Old Roper, in the article you mentioned (that my name's not in) has the following comment about the 1988 match in Australia:
Quote:
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The first Palma match fired in Australia, in 1988, was a triumph for the home team and something close to a disaster for the United States. Finishing fourth is not a familiar location for United States Palma teams.
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In 1987, the Australian Palma Team sent sample ammo of the same lot that, by rules, was to be used in the following years match. It shot very good in chambers the US Team had put in barrels they got for their Palma rifles so the bullets would jam gently into the rifling for best accuracy. A friend won a 1000-yard benchrest match shooting his Palma rifle with that arsenal-loaded military match ammo. I, too, got excellent results with it at 600 through 1000 yards.
When the US Team got on the range near Sydney, NSW, to get zeros and practice, we noticed the ammo issued had different headstamps than what we were issued months earlier; even the cases were more shiny and yellow colored. It did not shoot well in our barrels; 'twas all we could do to keep fired bullets in the 9 ring. And it was loaded at much higher pressures than the "sample" lot issued the year before. Same for most other country's team barrels except for Great Britian and either New Zeland or Canada; whomever placed third. The Aussies (illegaly) switched ammo and custom chambered their rifles for it; no wonder they won when most other Teams had chambers dimensioned for a different lot of ammo. Protests from those Teams were shushed by the International Palma Committee; mostly comprised of Great Britian Commonwealth country folks.
For the next World Palma matches in 1992, the US Team sent other countries exactly the same ammo in late 1991 that was issued to teams in 1992.