[f150guy]

I just picked up a 20 round box of the .38spl+p 125 grain stuff for $11.98. Never seen this before, but it looks pretty mean. Anyone seen these (i'm sure someone has), or is it a discontinued item?? I can't find a whole lotta info on 'em.

 

[xtimberman]

PMC is out of business, so that is a discontinued item.

I think that they were PMC's answer to the evil Winchester Black Talons - very similar, and they may actually have been manufactured by the same outfit. I don't particularly want to get shot with a FMJ, but I'd really hate to get shot with one of those things.

xtm

 

[Forester]

I've shot some of that before. It went where it was pointed, etc. That is about all I can say about it. I didn't test it at all. I asked the same questions and I was told it's technology had been surpassed by the Gold Dots, XTP's, etc.

 

[parson45]

The bullet was designed by the same gentleman who came up with the hydrashok. Back in the days when I was editing Trail's End magazine (to show how long ago that was, I didn't know PMC was out of business), PMC was one of our sponsors, and I used a lot of it in firearms testing. It always shot well, right in there with the rest of the big boys. However, I never shot anything except paper with it, so I can't testify on terminal ballistics.

 

[xtimberman]

I need to 'fess up to being wrong about PMC being out of business. A while back, I read somewhere that they sold off their U.S. brass-making equipment to Jamison and others - and just assumed that they were headed out of business. Seems they are running full-swing in S. Korea - with no production facilities in the US at this time. Sorry!

Starfire is still offered by them:
http://www.pmcammo.com/catalog.html

xtm

 

[spearcrow]

Hey F150...way to support the S. Korea economy...
Seriously, I've never even heard of this before..I must be out of t his loop too...you should post some pics of one of these little beauties.

 

[Sebago Son]

Here's a link to the PMC Starfire Line.... http://www.pmcammo.com/starfire.html

I have several boxes of Starfire in 10mm from my days of carrying a 1066.

Pretty snappy to shoot, second only (as I recall) to the Norma 170 grn JHP's in percieved recoil....

Staring down that Hollow Point is like peering into a Saw Mill...

Viscious looking stuff.... but then again in those Pre-PC days you could get these as well....

Note the "Pingrabber", 4th from the right....

The infamous "Jacketed Claw"....

And what is beleived to be a permutation of Jim Cirillo's "Manstopper".

As market-efective as these lurid as these names were, I'm sure to call your ammo such today would invite a bushel basket of lawsuits.....

 

[MOONDAWG]

ncOoaao

 

[parson45]

xtm, no harm done. I'm glad to know they're still around. They do produced a good product.

 

[Firehouse]

I have several boxes of the Starfire rounds in multiple calibers. I had always heard it was a derivative of the Black Talon. I have never read anything on terminal ballistics on them however. As for PMC ammo, I always liked the stuff. It was cheaper than Federal, Win, and Rem but seemed to be just as reliable and performed well. I shot PMC ammo in my .308 using BarnesX bullets. I always loved those rounds, as they were pretty consistently accurate and pretty much retained 100% of the bullet weight. I don't think you can go wrong with the Starfires.

 

[jaholder]

I used to carry Starfires in my 1911 when I worked armed security years ago. They shot well out of it and had some great groups. IIRC the guy who designed the Hydrashok designed the bullet and was supposed to work about the same way: Hydrostatic forces in the "star" voids in the tip were supposedly to ensure expansion.

I quit carrying the stuff after I used it to put down a coyote with mange that was circling my campsite one fall. Shot hit between the ribs, bullet went clear through, leaving a quarter sized hole on the other side before hitting a tree. I dug the bullet out of the tree and looked like hardball with no expansion. I started carrying Hydrashoks afterward.