The first batch I bought from you guys had significant dents, the second did not, so I guess you are making progress.

Hopefully you can get the SD dialed in a little bit too.

If you can maintain the price points you have now, you are probably right about this becoming a market dominator.

Maybe they’re seating to Ogive vs OAL…

Agree on everything you said. PSA/AAC is doing great things. Outside of Magtech it was always hard for me to find a consistent performing 77gr load (none of my guns ever liked IMI). It’ll be nice to have a load that I think (hopefully) will be in stock/able to stack deep. While I would like to see a bit more velocity on the AAC offering, for the price and accuracy I can’t complain. It seems to run about 60-80 fps slower out of my main 2 precision AR’s compared to CBC/Magtech, but still plenty good to 600-700 yards. Sealed bullet and primer would be nice down the road maybe too. Magtech has claimed their 77gr will be back in production this year since they had pricing issues with Sierra and started producing their own projectiles too. We will see how they fair with all that.

Of course there will be some issues to work out with a new facility, machines, etc. it’ll get worked out, good to see direct communication from PSA in these threads. Excited to try the .308 and 6.5 stuff when it comes out!

Appreciate the kind words and support everyone.

This country needs an ammo plant that makes its own primers focused on promoting freedom to the civilian market.

Yes. I did note some faint red on two of the precision load primers. I’ll need to deconstruct them to see if these are sealed.

18” Rainier Ultramatch



Avg 2782 S-D 24.6
ES 96
Series Shot Speed
29 1 2774 ft/s
29 2 2781 ft/s
29 3 2789 ft/s
29 4 2777 ft/s
29 5 2792 ft/s
29 6 2829 ft/s
29 7 2733 ft/s
29 8 2780 ft/s
29 9 2770 ft/s
29 10 2804 ft/s

If one were to remove shot 7, the Std. goes to 18.39 and ES drops to 59fps.

Testing of a LaRue MGU and Geissele upper with the AAC 77gr OTM thanks to the GA HTF. Neither upper had a bipod, so I used a front bag and small rear squeeze bag.

The LT upper was brand new, so it may group better after a few more rds and a good cleaning. I started in the upper left getting the optic zero’d and then fired groups, adjusting 0.3mil right between the first group and the remaining 2.

The G upper was quite surprising. I shot the middle group, then the two on the ends. I adjusted my hold technique after the middle group and each subsequent group had 4 very close together. It impressed me; as I don’t use a LPVO often. I think that running a different magazine or tweaking the gas tube could help the upper, but the ammo shot very respectable imo.

With the only 'affordable' load averaging 80+ cpr, can I ask where 6.5 Grendel is on your roadmap?

IS it on your roadmap?

There’s a lot of demand for 6.5G that’s affordable.

Yeah those Geissele groups are a little rough. What barrel is that? Looks stainless steel, but thought they only sold the CHF chrome lined barrels.

Early this month or later? So I know when to be on the look out.

About 10 days

Now we know who bought up all the TMK lol

@SuperJlarge  Very good shooting!  I also shoot a Rainier 18" UM but average more around 1 - 1.1 MOA with CBC 77SMK.   I'll have to try some of this new PSA 77!

About where in GA are you?  I shoot at PCSC.

Going to grab 200 rounds and I'll post chrono results when I get it.  I did like the 75grain so we will see how this does.  And I'll let you know if I see any mangled ones.

What is your velocity target for the 70gr TSX? I'd like to be over 2500fps from my 11.5. Also, will you be sealing the neck and primer? IF this is going to approximate Browntip as alleged, that's kinda the criteria.

Also, a sealed 5.56 75gr Gold Dot would be really neat...

Shot my ammo today out to 600 yds. Couldn’t get velocities as my buddy with the MagnetoSpeed couldn’t make it to the range due to work. It was holding .8-.9 MOA all day out of the White Oak 16” SPR barrel with the AEM5.

None of the boxes I’ve opened so far have any dents or defects. For the money the ammo can’t be beat. I’m happy.

I will also mention I put in 2700fps in my ballistics calculator. That had me at 4.8 mils at 600yds. I was shooting high and needed only 4.6 mils to make x-ring impacts.

It will be interesting to see the results of any ballistic gel testing with this load.

whats the price of the TMKs? sounds like a deadly coyote round for this up coming hunting season!!!

The website is showing 80 cents per which would work out to $16

That’s the same lot # I’ve got.

Curious how they were measuring velocity, if you’re talking about the 18” Douglas barrel.

Has anyone else had any more use with it?

I’ve heard some people have been making returns back to PSA. I should be able to try some of mine this Saturday. I believe my lot is exclusively #SCL1CC241 as well. I wouldn’t be thrilled if I’m getting 25% failures like others have mentioned.

Why?

I read on Insta that some people have submitted RMA requests. Bruiser Industries in particular was sharing screenshots of user reports he has gotten.

where have failures been mentioned?

