Range Day - Surplus Turkish M2 Ball Ammo Review

Here it is folks, the long awaited and detailed review of the MKE Turkish M2 milsurp. Details of the ammo I purchased can be found in this initial post and this subsequent post. It took me almost two weeks to just do this blog post (even though I put up others in the meantime) because of being busy and simply having no time to edit the video and finish composing the post. Online reviews of this ammo are mixed, and in the Garand Collectors Association issue of this month's GCA Journal, they did a scathing review of some horrible condition rusty/crusty MKE ammo that came in en bloc clips. A link to a PDF of the article is below.

GCA Journal Vol. 37 Issue 3 MKE Ammo Review

Now I understand the GCA's love affair with the CMP, but I have personally given up on them. Their online e-Store has been down for weeks. When the CMP got in their last supply of surplus ammo, I tried for two months to purchase my one allotted 400 round can to no avail. The last time I checked before the store went dark it was all gone. In the article they purposely went cheap, so IMHO they got what they paid for. I on the other hand had much different results.

 

Monday August 28th

Weather conditions were clear and sunny with temps in the low 80's. I don't recall wind conditions, but I was not too concerned about that for this outing. Being a weekday off work I had the range to myself which allowed me to shoot my photos and video undisturbed and go down range to set up as needed. My camera is a Nikon D5600 equipped with a Nikkor 18mm-55mm VR lens mounted on a Garrard video cam tripod for the video. For target photos I humped the camera down range.

The Rifle:

A total of 56 rounds were fired using a 1944 vintage Springfield Armory M-1 placed in a Hy-Skore rifle rest. The rest was used to make sure the rifle held consistently so recoil would have no effect on semi-auto operation. During the entire evolution there was not one FTF or FTE. I was able to recover all of my brass which is boxer primed, meaning easily re-loadable, which I will end up doing at some point when there is no more milsurp M2.

Ready to rock. Empty chamber flag in use even though I was alone

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The range:

Yellow arrow is 100 yard backstop, orange arrow is 200 yard backstop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Ammo:

HXP Pyrkal made in Greece headstamp HXP 69 (from CMP I believe about 2012-2013)

(3) 8 round clips

One clip for function test as my known standard and to demonstrate a proper working rifle (video)

One clip at 100 yards with 4 rounds on silhouette and four rounds on the steel gong

One clip at 200 yards with 4 rounds on silhouette and four rounds on the steel gong

Makina ve Kimya Endüstrisi Kurumu or MKE for short from Turkey, headstamp MKE 83 (from Tacticalshit.com)

(4) 8 round clips

One clip for function test to ensure proper loading, firing, and ejection (video)

One clip at 100 yards with 4 rounds on silhouette and four rounds on the steel gong

One clip at 200 yards with 4 rounds on silhouette and four rounds on the steel gong

One final clip on 100 and 200 yard gongs (4 rounds each) using a needed slight elevation hold 

Ammo function video:

One clip of Greek HXP, followed by a clip of Turkish MKE. I did this video without a script. Note to self: HAVE NOTES FOR SHOOTING VIDEO NEXT TIME!!

What follows is a series of photos of targets and steel plates from the range session. I need to shoot more often because I can do better. I was also using the rifle rest which doesn't work all that well comfort wise on my club shooting benches. I normally use a sandbag rest.

Four rounds of HXP at 100 yards

Four hits of HXP on a 12" plate at 100 yards

 

Four rounds but only two hits of HXP at 200 yards

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Four rounds and three good hits of HXP at 200 yards on a 12" plate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For some reason I did better hitting the plates than the targets. I think it was because they were easier to see in the shade with fresh white paint against the black sights of the M1. The paper targets had the previous shot holes covered with 3M blue painters tape for the MKE ammo shots. The plates got a freshened coat of white paint. I use the cheapo spray paint from WalMart. Not too long ago it was $0.99 a can. Now about $4 😠

Four rounds of MKE at 100 yards. OK!

Four shots of MKE at the 100 yard plate. One hit? Sheesh!

Four shots of MKE at 200 yards. Low and left. Three hits plus one nick on the edge.

Four shots of MKE at 200 yards. Just one good hit. Arrrrgh!

After viewing the targets and plates through the spotting scope, I loaded and fired one final 8 round clip of MKE using the elevation hold. I fired 4 rounds at the 100 yard plate and 4 rounds at the 200 yard plate. I scored 8 hits out of 8 shots. I quit shooting for the day so I could end on a high note.

 

Final analysis: 

This is good ammo for target practice (but will also kill all enemies, foreign and domestic quite dead) and was a decent price at $335 for 400 rounds from Tacticalshit.com That works out to $0.8375 per round. Barely more expensive than the junk Mr. Toombs purchased for his review. I plan on recouping some of the cost by selling the M1919-A4 MG links to a collector. For me, it doesn't "feel" as hot as the HXP ammo, judged only by recoil, not a chronograph, and it does shoot lower than my standard ammo. But like with any time you change ammo brands, you just have to readjust your sights.  This is plinking and target ammo for me. I will keep the 200 yard battle zero dope handy with the HXP ammo due to it having the steel penetrator (again for killing all enemies, foreign and domestic but especially those wearing body armor) and adjust the sight according to the change for the MKE ammo.

September 5th, back to the range

I had a subsequent range day on this past Tuesday when I had another day off. Since I now have a good supply of Sierra Matchking boolits, I won't be running out of my custom loaded ammo any time soon.

"From a man they did not see, came a sound they did not hear..."

I have the B-27 and bullseye targets I used that day, but this photo below best demonstrates the accuracy I get. The paint can I used during the ammo review that I had just about emptied painting the plates on this outing. I popped that clean hole through at 200 yards. It looked like it was done with a drill and a long bit. There was hardly any paint left when I hit it. My only indication of a hit was when the can fell over. I was hoping for a big POOF of white paint.

I have decided to stop dicking around with precision shooting, and just stick to the intended purpose this rifle was built for, which it performs quite well... eliminating long range threats to my Freedom out to 500+ yards @ M.O.M. (minute of man).

Especially if the predictions of spicy times in the near future come true.

This was one of the longest and most detailed posts I have ever done. I hope you liked it and please comment below.