357 Mag - 125 gr FMJ - Armscor - 1000 Rounds

Video Transcript:

ARMSCOR Ammo is based in the Philippines and also makes the popular Rock Island armory line of handguns. ARMSCOR maintains high standards by controlling almost every aspect of the ammo manufacturing process. They even own a foundry where they make their own brass, which helps them to keep cranking out the ammo when the supply of raw materials is slim.

The components for ARMSCOR Ammo are made in the Philippines, but the final product is loaded both in the Philippines and in here in the US. This 357 Magnum load that we had a chance to try out was loaded in the ARMSCOR facility in Montana.

It features a reloadable brass case and a non-corrosive primer. The round nose 125 grain bullet has a lead core with a full metal jacket. Because of the lack of exposed led on the bullet tip, this is a cleaner burning bullet than many other revolver rounds out there. And it's also slightly safer to fire at indoor ranges because of the reduced presence of airborne lead residue.

We tried out this ammo with five different revolvers and one lever action carbine. For a magnum load, recoil was moderate. It wasn't too difficult to handle in the larger revolvers, but a handful in our Ruger snubnose.

Full metal jacket magnums like this load from ARMSCOR are good for practicing recoil management if you use 357 for your self-defense gun. It also works as a plinking load if you want a little extra punch or you want to shoot as longer ranges.

We had no issues with reliability and the spent casings extracted easily from the chambers in each revolver. In our Marlin lever action, the ARMSCOR ammo fed smoothly every time, and like most pistol caliber rifles, recoil was mild.

We set up the carbine at 20 yards to test accuracy from the bench. Our 10 shot group showed pretty good consistency, with just a couple of rounds hitting a little low. Most shots landed just below and to the right of our point of aim.

ARMSCOR ammo may not be as well known here in the US, but all of their ammo that we've tested has been consistent and reliable. If you want a reasonably accurate magnum load for practice or informal range use, then this 125 grain 357 Magnum from ARMSCOR is worth a try.