Strange old ammo

[oneshooter]

While sorting thru a shelf of ammo I came upon a box I don't remember having.

Caliber: 223/5.56mm

Bullet: 62gr FMJBT

Made by PCA- Spectrum/Natec

It has a part polymer, part brass case. The base and about 1/4 of the case is brass, the rest a white polymer. It's a full box of 50 rds.

Any ideas? Has anybody heard of this? The closest I have heard was some experiments with a full polymer case. There was a consistent failure to extract, the extractor pulling thru the case at the extractor groove.

[sarisataka]

1. It was made by Natec Inc

NATEC,Inc., located in Plattsburgh, New York is the sole manufacturer of the world'sfirst, high pressure, polymer-cased ammunition (PCA). The company's facilitiesare located along the flightline of the closed Plattsburgh Air Force Base, andinclude administrative offices, an inert component parts manufacturing facility,and an assembly building with a DoD-approved indoor test firing range. In addition,NATEC leases bunker storage and an off-site indoor/outdoor test firing range locatedwithin minutes of the general facilities. Our staff, led by President and CEO, Dr. Nabil Husseini has been determined to prove the viability of polymer-cased ammunition since the 1990's. As the owner of Amtech, Inc. (essentially the predecessing company to NATEC), Please check Natec Inc. for more information.

They may be out of business. I cannot locate a current web presence or product list

NATEC's patented (and patents pending), lightweight, polymer-cased ammunition (PCA) is produced in Plattsburgh, New York. The cartridges utilize standard projectiles, primers, and propellants that are currently supplied by existing manufacturers. The base cap is cold formed from standard cartridge brass, and the casing is injection molded from the exclusively supplied polymer.

The unique, patent pending manufacturing process is centered on the one-step insert injection molding of the projectile into the polymer casing on state-of-the-art equipment. The interface is consistent (no crimping) and is self-sealing ensuring waterproofness of the cartridge. The primed base cap is then snapped on forming an interference fit after propellant loading.

Benefits:
PCA exhibits many benefits for the consumer over existing, similarly priced, metal-cased products, including:

Superior accuracy.
Consistent, reliable performance.
Reduced heat transfer to the weapon.
Cool to the touch fired casings.
Reduced cost compared to existing "brand name" ammunition.

All reviews I see are uniformly negative. Poor reliability and failures to extract in possibly every gun it was ever fired in

[oneshooter]

2. I looked up this ammo, after posting here.

Seems the best thing to do with it is sell it as a failed project. Maybe 1 or 2 at a time.

Anybody want a round for your ammo board let me know. Free to DU members.