My local shop has a bunch of Barnaul .308 and .223 going cheap. About $6.50 for 20rds of .223, and $8.50 for 20rds of .308. I bought out all their brass .308 on sale, and about 20 boxes of brass .223, but wanted to know how this Barnaul stuff is. Supposed to have zinc coated casing? What are the cases made of? How clean does it shoot? I assume it's combloc?

It's the same stuff as Silver Bear. Just different packaging. The Barnaul ammo plant was originally a Soviet Russian munitions factory.

The cartridge cases are mild steel. The zinc plating is to prevent the steel from rusting. Most of the Russian stuff is a bit dirtier than others but for the price it's worth it.

I've used a lot of Barnaul in my AK...never any problems. As far as dirty? I don't know, it's an AK, I never clean it!

My PTR91 runs Barnaul .308 like a clock. WORLDS better than tar filled South African surplus That price sounds high through, I think I get mine for around $300+ shipping per 1k.

http://ammunitiontogo.com/catalog1/product_info.php?pNa...&manufacturers_id=20