The Keefe Report: Testing True Velocity Ammunition
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- Опубликовано: 18 сен 2024
- Weight. That’s one of the reasons the United States military is so interested in the polymer-cased True Velocity Ammunition. But how much a cartridge weighs-about 30 percent less than a similar brass-cased cartridge-makes little difference to most of us in the civilian world. I measured them on my RCBS scale, and the math was about right. But what does that have to do with me? No, it is the technology and performance of True Velocity Ammunition that interests me. As you can clearly see in the accompanying video, it has my attention.
You probably have heard that True Velocity is in the running for the US Army‘s Next Generation Squad Automatic Weapon program. It has a very interesting 6.8 mm TVC cartridge, recently accepted by the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute-we will no doubt hear more on the commercial side about that soon. But I am not directly involved in putting a belt of ammunition on a drone nor shipping containers of such belts around the world. Not my circus or monkey.
The company has a commercial vision that should and does matter to me. This is a step in the evolution of the cartridge case that is notable. Boxer-primed brass cases have ruled the roost for the better part of a century and a half, and rightly so. They work and they work great. We know how to make them, and we make them in high quantity and high quality. Nothing broken there.
We have had polymer cases before, even cases that were comprised of the propellant itself. G11, anyone? Voehre? (Look that one up). Those experiments resulted in interesting technology, but no serious commercial success.
True Velocity is offering two .308 Win. Commercial loads, and I have been on the range with both of them. One is a 175-grain Nosler hollow-point boattail and the other is a 170-grain Accubond. Great bullets (you saw they were Noslers, right?) with a truly interesting case. A case that has a page and half of patents behind it.
True Velocity makes-with robots-a three-piece case in Texas. The case head is steel, which can handle more pressure than brass, while the rest of the case is polymer, made in two separate pieces. Unlike with traditional centerfire cases, with which there is nothing wrong, there are internal tolerances that can be controlled, in particular with the flash hole. Also, by molding the case, other tolerances can not only be held but can be optimized and powder charges reduced with the same velocities.
I had the opportunity to function fire the 175-grain Nosler match bullet through three different rifles. Before I would assign the story, I wanted proof of concept before devoting editorial time or resources to the project. This was over three sessions with three rifles. One was the Springfield Armory 2020 Waypoint, bolt-action, a Colt 901 semi-automatic and an old-school, scoped and accurized Springfield M1A. I did not initially have enough ammunition for an in-depth test, which will be forthcoming in the pages of American Rifleman. Commercially, the stuff was scarce when I shot it early in January, although I’m told that is no longer a problem.
But here’s what I did note. With the Waypoint shot at a later session, my best five-shot group measured in at .348” at 50 yards. And while the Colt and M1A were more for function firing, neither of the two groups at 100 yards with either the 901 or M1A were over one minute of angle. With the M1A, it was closer to 3/4 of an inch.
Extraction was easier, as the polymer cases return to their as-molded original dimension-they only expand and contain the pressure of firing while gripping the chamber walls when pressures are at their peak. And there is lubricity to the case itself in both loading and feeding.
This ammunition delivered very low standard deviations, which is a contributor to accuracy-especially at long range-on par with top factory match loads and handloads assembled with weighed and sorted cases. Speaking of which, at the end of box of True Velocity, there are no premium brass cases waiting to be reloaded. Nope. These empty cases are headed straight for your recycling bin.
There is promise here. We will dig deeper in future more in-depth tests. This is premium-performing ammunition offered at, not surprisingly, at a premium price. I’m not giving up on or losing interest in traditional boxer-primed cases and ammunition, but I am keeping an eye on True Velocity.
-Mark Keefe, Editorial Director, NRA Publications
If these cases are made available to reloaders at affordable prices, then I am ok with this trend. Otherwise, I see this as an industry maneuver to kill the reloading market and thus anticompetitive.
Only if the guns themselves will not function without the polymer casing. If the guns can use both brass and polymer then it's not a big an issue. I like the look of the Sig 277 Fury so far if one wanted to still stick to brass.
Your 100% correct no space between power and round, what happens when the government decides to change the law, powers restricting velocity for civilization application, non reloadable, doesn't expand to seal gasses in bore, I've had horrible results velocity all over the place, accuracy.... what are they talking about 4" at 100 is horrible when I throw in federal accubonds and get 1/2" groups like come on
30% lighter but 100% more expensive!! Good luck selling that without reloading options!!
Thats 300% more expensive.
