The M118 is getting hard to find these days. The last I ran onto was at a local gunshow and it was selling (yes, selling) for $39.00 a box! I've never shot any of it that I recall, but I have heard good and bad stories on the ammo. I think the bad part comes in when dealers and sellers find some heavy ball 7.62x51 ammo and they're not sure what it is so that just label it as M118. From what I have read on the matter is that the older M118 had a 173gr bullet and was produced by Lake City. Then when Federal stated loading for them it switched to a 175gr Sierra Match King bullet. Again, I read that and I have no way of being sure if it's true or not.

It would be easy to duplicate the rounds performance with hand loads...and a whole bunch cheaper. In the M1A, the 168gr SMK and Varget is hard to beat. However, the Varget pushes the bullet pretty quick and is about the upper limit for the M1A action, IMHO. There's also a real strong following of IMR4895 in the M1A and I loaded some up with it to see for myself but have not tried them yet.