RUAG MFS Steel-cased .223 Remington Ammunition
Lewis Creek Shooting School 02.20.13
Ammunition is a hot topic these days, not so much about accuracy, but about cost and availability. Before the crazy times we now live in, the main subject was cost. The price of brass, copper, and lead have seen a spike and, as a result, the cost of the finished product reflects the change.
In the last few years, steel-cased ammunition has begun to show up and the level of acceptance has been mixed. The guys who shoot a lot of ammunition but aren’t too concerned about accuracy and precision were elated. My opinion as a competitive shooter where accuracy mattered was that steel-cased ammunition was best left to the AKS crowd until I competed in the National Defense Match in 2011. I watched a friend, Iain Harrison, win the match using Hornady Steel Match .223 loaded with 75-grain bullets. Later, I tested the Steel Match 75-grain load and I was impressed. I didn’t feel it shot as well as the brass 75-grain load Hornady sells, but it was very close. I used it in a local High Power rifle match and won with it. I was convinced it was real ammunition.
Late last year, a friend told me about some steel-cased ammunition he’d purchased at a gun show: RUAG MFS steel-cased .223 Remington. He was using it in a short range tactical match the Piedmont Handgunner’s Association (PHA) hosts and he was really happy. He sold me 200 rounds; it functioned perfectly and looked like nickel-cased brass ammunition. The cases looked so good I hated to leave them on the ground. I used it in my Colt Competition Rifle in the next PHA Tactical match and it performed flawlessly, though the accuracy requirements of that match are really low. I wrote it off as good-looking, reliable ammunition but discounted the possibility that the accuracy would be on par with conventional ammunition…until I tested it.
I tested the RUAG MFS .223 Remington FMJ 55-grain load in the DPMS Prairie Panther my grandson used to win Junior class in that same 2011 National Defense Match. His Prairie Panther isn’t really a match rifle–it’s an out-of-the box gune with a good trigger and a medium weight 20” barrel. With really good match ammunition, it shoots five-shot groups just over or under one MOA. Not bad accuracy but not exactly the ideal test bed for ammunition. It shoots consistently under 2 MOA with 75-grain Hornady Steel Match.
My expectations were for the MFS ammunition to group around three inches. This is reasonable combat accuracy and just over what the Prairie Panther shoots with economy 5.56 loadings with 55-grain bullets. I was surprised. While hardly a definitive test, the MFS steel-cased .223 grouped under two inches for several five-shot groups. This is remarkable accuracy for ammunition that is at the very bottom of the price rung, and I’ll bet it’s better performance than a lot of ammunition with a considerably higher price tag. Overall, this is very good ammunition for a very good price.
Now, if I can just find some more.
Dick Jones is an award winning outdoor writer and a member of the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association Board of Directors. He writes for four North Carolina Newspapers as well as regional and national magazines. He’s hunted and fished most of his life but shooting has been his passion. He’s a former High Master, Distinguished Rifleman, and AAA class pistol shooter. He holds four Dogs of War Medals for Team Marksmanship as shooter, captain and coach. He ran the North Carolina High Power Rifle Team for six years and the junior team two years after that. Within the last year, he’s competed in shotgun, rifle and pistol events including the National Defense Match and the Bianchi Cup. He’ll be shooting the Bianchi, the NDM, the National High Power Rifle Championship, The Rock Castle AR15.com Three Gun Championship and an undetermined sniper match this shooting season.
He lives in High Point, North Carolina with his wife Cherie who’s also an outdoor writer and the 2006 and 2011 Northeast Side by Side Women’s Shotgun Champion. Both Dick and Cherie are NRA pistol, rifle, and shotgun instructors and own Lewis Creek Shooting School.