You need to show actual target impacts when firing and group size. atleast 100yds. Other people have reviews on this ammunition with poor to moderate groups and excessive cost compared to traditional cases.
Which brings up the question as to why? Some people say its because the barrels have more play for looser tolerances of brass and so it is causing some sort of inaccuracy.
The biggest mistake in the NGSW program was not selecting True Velocity ammunition and selecting the wrong cartridge. A true general purpose cartridge should have been specified. The 6.8x51mm is the wrong cartridge to be used for a standard infantry rifle and light machine gun. I would love to see something like a 6.2mm/.243 Winchester bullet with the performance of the 6mm ARC using a True Velocity semi-composite cartridge.
They missed the whole point with this product, they should have gone the other way and made it the cheapest option for ammo. It’s plastic for crying out loud. Premium products are used for R&D but you need market penetration before that. I feel this is a very bad strategy and I honestly doubt this company will be around for long. They should target 2 cents a round of 22LR and work their way back.
A niche cartridge. "NOT RELOADABLE", so basically a few people are going to recycle them. Just trashed. Unlike brass cases that gets reloaded or scraped.
If the manufacturing process ever comes close to the volume of brass ammunition and the price is affordable, the landscape will be littered with them. Similar to plastic grocery bags.
here is my gripe. They are CLEARLY holding out on us. These cases are supposed to be able to hold 80,000 psi. They are not giving us what the military are looking at.
Show us , 556, Creedmoor, 380 win, with the higher 80,000psi and Maybe the cost will be worth it, MAYBE. Id prefer the costs to eventually settle to regular ammo prices.
After watching your video. You forgot to mention the cost.
The cost to manufacture is less but they are charging more right now because of rarity. If it were adopted for mass use by the military it should come out very cheap.
Until they are CHEAPER than brass cased ammo, these will go nowhere
recycling is not the same as reloading is it?
Only $70.00 per 20 rounds; that breaks down to $3.50 per shot. What a bargain.
Problem being , it’s too damn expensive. It can’t compete with wolf or even cheap brass igna . Idk if they came down in price I would buy it .
Not to mention you're paying more for something that can't be reused. Why pay for something that can't be reused at least five to six times over that makes no sense for the commercial buyer
I guess if you're a millionaire and you can just buy rounds after rounds that's one thing but for us common folk that's not feasible and I guess if you're the military you just use our taxpayer money to spend whatever you want but as far as your thought and everything else on dimension before firing pull a bullet and actually pull all 20 bullets and do your sizing do your measurement do your weight do your weight on your powder and actually do the math and do
Great idea...
Will put an end to wildcatting or reforming to caliber no longer produced!
Good video on polymer cases. The shooter needs to learn how to keep his head down when cycleing the bolt on fast string of shots.
One thing I want to know is that does a gun have to be specifically optimized to use this type of ammunition
Is this a commercial or a review?? I Don't reload ammo, but this wasnt proved more accurate by u or other fact based reviewers. Does the recipient faint instantly upon sight of the white plastic case, or does it die laughing at what u paid per cartridge?
You're wrong they're not the exact same dimension
A guy on RUclips took calipers he pulled the bullets there you're wrong and he measured the weight you're wrong so you better do your analysis in a little bit more because you are really wrong they're not all the same they're not all the same weight they're not all the same size. So what you're spewing out of your mouth is untrue
Cool concept but if it can’t be reloaded then it’s just trash. With high end brass you can easily get 8-12 shots from one piece which makes it way more valuable. If this bullet was half the price of a standard match grade round then it would be worth purchasing. The fact it’s a dollar+ more a round is a joke. $25 a box seems reasonable in my opinion and get a $5 rebate if you send the spent shells back to be recycled. Every 5th box recycled grants you a free box with next purchase.
Really obnoxious intro music boys. Nice ammo, affordable? Not likely.
This junk got stuck in my bolt action rifle. And what I mean by stuck is the bolt came up but it would not come back. This is without firing around.
These are going for $3.50 per round online at TargetsportsUSA
Until you actually pull 20 bullets to 40 bullets and do actual investigation on dimension measurements and weight and powder weight don't come out with this unfactual data that is completely false
Is it cool? Yeah, it’s something new.....But, If it’s not a reloadable cartridge then it’s honestly a waste of my time, money and I want no part of it and it really has no draw to a majority of the firearm enthusiast community.
Stop the cafeine.
Paid promotion
Any we still didn’t see any groups in this video show us some groups. Also this is about the stupidest damn idea I’ve heard of from ammo companies in the last decade lol.