Red Army Elite 9x18 Mak - Range Report

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    GuitarmanNick

    GuitarmanNick

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 9, 2017
    2,225
    Laurel
    This morning I put 100 rounds of this through my P-64 with the following results.

    Almost every round keyholed at 25 feet! I also had 6 rounds that did not fire the first time I squeezed the trigger. Cocking the hammer and firing again did not work either. All 6 rounds did fire after being reinserted into a magazine and cycled again. The primers had only a small imprint from the firing pin when I first ejected them, I am using Wolff recoil, hammer and firing pin springs. I had no such problems when I used PRVI Partizan ammo on my last trip to the range.

    When I got home, I checked to see if there was a difference in the bullets. Not having a micrometer, I used a pair of vise grips to gauge the bullets by closing them onto the PRVI Partizan bullet first and then sliding the Red Army Elite into the jaws. The result is that the RAE bullet appears to be just a little smaller in diameter. This explains the keyholing!

    The RAE also seems to pack more of a punch as I had slide bite after about 50 rounds and switched to shooting with my left hand. I have the PolishIron grip on my P-64 and had no problems with firing the PRVI Partizan.

    Summary:
    If you are looking for cheap ammo for plinking and decent brass for reloading, this may be for you. Your groups will not be indicative of the weapon's true capabilities, either.
    If you are going to depend on your weapon for self defense, choose another type of ammo!
    I would not bet my life on it!:tdown:
     
    S&W19

    S&W19

    Ultimate Member
    Mar 13, 2013
    1,211
    Baltimore County
    Wow! They don't sound very "Elite."
    I shoot a good amount of 9mm Mak, so I guess I'll stick to my usual Privi Patrizan, Geco, Silver Bear, etc.
     
    todbiker

    todbiker

    Ultimate Member
    Feb 11, 2012
    1,246
    Laurel, Maryland
    No experience with "elite", but like yourself everything else used worked fine, ie russian made bi-metal FMJ, non-corrosive Brown Bear & a similar one I can't spell in a gold and green box.

    Between the stockpile of mak on-hand and the infrequent use of those pistols on my part, I probably won't need anymore ammo, but thanks for the head-up on your experience regardless. :thumbsup:
     
    GuitarmanNick

    GuitarmanNick

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 9, 2017
    2,225
    Laurel
    After all of the frustration I went a different range(Hap Baker) yesterday so I could shoot my SKS and while I was waiting for a rifle lane, I shot some pistols.

    This facility had backing boards made from cardboard and required you to staple a target to them. I had suspected maybe the free hanging target was the problem at the On Target, but my cardboard dropped to the floor when I activated the mechanism to bring the target back to me.

    Well, I dumped a mag from the P-64 into the target at about 10 yards and when I looked at it closely, all of the holes were round! I moved the target out to 25 yards and after dumping a couple of more mags, I found the same result.

    I have measured all of my ammunition, examined and slugged the barrel, recovered expended rounds and examined the gun intimately to find that there never was a problem with my gun(a relief) or the suspected ammunition. Yesterday, I was using the Red Army Elite!

    In trying to reason why my other pistols did not experience the keyholing issue at On Target, I can only surmise that the P-64 fires the lowest energy round and allowed it to appear to be keyholing when in fact, the paper was not being struck with enough energy to punch a clean hole in the free hanging paper target(which must have been moving on impact more than it should) and made the holes appear elongated.

    Now I feel better about having purchased 900 rounds of the Red Army Elite. It does make the gun very dirty, but the price was right for reloadable brass rounds!
     
    Biggfoot44

    Biggfoot44

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 2, 2009
    33,252
    The holes were * Round * you say ? Bullet holes in paper, whatever , are supposed to be Round. If they were tumbling, they would be elongated, aka oval-ish .

    Meanwhile I suspect the Wolf hammer spring is just a hair too weak * for that ammo * , and would have gone bang with OEM hammer spring . Your choice of approach - Either don't use Red Army, or use hammer spring that will ignite any and all ammo.

    Yeah, the OEM spring is massive overkill, and the Wolffe give much better trigger pull. But a spring half, or 2/3'rds inbetween would probably go bang 100% , and still be major improvement over stock trigger.
     
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