Has anyone here had experience with the German MEN manufactured 5.56mm M193 ammo? I am curious about velocity, groups and reliability.
I had some experience with it years back, seemed a little hotter then the stuff we were issued at the time ( believe it was Lake city, but could be wrong) and accuracy was within requirements from the M-4 of less then 3in at 100 meters consistently. I remember it shot a little high on the standard A-2 M16 sights, and that was with a 20 inch barrel, don't remember it being high with the M-4, but i'm a little fuzzy on it. For what it's worth, it seemed to be good and reliable, with maybe a failure of one in 1000, pretty good actually!
some sources say that they were bought by CBC Group [ Brazil ] several years ago, plus it appears they are no longer selling on the consumer market, military n police sales only** supposedly .. however the luckygunner seems to have some Magtech/MEN ammo Search results for: 'MEN' CBC Group owns CBC, Magtech, MEN, plus Sellier & Bellot.
If that's the case, be ware of the Sellier&Bellot stuff, it's questionable quality, and tends to run on the low end and dirty, not what you want in a gas driven auto! If it were me, I would score some of the PPU/Privi Partisen stuff, I have been most impressed with it's performance in every chambering I have tried, so much so, that I bought several cases of it in several flavors!
I dont Think they own MEN, only import their product. I acquired some recently and fired some to check reliability. At 100 yards with a human silhouette gong there were consistant hits. No issues from my rifle, was curious about others. Have not checked groups or velocity....that will come. So far the MEN seems cleaner than Lake City, Guatamalan and Malaisan M193. In fact, the exterier of the spent brass looks cleaned immediately after firing. The BCG was not very dirty after about 120 rounds either. Surprised.
here is the German wiki page MEN – Metallwerk Elisenhütte – Wikipedia it does state CBC Group [ Brazil ] is the parent company methinks Metallwerk Elisenhütte Gmbh still has a production facility in Germany
Wow. Read the fine print, CBC owns magtech ammo, S&B and a few others interesting operations, makes it all in Brazil and sends it wherever. I did NOT know that. I knew S&B was imported but somehow thought it was European. CBC
The PPU stuff I have reloaded (5.56, 7.62X51, &.62X63, and 10 mm Auto) never had any issues with case head separation or any signs of "soft" brass, don't know if your stuff might have been an older batch or something, but I havnt had any issues! @Tully Mars, 3M-TA3, or @Seacowboys might have some insight and/or experience here!
The battle packs of it I bought (at least a decade ago) were marked made in Serbia. It was M193 5.56mm. It was good shooting ammo, but I had several come apart on the press....i quit reloading it. Never used other clamberings with this brand.
I've had a lot of trouble with supposedly top tier brass that I've stuck with Lake City for things my life may depend on. All my 5.56 and 7.62 is Lake City brass whether I bought it loaded or not. I'll take a look at PPU. I figure IWI is good as well.