Parabellum Research

[SV_Dude]

Anyone use these guys for buying ammo? pbrammo.com

I just ordered 400 rounds of 45 acp 185gr fmj from their value line. Total price before shipping was 140 bucks. They have awesome prices because they load their own ammo. This is my first order with them so I'll see how it goes. They offer military discounts and have pretty good customer service so far. I submitted the order today and the guy on the phone said he will put it in fedex today and I should have it by friday.

They have programs where you can send your own brass to them to have them load if for you to make the ammo even cheaper. They seem like a pretty good company and as long as their ammo shoots good in my 1911's I may use them exclusively.

 

[bofa]

Did you read about them somewhere else? I'd be leery about buying private handloads or reloads unless others have had good experiences with them already. The price sounds good though.

 

[SV_Dude]

I heard from them from a few guys on pirate4x4. They had good recommendations so I figured I would give them a shot. I'll post reviews about them once I throw a few hundred rounds through the tube this weekend. Luckily I haven't found a round yet that my 1911's won't eat.

 

[LandCruiser]

Reman ammo is fine.

I buy mine from Freedom Munitions and Canned Heat (Georgia Arms).

When I'm lazy, I send them my brass for a store credit.

 

[LandCruiser]

Sometimes (and this is very rarely) crappy guns that cause case bulges can stretch the cases out out of spec, to the point that they will still look good enough to reload, but *MAY* cause feed failures in overly tight chambers.

Glocks are notorious for bulging chambers and some people have complained on the 1911 boards that 40SW and 9mm reloads don't chamber in their guns.

Since I really don't give a damn and feed my guns anything that goes bang (as long as it's not a steel case ammo in anything but a straight-up Commie gun), I have been shooting reloads and reman ammo exclusively in my AR's, bolt action rifles, and 1911s (from the cheapest to the most expensive semi-customs).

I have actually found that QC with brands like Freedom is BETTER than cheap crap like Federal Wally World value box, WWB, and that dirty PMC crap from S. Korea that I swear is black powder. Why? Because a human being has to inspect the case before putting it on the reloading line.

 

[bofa]

Yeah, I'm not being dismissive of reloads or anything, just cautious about unproven companies. I try not to be the guinea pig with things that go boom in my hand.

 

[SV_Dude]

Yeah, I'm not being dismissive of reloads or anything, just cautious about unproven companies. I try not to be the guinea pig with things that go boom in my hand.

Luckily these rounds are being shot in solid steel quality 1911's and not some polymer junk. I'm really at the point where in ready to get rid of all my plastic pistols. Not that I have anything against my hk or xd, it's just that I love the hell out of my 1911's and can shoot them extremely accurate. I have my eyes set on a Wilson combat 1911 at the moment. Back to my point... If there is an issue with a round I trust the solid steel gun to hold up better than a polymer pistol.

 

[SV_Dude]

So far I am very impressed with this company. I ordered the ammo Wednesday, it was put in the mail that day and I got it today. Their customer service was very prompt with receiving my email of my ID to verify my age. I called the shop and asked about a military discount and they gave me the code for the discount once I proved my military service.

I asked them to include a drawing of an owl that was dual wielding pistols. Hey, my wife likes owls. They were even prompt in sending an email to me asking about the picture. I was concerned that if I complicated things with a silly picture that they may not get the shipment out that day so I told them to disregard. Oh well. The ammo still came in today so I am a happy guy so far!

After getting the box un-packed there were 4 separate boxes with 100 rounds each. I opened the first one and laid them all out on the table. While I was laying them out I wanted to check a few things. I was looking at the primers to make sure there weren't any tall primers and also looking at the overall condition of each round. I put them on the table and then checked the bullets to make sure they were all seated evenly to be sure there weren't any tall or short rounds. Normally I wouldn't be this anal about new ammo but this is the first time I bought reloads. The brass is all once fired brass but looks to be good brass. All the rounds are even and looked good. I cycled a few magazines through 2 different 1911's and they all cycled great. Tomorrow I'll take the wife to the range and we'll test out a couple hundred rounds and see how things to. So far I'm happy and won't hesitate to order from them again. Unfortunately I won't be able to provide any ballistic data since I don't have a chrono.


400 rounds of 185gr. FMJ .45ACP.


A poser pic of one of the test subjects


More tomorrow!

 

[hrt4me]

400 rounds of 185gr. FMJ .45ACP.


A poser pic of one of the test subjects

is your feed ramp properly contoured to reliably feed that bullet profile?

