Hi back!
You can definitely count me into this "Saturday afternoon plinking crowd" (except for me every day can be Saturday!). I don't shoot for groups, scores, or competition. I ride into the mountain on my horse, and I take whatever weapon I wish to enjoy that day. Sometimes I have company, most of the time alone. If I see a rock, or a dried out tree at a challenging distance (depending on the weapon of course), I dismount, and "hone my skills" sort to speak. If I can consistently hit the intended target (and sometimes this "target" can be out to 700+ yards), I am happy. No stove pipes, no squibs, no duds, and all hits,....I'm happy!
I don't measure groups, but every shot is a "kill", and that's good enough for me.
I don't know if there IS mass produced ammo that can compete with carefully crafted handloads, and if the brand IS there, it will be too expensive for me to use regularly. A friend of mine is an avid handloader, and I've seen what the ammo like that can do.
I have an old (rusty) wok mounted on a dried out trunk of a tree, and I have a clear sight on it at any distance up to 700 meters (not yards). He can make a "cloverleaf" pattern shots in the center of it (same weapon, Yugo M76), and it's great. I hit it in the "forehead" with the first shot, and I tell him "what's the difference,....the guy is dead just as well". LOL (and once the first shot is on the target, in the real scenario, there will be no "follow up" shots, and no opportunity for "patterns")
"Pretty Poor Uniformity" might ring true with someone that shoots for "patterns", and "scores", but labeling the PPU produced ammunition as "poor" is inaccurate IMO. There are different styles of shooting, and I fully agree with you that PPU is NOT "match grade" paper puncher, but as the mass produced military grade, it's damn good (compared with MANY other brands produced in that part of the world).
Different strokes, I guess.