Sad day today, my chronograph died. So no velocity numbers. 
@Fuquay Gun has a killer deal on the magtech steel case 115gr 9mm ammo at the moment and since I bought some I figured it would be worth testing to make sure it actually works before getting more. My confidence level was 100% that it would 'work' but could it replace Sterling steel as my go-to match ammo?
The ammo compared today were 115gr Sterling steel, 115gr Magtech steel, 115gr Wolf 'mil spec' steel, 115gr S&B brass and some 147gr brass handloads.
Test guns were an assortment of the usual plastic stuff plus a 1969 Walther P38/II.
Since the chrono was broken we can't be sure about velocity, but the magtech is 'full power' by the recoil, but not +P. Blind testing couldn't pick it out, but the Sterling was easy to tell by it's reduced recoil and the wolf by the clouds of dirty smoke it always puts out. Obviously real data would be nice here but for blasting/training ammo I wouldn't worry about the magtech.
The Magtech did produce a lot of sparks in the muzzle blast. Even outdoors in full light you could see a shower of sparks every few rounds. Festive. I've seen that before with wolf (not this batch), no idea what it is. Again though, wouldn't make me not get it.
Reliability was fine across the board, 100% actually, but with so few rounds per gun it's not for me to say it's "flawless". Good enough for me to get more cases of it for sure.
So accuracy. We fired everything using the iron sights on the pistols to keep things consistent. The 147gr handloads were the most accurate, but that's kinda unfair since that bullet/powder combo has been tweaked over time to be a very accurate load. For the steel case rounds, the magtech was the winner. Not remarkably more accurate but after trying enough 5 round rested groups it became clear that it was more accurate across all the test guns. The S&B was 'about the same' as the Magtech, so that's either good for Magtech or bad for S&B depending on your point of view.
Two results of note:
- my G34 wasn't getting along with the wolf at all. We're talking 6" groups at 12 yards. Centered, not crazy fliers but just generally crap. I only use this for practice so I've probably not noticed how bad it is in the G34
- my hellcat was noticibly more accurate than my G34 with all ammo types.... but only for me. Someone else shooting my G34 had no issues so apparently the gun I use most isn't the one I'm best with. #awkward is the kids say
The Magtech brass is boxer primed, so a few cases were saved to try to reload just to see if it can actually be done. Will report back on that later.
Conclusions:
Is magtech steel 'good enough' to buy more of? Yes
Is magtech steel 'better' than wolf? Yes
Is magtech steel going to replace Sterling as my match ammo? Not at this time
I'm sticking with the Sterling just because of the lower recoil. If/when I can't get Sterling, then this Magtech will be my next choice over wolf or tula for sure. I know wolf/tula scratches up the mag body internals and will eventually bind up in the mags, the smoother cased Sterling doesn't do that and the Magtech feels very similar so I'm suspecting it performs like that as well.
Time to go clean the Hellcat and get that nasty taste of steel out of it's chamber, and to go convince the G34 that the brass ammo it got a taste of was just a fever dream and to prepare to resume it's steady diet of communist steel.
@Fuquay Gun has a killer deal on the magtech steel case 115gr 9mm ammo at the moment and since I bought some I figured it would be worth testing to make sure it actually works before getting more. My confidence level was 100% that it would 'work' but could it replace Sterling steel as my go-to match ammo?
The ammo compared today were 115gr Sterling steel, 115gr Magtech steel, 115gr Wolf 'mil spec' steel, 115gr S&B brass and some 147gr brass handloads.
Test guns were an assortment of the usual plastic stuff plus a 1969 Walther P38/II.
Since the chrono was broken we can't be sure about velocity, but the magtech is 'full power' by the recoil, but not +P. Blind testing couldn't pick it out, but the Sterling was easy to tell by it's reduced recoil and the wolf by the clouds of dirty smoke it always puts out. Obviously real data would be nice here but for blasting/training ammo I wouldn't worry about the magtech.
The Magtech did produce a lot of sparks in the muzzle blast. Even outdoors in full light you could see a shower of sparks every few rounds. Festive. I've seen that before with wolf (not this batch), no idea what it is. Again though, wouldn't make me not get it.
Reliability was fine across the board, 100% actually, but with so few rounds per gun it's not for me to say it's "flawless". Good enough for me to get more cases of it for sure.
So accuracy. We fired everything using the iron sights on the pistols to keep things consistent. The 147gr handloads were the most accurate, but that's kinda unfair since that bullet/powder combo has been tweaked over time to be a very accurate load. For the steel case rounds, the magtech was the winner. Not remarkably more accurate but after trying enough 5 round rested groups it became clear that it was more accurate across all the test guns. The S&B was 'about the same' as the Magtech, so that's either good for Magtech or bad for S&B depending on your point of view.
Two results of note:
- my G34 wasn't getting along with the wolf at all. We're talking 6" groups at 12 yards. Centered, not crazy fliers but just generally crap. I only use this for practice so I've probably not noticed how bad it is in the G34
- my hellcat was noticibly more accurate than my G34 with all ammo types.... but only for me. Someone else shooting my G34 had no issues so apparently the gun I use most isn't the one I'm best with. #awkward is the kids say
The Magtech brass is boxer primed, so a few cases were saved to try to reload just to see if it can actually be done. Will report back on that later.
Conclusions:
Is magtech steel 'good enough' to buy more of? Yes
Is magtech steel 'better' than wolf? Yes
Is magtech steel going to replace Sterling as my match ammo? Not at this time
I'm sticking with the Sterling just because of the lower recoil. If/when I can't get Sterling, then this Magtech will be my next choice over wolf or tula for sure. I know wolf/tula scratches up the mag body internals and will eventually bind up in the mags, the smoother cased Sterling doesn't do that and the Magtech feels very similar so I'm suspecting it performs like that as well.
Time to go clean the Hellcat and get that nasty taste of steel out of it's chamber, and to go convince the G34 that the brass ammo it got a taste of was just a fever dream and to prepare to resume it's steady diet of communist steel.
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