Pleased with Barnaul JHP in the Mak

[VictorLouis]

It chrono'ed out VERY consistently, with several shots in each string reading the same speed. The spread in one string was only 13fps, with a 30fps spread in another(8rds). The average was over 1050fps, placing it right there with the Cor-Bon.

The cavity is a lot larger than on the Cor-Bon, and the overall profile is like ball rather than the truncated cone. There is a half-hearted attempt at scoring the rim of the leading edge of the jacket. It looks as though they were trying to imitate the 'twist' pattern of Golden Sabre. It is rather shallow, and the spacing beween the cuts is inconsistent. Needless to say, the feeding was perfect.

My best 25yd group with it was 3.5", and I know I threw one of those. The other 4 were in about 2.5". It still printed about 6" high, but it was perfectly centered. The Wolf ball that I had for practice was not as accurate, and printed about 4"-6" to the left.

I hand-cycled a mag full, chambering each round from slide lock. The indentations from the firing pin inertia were hardly noticeable on the primers. With Blazer, Cor-Bon, and S&B there are clear round indents on each. Considering there is no spring holding back the pin, I will feel more comfortable carrying this load knowing it has a harder primer. Now, I have to buy a case of it.

 

[Oleg Volk]

I won't fire Corbon in my Mak anymore

For some reason, more gunk comes back my way with Corbon than with anything else -- AND the bullets deform on recoil while in the magazine.

Barnaul doesn't have those problems. It is pretty accuracte (under 1" at 21ft, me not being all that careful). Only annoying detail is "sparks" from the muzzle, similar to PMP 9x19 ball.

 

[Hutch]

Any clue regarding terminal ballistics? Has anyone shot gelatin or milk jugs or whatever to see how the bullets perform? ...love my Mak..

 

[Oleg Volk]

If the construction is any indication, the jacket will separate from the lead core. The core itself would either fragment or expand and I'd like to know which. My guess is that it would expand given the velocity/weight/shape similarity to known .38+P rounds. Check http://www.makarov.com for more exact info?

 

[joebogey]

Glad to see you guys like the stuff. I just ordered 500 rds of it from Classic Arms. When they shipped the order they sent 1000 instead of 500 by mistake. I got a call the same day it was delivered to tell me what they had done.They gave me a choice of sending it back at their expense or keeping it at a discount price whith no shipping which they priced at $42.00 for the 500. Can you guess what I did?
Can't have too much ammo!

 

[Wade]

I ordered 500 rounds through makarov.com a few days ago. Nice to see a good report on them.

 

[alamo]

I guess it is time for me to ask how you chronograph (?)
a bullet. I've read about people doing it and have never
seen an explanation of how it is done and what you use
to measure the FPS. Since there are no stupid questions
here - I'm asking!

 

[DougB]

Alamo,

A chronograph is an electronic device that measures bullet speed. There are several brands that start at around $60 and go up to several times that. I have a cheap one and it generally works fine. You turn the thing on, and shoot a bullet across it about 10" or so above it. It has electric eyes about a foot apart that see the shadow of the bullet as it goes by and calculates the speed, which is shown on a digital display. You need a fairly bright day, and chronographs typically have some sort of arched white plastic background screens held above each electric eye by rods (you shoot between the chronograph and the screens).

Doug

 

[alamo]

DougB,

Thanks for the explanation. I had imagined something like a radar detector but couldn't believe that would be very practical or affordable.

 

[PigPen]

Alamo,

The chronograph has the screens set at a *fixed* known (by the chronograph) distance apart. It records the time that the bullet passes (leaves) the first screen and the time it reaches the second screen. By subtracting the times, it calculates the time required for the bullet to travel the known distance between the screens.

Since it knew the distance and measured the time, it can calculate the velocity:

• 
  
  * Distance = Velocity X Time so;
  
  * Velocity = Distance/Time

This is the basic idea. Some Chronographs add a third screen at the same distance and measure time again just to re-check, some do fancy calculations like means and SD and variance in groups of shots, etc but you get the basic idea.

PigPen