The Original CZ Forum
GENERAL => Ammunition, questions, and handloading techniques => Topic started by: CZ57 on May 11, 2004, 10:53:20 AM
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As some of you may know, I am a reloader and rarely buy factory ammo, but last week I ran across a deal too good to pass up at the local hardware / gunshop here in N. Central Texas. A 250 rd. bulk pack of Speer 124 gr. +P Hollowpoints (Gold Dots). They are marked "Not for LE use; Not to be repackaged; practice ammunition". I paid $31.95 + tax for the box of 250, which is $6.39 / 50. They shot excellently and the only reason that I can find why they are not in Gold Dot packaging are some irregularities in some of the bullets which evidently Speer felt didn't make the grade.
I had just acquired my first CZ pistol, a P-01 which does indeed have a short chamber, so when my shooting partner ( who was good enough to make me a great deal on the P-01 ) informed me on this bulk pack special we measured some rounds and found the average OAL was around 1.122". We were going to the range that day and all of my handloaded ammo was unsuitable as loaded to 1.142" and I had gauged the chamber on the P-01 with Remington 115 & 124 gr JHP's and both bullets made contact with the rifling at an OAL of 1.127" (which I will load at 1.122" for .005" of freebore). The pistol had previously stovepiped a few times with the longer handloads.
When I fired the Speer "Practice Ammo" reliability was perfect and best groups ran 1.25". I otherwise had no ammo for the range that day and I felt if nothing else I would benefit from the nickel cases for reloading. Well it being Friday I guess luck was with me as the Speer ammo was an outstanding buy, and I would not hesitate to sort out some nicely finished bullets for carry loads ( which I have since done ). For those of you who don't reload and if you can find it, this is some very good ammo at a truly remarkable price.
Regards to all, K
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You can get that ammo at www.ammoman.com (http://www.ammoman.com) for $159/1000 rounds shipped, with other weights and .40 caliber available as well. Not as good a price as CZ57 got, but a good deal none the less IMHO. I've fired 700 rds of the 165 gr .40 caliber without a single failure to fire.
From what I understand the ammo originally was designed for LE use, but didn't meet their requirements for some reason so was bulk packaged with the not for LE labeling. Based on my experience with it I wouldn't hesitate though to use it for defensive ammo.
Jeff
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I checked with Speer about this ammo a while ago. They said that this ammo was voluntarily recalled from the field due to potential misfires (failure to go bang). They investigated the affected lots but could not find any defective rounds. I can't remember what prompted the recall...whether it was complaints from the field or their own in-house quality investigation. I think the issue had something to do with not being able to detect if there was adequate primer material in the primers. Even though no problems were found, they did not think it was appropriate to allow these "suspect" rounds to be re-sold to law enforcement. They packaged them in the 250 round bulk packs, labelled them "not for law enforcement", and here they are. They should be just fine for practice ammo, but probably should not be used for carry purposes.
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I bought mine as practice ammo originally. But after 700 rounds of perfect function they've exceeded my standard for reliability for my carry pistols of 500 rounds with no malfunctions, so that's why I don't hesitate to use them for carry. Your criteria may be different.
Jeff