Plastic Rem.223?

[printcraft]

My brother was out to the Izaak Walton today for a little range
time and brought me back a empty he found.

Very strange and I did not know of such an animal.

.223 Rem headstamp PCA 04

It's a brass base with PLASTIC case. The brass case is about 3/8" tall
with the rest being made of plastic. I have never seen anything of the like.

Seems odd to me. I know shotguns will feed in auto but
what about a 30rd mag full of these?

 

[IndyGunworks]

did a quick search... here is a link to another board... not a huge help, but a step in the right direction.
Plastic .223 Remington Cases [Archive] - Benchrest Central Forums

 

[shooter521]

Yep, that would be the "Natec PCA-Spectrum" ammo that was out a few years ago.
http://www.smallarmsreview.com/pdf/Natecammo.pdf

We sold some at the shop - it was fairly expensive despite its "throwaway" nature, and ended up causing horrible reliability problems. Wanna guess what a hot, tight chamber does to a plastic shell casing? Not pretty. Sure was lightweight, though.

AFAIK, it has been discontinued, and thankfully so.

 

[IndyGunworks]

BEST LINK: PCA


Polymer-Cased .223 Rem. AR-15 Ammo:<BR>Fantastic, or Just Plastic?
Shoot-out at Blackwater

 

[Scutter01]

We sold some at the shop - it was fairly expensive despite its "throwaway" nature

Polymer-Cased .223 Rem. AR-15 Ammo:<BR>Fantastic, or Just Plastic?
Shoot-out at Blackwater

We tested three brands of .223 Remington and found out there was nothing to fear from loading PCA (polymer-cased ammunition) from NATEC, Inc. Accuracy was behind that of the Georgia Arms and Black Hills ammunition, but it did fly fast with the least recoil. The polymer ammo cost a little more than $5 per 20 rounds.

Geez, I WISH I could still get .223 for 25 cents/round!

 

[Crystalship1]

Weird!!!

 

[redneckmedic]

I wonder in the long run if this save on cost for both purchasing and reloading....and supply and demand. I'm sure if I would have read the link my Q would be A'd.

 

[cce1302]

Geez, I WISH I could still get .223 for 25 cents/round!

I wonder if it'd be cost effective to try it again, with the cost of brass what it is right now. It'd be a sight better than where we are now if it sold for 40 cents/round

 

[IndyGunworks]

Wanna guess what a hot, tight chamber does to a plastic shell casing? Not pretty.

that would be my concern as well... if you shoot a hundred or so rounds at a pretty rapid pace..... and leave one in the chamber.... what is to keep it from melting? i dont know of any plastics that would be able to withstand that sort of heat coming from a chamber without deforming or having some sort of negative effect....

 

[printcraft]

BEST LINK: PCA


Polymer-Cased .223 Rem. AR-15 Ammo:<BR>Fantastic, or Just Plastic?
Shoot-out at Blackwater

Yes, that looks like the stuff. It's a grey plastic. I guess it would work
ok in a bolt action. But like others have said I foresee a gooey mess in a
hot chamber. Or at the very least feeding issues under rapid fire
because I can flex the case with my fingers. Looks at slow motion of
an ak firing and there is all kind of banging and flexing going on.
Not so much on the AR due to the straight line center, but still.