Got some IMI die cut 124 grain 9mm coming in today and was wondering if anyone else has any experience with it? What reviews I could find were for the 115 grain and were positive. Hornady is too expensive to practice with and I thought this would be a good alternative to try in my AK-V. I know they can be picky about HP.
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Been using this for over a year now with no issues. Groups nicely and is clean burning. After a couple hundred rounds, no FTF or Stove Pipes. Use along with Speer Gold Dot for CC.
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When I used it last weekend, I had no problems with it. Glad to hear someone else had the same experience.
Looks like a reliable feeding JHP.
Because I don’t know, does your AK-V not feed Fed. HST 9MM ?
Bone Frog GunClub has both the 147gr and 124gr +P HST ammo for ( currently ) $40 / 50rds.
The Fed. HST is a very reliable expanding 9MM bullet.
As well as the 9MM 124GR Remington JHP Golden Saber, for $35 / 50rds.
A good feeding bullet as well.
Most of the ballistic gel tests I have seen, for the 115gr DiCut, weren’t favorable.
I wouldn’t expect the 124gr to be better… I could be wrong, maybe IMI has improved the design over the 115gr Di-Cut
FWIW… the SIG V-Crown is probably the worst choice for your AK-V, if it has issues with a JHP… those bullets have a very wide HP opening.
If you are looking for a practice round, I’d buy FMJ.
I know I said practice rounds, but I really want a HP that works that I can shoot every now and then. Only FMJ that has ever given me trouble is Monarch 115gr, it would stovepipe. I have not tried Federal HST, but have tried 135 grain Hornady loaded Freedom Munition rounds, also with no trouble. I have some 147 grain HP on the way to try too. My objective is to try out different HP rounds and see how they work in my AK-V. We have a thread on HP over in the AK-V section if your interested. Edit: The Federal HST I have been looking at is nickel plated cases, I’m limited to brass at my range. Looks like the Remington is brass so I may try that.
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If your range doesn’t allow nickel plated brass cases… that is kind of wild.
Can you post a picture of the AK-V feed ramps and the bolt face. ( I couldn’t find any online )
My 9MM PCC Colt Pattern AR…, feeding benefited greatly from polishing. The polishing was very easy to do.
So far, I’m not having much trouble with mine. Just those Monarch 115 gr FMJs I mentioned. Everything else has worked fine, but not everyone is having my luck. That is why such interest in HPs for the AK-V. Edit: As far as the range goes, they consider anything magnetic unsafe due to spark potential. While they have a point, I think it’s as much selling the brass as anything else.
If you are not mechanically inclined… show this post to someone that is.
No offense intended at all… I just don’t want you, or my internet advice, to muck up your firearm.
Your firearm is not a suitable guinea pig to learn on. Again NO offense intended .
A little input on Red Rouge polish, it is abrasive… so you will need to thoroughly clean up any residue and dust / fuzz…it is easy to do, but you don’t want any left behind… consider popping a foam ear plug into the chamber / into the rifling to avoid it going down the bore or any place it could be abrasive on.
I would try chambering a mag fed round without the bolt, just with your fingers, slowly… watching for how the round feeds from the mag. That might show you where the round binds at as well.
Bottom pic addressed first…
It looks like you could readily polish the outside chamber edge.
It looks like the bottom of the chamber has brass marks on it… so the round is not easily / readily / smoothly sliding over it.
I did mine with a oversized shotgun bore mop attached to a section of cleaning rod, spun via a cordless drill and some red rouge polish.
The over sized shotgun bore mop shouldn’t fit all the way into the chamber… you want it to just enter into the chamber, with most of the mop not being able to get into the chamber… when you first try spinning it without any red rouge… you will see the line left from it just pressing on the outside edge of the chamber, or better said the bearing surface…
That is where the red rouge polish will do its work. Apply some with your fingers on that ring left from the trial spin.
GO SLOW, and check your work… you are just trying to smooth out that edge, so a round can more smoothly chamber over that edge.
You might consider polishing the chamber a little as well. AGAIN GO SLOW and gentle.
You would need a slightly over sized bore mop for the 9MM chamber. A .40 cal or a .429 ( 44 Mag ) bore mop should work
And mark the bore mop , with a black marker, so you don’t insert it to far. Avoid the rifling !
Place a fired case onto the bore mop… you can use that as a rough measurement, then mark around it… then remove the fired case.
DO NOT over apply the red rouge… it won’t take much, a little trial and error will show what I mean.
You are only polishing , NOT REMOVING material
As for the bolt… and in your photo, the top edge ( in the pic ) that grabs the rounds casehead , from the magazine to feed it… if that edge is rough, that edge is grabbing onto the cases head , instead of allowing it to smoothly travel across it while chambering.
This might be the root case of the feeding issue.
Polishing that surface, would be tricky. And I would get a Dremel with a felt polishing head ( The Dremel kit typically has red rouge included in it. )
I would avoid polishing the highest edge to much, since you don’t want it so smooth that it might ride over the cartridge… but make sure the other bottom 1/2 is smoother so that it doesn’t try to bind or force the case head from freely sliding across it.
If that doesn’t quite make sense… I can try to explain it more.
The last thing I would do… is make sure the visible portion of the extractor ( in the pic ) is smoother as well . You want that to smoothly work over the case rim.
Same thing go slow, and don’t make the metal so hot you can’t hold it.
DO NOT polish any part of the claw that is not visible in your pic. That underside part needs to remain sharp to aid extraction.
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Thanks, but as mine has run anything I’ve thrown at it, other than that Monarch, I’d rather leave it be. Others that are having trouble might want to do it. I had something similar to what your describing done to my KS-12 to improve cycling as Saiga 12s/Clones are finicky about some ammo. It’s a beast now.
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