 rounds in several range sessions with no issues. This ammo burns a little bit dirtier than LC, in my opinion, but not bad. I checked fired cases, everything looked good, no interior corrosion spotted. I'm giving it a thumbs up.

KM1 Target



LC71 Target



Example of minor case blemishes



Stripper clips, SM marked

GotSnlB28 wrote: This ammo burns a little bit dirtier than LC, in my opinion, but not bad. I checked fired cases, everything looked good, no interior corrosion spotted. I'm giving it a thumbs up.

Agree with GotSnlB28, although I did not really think it was any dirtier than any of the other ammo I shoot. I only shot 50 rounds today, 67 yards at a B29 small silhouette with a 7" oval center, dropped a few out, my aging eyes get blurry trying to focus on the clear tip of the front sight post. I give the ammo a two thumbs up.

The reason for the "burns a little dirtier than LC" observation was that I noticed more soot on the spent cases of the Korean ammo than on LC. Otherwise seemed the same.

After firing approximately 150 rounds in seven different carbines, I concluded that the Korean surplus ammo head stamped PSD 85 performs about the same as my other go-to lower cost plinking ammo, American Quality. The only problem I noticed is that about one round out of ten would suffer a pierced primer. The primers appear to be unplated brass whereas the American Quality primers look to be nickel plated. This condition results in a noticeable blast of smoke escaping the receiver that is somewhat annoying but not dangerous. There was no noticeable affect on accuracy or function when this occurred.

The picture below shows, from left to right, a Korean surplus case with the normal primer hit, a Korean surplus case with a punctured primer and a typical American Quality fired case.

Since my first posting I bought another can which is PSD 84. Experienced 6 pierced primers in 110 rounds. Also a handful where there was a very slight back out of the primer.

@jackp - yes I dont like the situation with the pierced primers [or primer backout] and hadn't seen any in the 81 batch after shooting around 3 bandoleers worth. I have never seen it with Lake City or commercial. I do collect all my brass and as part of that I always check for abnormalities. On the headspace, I have a full set of gauges and check every rifle I buy or build. After I saw the primer backout on those few I checked it again and headspace is perfect on that rifle... It is a very slight back out, attached a picture.

PS84 https://imgur.com/a/EMVAQaL

Gorsnlb28 I think, do you have access to a chronograph? Can you weigh the fired brass please? 

David Milisock wrote: Gorsnlb28 I think, do you have access to a chronograph? Can you weigh the fired brass please?  It looks like extreme pressure and maybe brass variations.

Unfortunately I don't have a chronograph or scale. I do know the ammo was consistently accurate same as my can of 81.