By Jim Dickson | Contributing Writer
Images courtesy Black Hills Ammunition
When you want the most accurate ammunition made in the U.S. you can’t go wrong choosing Black Hills Ammunition.
They have earned a reputation for quality and reliability second-to-none. Over the years they have developed over 35 types of ammunition for the U.S. Military and today they operate as sort of a privately owned R&D facility for the military. They hold the distinction of being the only government contractor that meets all the military safety requirements for military ammunition without a waiver.
The company began in 1988 when Jeff Hoffman gave up on making a living wage as a policeman and decided to open a business instead.
In 1996 the company got a contract to provide ammunition for the Army Marksmanship Unit. Whatever this high profile unit does, others copy and soon all the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine rifle teams were using Black Hills’ super accurate 5.56mm NATO round. This led to the military turning to them for a new high precision sniper round.
In 1999, Black Hills developed the first sniper load for the 5.56 cartridge effective at 600 yards at the military’s request. These were adopted as the MK262 for the MK12 sniper rifle version of the M16 and it is the only precision 5.56mm cartridge in military inventory. Black Hills Ammunition has always been the sole manufacturer of this specific load.
During the Iraq war soldiers found this heavier round was a much better manstopper than the M855 semi-armor piercing round resulting in the troops stealing the MK262 ammunition from the snipers. The M855 is better if the enemy is wearing body armor but it tends to just zip through an enemy combatant, whereas the MK262 yaws and fragments in the enemy dumping more energy which manifests itself in more stopping power.
This ammunition, used in the M12 sniper rifle, was spectacularly successful in one engagement in Iraq. A five-man Special Forces team was searching for Scud missiles when they ran afoul of a reinforced Iraqi company. They beat a hasty retreat while the three men equipped with MK12 sniper rifles provided covering fire, engaging the enemy beyond the effective range of the Iraqi soldiers and their AK47’s. They killed 167 of the enemy and the rest either surrendered or ran away. Quite a feat for three riflemen and a sterling testament to the accuracy of the Black Hills ammunition they were using.
The commercial version of the Black Hills MK262 load is called the MK262 Mod 1-C. The C stands for commercial.
Some of the average size of the 10-round groups fired at 300 yards have been as small as 1.738 inches which is .553 MOA at 300 yards. This is the average of ten groups shot with two rifles. When you go from five-round groups to ten-round groups you can expect the group size to grow by 24 percent. If you want a long range target load for the 5.56, you can’t do any better than this round.
Black Hills Ammunition also played a major part in the improvement of the 7.62mm NATO sniper round, the M118LR AB39 PIP.
They made a major improvement in the .300 Winchester Magnum sniper round, as well. The original load had a 190-grain bullet and a 1,200 yard effective range. Jeff loaded a 220-grain bullet at 2,800 fps and increased the effective range to 1,500 yards. This was adopted as the MK248 Mod 1, .300 Win Mag for the MK13 Mod 5 sniper rifle and Black Hills makes this ammunition for the military now.
They have also done development work on the .338 Lapua sniper cartridge, which they also sell to the U.S. Military.
The quality and accuracy of their ammunition in service was shown in a phone call Jeff Hoffman got from their Navy liaison officer who said “Jeff, you have to understand what you are doing. What you are doing is saving lives.”
If the difference between Black Hills Ammunition and regular ammunition is saving lives in the military, it might well spell the difference in saving your life someday.
Since 1988 when Jeff and Kristi Hoffman first opened Black Hills Ammunition, the firm has grown to over 70 employees in a 60,000 square-foot factory with a 7,200 square foot warehouse on 10 acres of land. Almost half of the workers are inspectors, for only perfection is accepted. Black Hills has made its reputation by producing a higher grade of ammunition than anyone else in the U.S. and they jealously guard that reputation.
In addition to providing the military with cartridges they also make proof cartridges for the various gun companies. Proof rounds require exceptional care in production as they are intended to push the upper limits of what the gun will take. Too weak, and you don’t get a good test, plus the gun may fail with a customer causing serious injury, maiming, or even death. Too strong, and you will wreck the gun that you are supposed to just be testing for safety before it leaves the factory. At these pressures there is really no margin for error or deviation in the load so only the most carefully loaded rounds will do.
They have not forgotten the average shooter and hunter throughout all this for they offer a complete line of pistol and rifle cartridges to suit all needs.
I have used thousands of rounds of their ammunition to test many, many guns for my articles over the years and I have never found the Black Hills ammunition to be anything less than perfect. I have complete confidence in their ammunition.
Their 115-grain 9MM Luger ammunition works perfectly in my WWI Luger and puts all the shots in the same hole if I do my part. I have fired countless rounds of their super accurate .45ACP and .45 Colt ammunition as well. At all ranges, Black Hills Ammunition has proved superbly accurate as has their .30-06 and 7.62mm NATO. Their .45-70 gives complete satisfaction in my octagon barrel Henry lever action. I can’t keep track of all the other calibers of Black Hills Ammunition that I have used for testing guns I was reviewing for magazine articles. They all performed flawlessly unlike some other ammunition I have tested over the years.
Black Hills also has the innovative Honey Badger projectile loaded in many of their rounds. This is a fluted solid copper monolithic bullet that has enormous barrier penetration capabilities, easily cutting through obstacles that stop hollowpoints while the cavitation produced by its spinning flutes causes a huge wound channel. I am particularly impressed with their 9MM Luger and .45-70 Honeybadger loads.
Designed for the hunter, this particular .45-70 load’s 325-grain bullet penetrates 33 inches in ballistic gelatin with a 7-inch wound channel. A hunter using these rounds quickly emptied his rifle into an American bison resulting in a very quick kill with all the bullets going completely through the animal.
They have a complete line of popular pistol and rifle calibers too many to list here with multiple loads for them.
Whether you are hunting or target shooting or defending yourself and your family, Black Hills can provide premium quality ammo for all your needs.