 

[SV_Dude]

is your feed ramp properly contoured to reliably feed that bullet profile?

The sig and my kimber fed and cycled a few mags worth of ammo without any hiccup. I was just pulling and releasing the slide so I think I'm safe.

 

[LandCruiser]

I wouldn't hand cycle ammo, you're just asking for bullet setback.

Most GI (5") 1911s ship with 16# recoil springs, which should be fine for 185 gr ammo.

Depending on how heavy your slide is and what the rating on those flatwire springs Sig puts in their guns, you may not get reliable cycling with such a light bullet.

If that's the case get a GI guide rod for a non flatwire spring and buy some 14 and 15# springs from Wolff and see what works.

Flat nose (semi wadcutter) is the most accurate bullet profile for a handgun. Modern 1911s will feed it fine.

 

[SV_Dude]

I wouldn't hand cycle ammo, you're just asking for bullet setback.

Most GI (5") 1911s ship with 16# recoil springs, which should be fine for 185 gr ammo.

Depending on how heavy your slide is and what the rating on those flatwire springs Sig puts in their guns, you may not get reliable cycling with such a light bullet.

If that's the case get a GI guide rod for a non flatwire spring and buy some 14 and 15# springs from Wolff and see what works.

Flat nose (semi wadcutter) is the most accurate bullet profile for a handgun. Modern 1911s will feed it fine.

Their website said that they did all their testing on these rounds with a glock and a 5" 1911. They didn't say what they had for their 1911 but I feel pretty good about the gun eating these rounds reliably... we'll see.

As for hand cycling the rounds, I have never had an issue yet and I do that with every new pistol I get or test. It's my way of doing a full function test without actually shooting the gun. It allows me to test the feed and ejection of the rounds. I will keep this in mind though and try to minimize how much I hand cycle pistols.

 

[SV_Dude]

Looks like I get to eat my words about the gun eating these rounds. I can literally say that I had more jams today from shooting only 100 rounds than I EVER have with any 1911 I have ever had COMBINED! I went through a 100 round box of the PBR ammo and literally 1 out of every 10 rounds were failure to feed into the chamber. The brass got snagged on the breach of my kimber and both sig's. One round was a failure to eject and the brass chipped away where the extractor tried to grab onto it.

I talked to one of the range safeties that is smart on reloading. After he looked at the pistols and the ammo, he said that the brass casings weren't prepped right and also weren't crimped correctly. There is a huge lip on the edge of the casing where the round is pressed into. The lip got caught on the breach and jammed up during the chambering cycle. The range safety also suggested that I file the breach to make a smoother ramp to the barrel on all my 1911's. It seems like a decent idea but I have never had this issue with any other ammo on any of my 1911's. I think if the cases were prepped properly and crimped then I wouldn't have had this issue. I'm not 100% sure since I have very little knowledge of this particular subject.

I'll post detailed pics tomorrow of the chambers and a few of the jacked up rounds that I kept.

Looks like I get to call PBR tomorrow and see what they say about it. I'm interested to see what they have to say about it.

As of now I have 300 rounds that I don't quite know what to do with. Can I have a reloading buddy run them through his press and crimp the casings or do the casings need to be re-worked?

 

[LandCruiser]

Sig doesn't always ream its chambers out properly, there have been Scorpions and Nightmares (as well a other guns with their "match" barrels) that have been having feed issues. You can have Sig ream out the gun, but you're never sure if they will overdo it for reliability and you'll lose some of your accuracy.

I would try shooting the ammo through another 1911 before coming to the conclusion that it's the crimping...

 

[SV_Dude]

It was doing this in all 3 of my 1911's.

 

[hearno]

I have wanted that Spartan Sig for the longest time. That is all.

 

[SV_Dude]

I have wanted that Spartan Sig for the longest time. That is all.

I have two of them

I got one for myself then my wife fell in love with it and wanted her own.

 

[SV_Dude]

Pics of some of the affected ammo.

Notice on the rounds how there seems to be a lot of lip on the edge of the brass where the bullet is seated. That is what was catching.

 

[nevada]

Pics of some of the affected ammo.

Notice on the rounds how there seems to be a lot of lip on the edge of the brass where the bullet is seated. That is what was catching.

looks like they are seated too deep.
might have to be to seat to the correct COAL for that light of a bullet.
a heavier bullet would likely work better

 

[nevada]

ive never reloaded .45, but do you have any calipers, can you get the COAL, and compare it to what its supposed to be for an FMJ?