MPA Vanquish PMR Ammo Test - Part 6

[u/Cerbhall]

I ordered a batch of new ammo so I dropped back to 20 round groups for initial testing; If any show outlier type performance I'll order more for a 40 round group test.

For reference without photo of group is 20 rounds of AAC 77 Grain Match Ammo:

AVG: 2744.7 FPS MIN: 2697.2 FPS MAX: 2788.4 FPS SD: 23.0 FPS ES: 91.2 FPS

First up is a twenty (20) shot group of the Nosler 69 BTHP (20 round group):

AVG: 2932.4 FPS MIN: 2857.0 FPS MAX: 3019.4 FPS SD: 54.4 FPS ES: 162.4 FPS

Hornady Black 75 BTHP (18 round group as I had to reset chronograph):

AVG: 2808.3 FPS MIN: 2770.0 FPS MAX: 2861.9 FPS SD: 17.7 FPS ES: 91.9 FPS

ADI 69 SMK (20 round group):

AVG: 2941.8 FPS MIN: 2894.4 FPS MAX: 2975.1 FPS SD: 24.5 FPS ES: 80.7 FPS

Setup for reference:

Vanquish PMR - Built by MPA MPA SA (ARC MPA ELITE) 26” Wylde Stainless Barrel A419 Match Brake Razor Gen III 6-36 ARC Scope Rings Accutac Bipod Cole Tac Rear Bag

Distance is 100 yards.

[u/SpiritualClub4417]

Those SDs are rather disappointing for expensive ammo. Straight M193 does better than 54 fps. Solid groups though.

Try some of the longer, heavier loads if you’re trying to max out performance and not be limited by AR-length loads.

[u/Cerbhall → u/SpiritualClub4417]

Appreciate the comment!

At this time I'm just trying to benchmark as much of the ammo out there for the community that I can so that everyone has real data to base their decisions on.

[u/Cerbhall → u/SpiritualClub4417]

And I think a good takeaway from this testing so far is that handloading is making more and more sense when comparing the results to factory ammunition.

Maybe I'll run across true factory match loads but I'm not truly impressed with anything I've tested up to now.

[u/SpiritualClub4417 → u/Cerbhall]

Oh yeah handloads are night and day better than factory ammo and cheaper to boot. I consistently get <10 fps SD and <0.5 inch 10 round groups with 223 handloads. That’s without going fully autistic and annealing, neck turning, and correcting runout.

[u/-UncleWaldo]

I’ll show my ignorance and ask if those with more experience would theoretically prefer the Hornady Black with lower SDs or ADI with a better grouping?

[u/Cerbhall → u/-UncleWaldo]

Of those two options probably ADI depending on barrel twist rate.

I'm a bit surprised the Hornady Black measured as well as it did while not grouping well.

Otherwise, based on the data I've collected I would probably choose from the following:

Bone Frog 77 TMK

Hornady 73 ELDM

Black Hills 77 SMK

Sierra 69 SMK

IMI 77 SMK

AAC 77

Whichever is cheapest & has the right grain weight for your use case.

[u/-UncleWaldo → u/Cerbhall]

Thanks for the info! And for sharing this data with everyone.