I noticed a thread on M4, but the failures seem to indicate feeding issues. No clue what to make of those posts, unless it’s a gas issue. They are running the same lot as I have, but they had issues in 3 rifles. I’ve ran it in 4 with no issues.

I’ll run it in the DD, LT and 2 other Rainier builds over the weekend if time permits.

I’ve shot about 50 of the 160 rounds I purchased. None had major dents and no failures.

Good to know it’s been consistent for folks here so far.

I’ll run some thru my Sionics upper this weekend. I’ll also have a buddy who owns a DD run some through his. I hope to post some 5 round group sizes of this compared to some IMI 77gr razorcore vs standard 55gr. PMC.

I finally made it to the range twice today because someone didn't bring all the ammo or check the chronograph battery.

I used my 18" rifle that I use for local gas gun and occasional PRS matches. Trigger is a Geissele HSNM adjusted to near the recommended minimums, and it's topped with a Nightforce ATACR 4-16x42 FFP scope with the mil xt reticle.  Barrel is an 18" Larue Stealth with M4 ramps that has around 2 - 2.5k on it if I had to guess. Groups were fired from a bench, using the bipod up front and a gamechanger/fortune cookie style bag under the stock. It was sunny, low 80's with some gusty winds here and there. Typical PA springtime...

It's historically liked IMI Razorcore 77gr ammo, and is good for 7/8" to 1" groups in my hands. I'd like to believe I'm better than that, but I don't have any precision bolt guns to see if I actually am, so I'll have to consider that the baseline.

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My test process wasn't the most scientific, but I tried to keep a fairly level playing field by firing 5 rounds, switching targets, chronograph strings and ammo, then firing 5 more and working my way through the selections. Then I worked my way back through the collection for a total of 10 rounds of each ammo on each target. Then I switched target colors, since I seemed to be shooting better at red aiming points and repeated the process, although I ran out of Black Hills. Finally, to wrap things up for giggles I fired 10 rounds each of IMI and AAC about as quickly as I could get settled back onto target, since my eyes were starting to struggle a bit.  Chrono data is in reverse order:

Black Hills 77 grain. I don't know which box color this was, as I traded with a friend for the loose ammo a couple years ago, and just had a couple rounds remaining. The 9 shots my chronograph picked up were 2650, 2624, 2645, 2624, 2629, 2583, 2619, 2614 for 2623 fps average, 67 es, 20 sd.

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Or dropping the worst shot or two, in case I was responsible for a flyer or two:
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Frontier 75gr Hornady :  I picked this ammo up last season because some of the guys I know were having pretty good luck with it and it was a good bit cheaper. I didn't have time to shoot for groups or chrono data before the a couple of matches, and while it shot OK, I could tell it wasn't as consistent as the IMI I usually use. 15 shots registered on the chronograph: 2721, 2743, 2766, 2749, 2766, 2743, 2704, 2749, 2732, 2645, 2682, 2677, 2688, 2661, 2672 for 2713 average, 121 es, and 40 sd.

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Or dropping 1-2 shots as above:
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IMI 77gr SMK:
My chronograph picked up 16 rounds during the standard string of fire at 2624, 2682, 2614, 2619, 2666, 2661, 2614, 2614, 2604, 2629, 2614, 2578, 2661, 2635, 2614, 2588 for 2626 average, 104 es, 28 sd. This was about 50 fps slower than my historic recorded speeds - it might be about time to clean this rifle again.

The chrono picked up all 10 rounds from my rapid fire string at 2588, 2604, 2604, 2583, 2629, 2594, 2619, 2614, 2614, 2624 for 2607 average, 46 es 15 sd.

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I wish I knew what caused this group to be so much bigger than the normal results I was seeing with this ammo, but it is what it is and I'm not going to hide it...
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Rapid:
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Or again, removing the worst shot or two:
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AAC 77gr with their in-house 77gr OTM: The chronograph was cooperating quite well and captured all 20 of the standard string and the 10 rapid shots.
Data was 2656, 2699, 2645, 2721, 2715, 2661, 2704, 2677, 2726, 2715, 2743, 2760, 2760, 2777, 2783, 2732, 2743, 2732, 2710, 2710 for 2718 average, 138 es, and 38 sd. It was apparent that this round had a little more power than my IMI stuff.  The rapid fire string came up with 2732, 2704, 2732, 2743, 2710, 2749, 2650, 2715, 2710, 2732 for 2717 fps average, 99 es, and 28 sd.

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Rapid:
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Removing 1 or 2 poorer shots, either for error or to illustrate what would be possible if they can dial in the velocity spread a bit:
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Hopefully it's all there and organized after a million edits to get around the 5 image limit...

MEN M193 does better than that.

...

I'll counter with my shooting and IMI ammo today: 1.46", 2.08" and 1.03" for an average of 1.52".  I know IMI can shoot in this rifle, so I believe further head to head testing is in order.  It’s been at least 12-18 months since I've shot for groups, and there's some variability that I need to chase down.

I'll give you that the extreme spread and standard deviation are higher than almost everything I shot today, which means there's room to improve the product.  I see potential there, and given the progress they've made in the past decade or so, I'm not counting them out.

I'm going to test it at distance during one of the upcoming gas gun matches, and as long as it behaves at around the level that my 100 yard testing indicates, well...it'll be my new favorite, since 150-200 rounds of 75/77gr plus match fees add up quickly these days.

I added it to my notify me list.

Thanks for the pics and data. I am finally running low on my IMI midway 2016 stash and this might be the ticket, especially if they can improve the spreads in velocity a bit.

Thanks for sharing your results. They give me good hope. I can live with 1.2-1.5” groups at 55cpr

As I told a friend, even if the quality control / consistency does not improve, it's still a less expensive practice round that should be pretty close to the "real 77" ballistics.

Now, that said, I'm rooting for JSE/PSA/AAC to identify and fix the cause of these odd SD numbers. I've seen nothing but a desire to provide quality products, and a willingness to iteratively improve. Until then, I'm staying in the corner with some popcorn as the adults in the room produce valid data and insight.

Function was flawless. Ejection was around 4:30 with no noticeable distinction from the other rounds fired. I'm not a brass or primer expert and didn't spend too much time going over the pieces in detail. But there were a handful of pieces from each manufacturer that had some small dents in the body and scratches around the neck, but I didnt spot any trends. Some brass, particularly the Black Hills (and the IMI to a lesser extent) exhibited light ejector swipes/marks.  The AAC primers looked very similar to the Black Hills in terms of dimple depth, while the IMI was appeared deeper and wider.

Black Hill primers:
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BH brass:
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Frontier primers:
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Frontier brass:
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IMI primers:
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IMI brass:
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AAC primers:
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AAC brass:
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https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/6945/YoHNbx.jpg

I posted this in the industry section of PSA

I look forward to trying the 0.308 Win round as well.
Will it be 147-150 gr FMJ or 175 gr OTM (or similar HPBT)?

I really like this ammo. I was ready to buy a bunch of the 75s when I got home from the range but it was all sold out

I tested this in our 16" DD .625 lightweight barreled factory upper with a Leupold Mk6 1-6x 5.56 CMR-W. I compared AAC 75gr, AAC 77gr SMK, IMI 77gr Razorcore, and our 75gr Hornady BTHP handloads that I had worked up for a previous service rifle barrel that shot well in subsequent WOA service rifle barrels and a few of our mil-spec barrel builds too. I shot 1 5-shot group each at 100y and got velocity data. This is how it fared:

69.4F, 27.54 inHg, 19.5% humidity
Hornady 75gr Handloads: 1.25", Avg velo: 2707 fps, 20.8 SD
AAC 75gr BTHP: 1.15", Avg velo: 2721 fps, 14.2 SD
AAC 77gr SMK: 1.5", Avg velo: 2699, 16.7 SD
IMI 77gr Razorcore: 1.2", Avg velo: 2671 fps, 31.7 SD

The AAC 75gr shot the best, had good velocity, and had the best SD. Hilariously it also also zeroed better than our Hornady 75gr handloads. Since the Mk6 has .2 mil clicks, you can be slightly high or slightly low between clicks, it just so happens that our zero is slightly high. However the AAC 75gr had better elevation. Here's a pic of the 50y POI shift, as I wanted to see the shift in order to dial it out on the turrets. They're just 3-shot groups at 50y:

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Then I shot some mid/LR on steel with it. Here's the first run with the ammo. It seemed to do well and the price is really good. I'll definitely be buying more of it

I bought 200 rounds to break in my new White Oak  18” SPR Barreled upper.
    I’ll be buying more.
Since i’m not real good at shooting groups I’ll share my chronograph data.
    I’m was surprised at the velocities. I did check the case head expansion for signs of over pressure and they all looked normal .  I did have a Griffin Armament
Recce 5 mounted , not sure if that would’ve made a huge difference.  

Lot # SCL2CC301

Max.. 2899
Min.. 2847
ES..52
AVG..2863
SD..14.4

1. 2859
2. 2856
3. 2862
4. 2856
5. 2853
6. 2863
7. 2858
8. 2848
9. 2874
10. 2899
11. 2852
12. 2867
13. 2853
14. 2869
15. 2847
16. 2882
17. 2850
18. 2871
19. 2858
20.2894

Holy crap that’s moving! Even the AAC 75gr I shot through my WOA 18” barrel wasn’t that fast. It averaged 2760 fps. Seems the AAC 77gr bullet flavor is quite a bit faster than the AAC Sierra 77gr.

IMI Midway hedge.  Love that $.21-$.23 ammo!!!!!  

I only ordered six boxes of the PSA 77g.  Hoping they can keep the price low.  I'll buy more.

I averaged 2702 fps from a 16" Criterion Core. And got a 1.75" 5rd group at 200 yards. I also shot IMI Razor Core 77gr, and got a 2" group.

The ammo is definitely sub MOA, at least for me it was in my 16" WOA.  Barrel might not like the ammo.