Ammo

[jennyrebekah]

I am a new recipient of a CPL. I am currently saving money for a 9mm handgun. I have very little experience firing a weapon and I want to start buying ammo so that when I get my gun I can practice allot before I start carrying my firearm. So my knowledge of ammunition, the types and the best for my purposes is pretty low. What are the differences in different types of bullets and what brands do you recommend? Also, can you make any recommendations of places to buy them at the best price?

Jennifer

 

[Firefighterchen]

I use ball ammo (fmj) for practice. It's cheaper to shoot larger volumes.

I use hollow points (jhp) for self defense. I run at least a box of the same hollow points through my firearm to make sure they function reliably.

I have no preference for brands for either. Ball ammo I go find the cheapest. That usually will be a bulk buy on sale (1000 rounds at a time).

Sent from my D6616 using USA Carry mobile app

 

[bofh]

There is no need to purchase ammo before purchasing a handgun. Before purchasing a handgun, go to a gun range that rents them and try different handguns in different calibers. The range will sell you the necessary ammo as well. Take a Gun Safety or Introduction Into Handguns course at that range. Practice with rental guns a few times, i.e., a few visits at the range. The money you spend on the rental guns is well worth it. Not shooting a gun before buying it is like not test driving a car before buying it. The gun range may not have the handgun you ultimately want, but similar ones that you can compare. As far as handgun ammunition goes, you only need to know:

• full metal jacket (FMJ) - common practice round
• jacketed hollow-point (JHP) - common self defense round

The cheapest offers are typically online, if your state permits purchasing ammunition online. ammoseek.com is a good search engine.

This link will get you 9mm FMJ rounds. Skip any ammunition that is reloaded/re-manufacured. Some handguns don't like steel-cased ammunition. Note that depending on the handgun you buy, it may only like certain ammunition. In this case, I would recommend to buy a certain brand in small quantities first, and test it. Recommended brands are Blazer Brass, Remington UMC, LAX Ammunition, and many others.

For JHP rounds, I am exclusively buying at SGAmmo.com | Family Owned and Operated Ammo Sales, Stillwater OK their 9mm JHP selection includes common service rounds. These are rounds carried by law enforcement. They are also legal for us to carry. Recommended brands are Federal HST, Speer Gold Dot and Hornady Critical Duty.

 

[NotTwoShure]

1. Range to see what you like and don't like. 2. Buy what you like and shoot best with 3. Expert advice on ammo.

 

[Blueshell]

I am a new recipient of a CPL. I am currently saving money for a 9mm handgun. I have very little experience firing a weapon and I want to start buying ammo so that when I get my gun I can practice allot before I start carrying my firearm. So my knowledge of ammunition, the types and the best for my purposes is pretty low. What are the differences in different types of bullets and what brands do you recommend? Also, can you make any recommendations of places to buy them at the best price?

Jennifer

Buy a box of everything, try it all. I have a Sig p320c in 9mm and for practice I use American Eagle 147gr. My carry amo is Hornady Critical Duty 135gr JHP.

 

[driz]

Shoot the cheap stuff to practice with. Still though be sure to run some full power defense rounds each time you shoot. It's always good to familiarize yourself with the higher recoil most have so there's no nasty surprises if you find yourself in a life threatening situation. You don't need to practice with them exclusively though so save your money. Just a clip or two is plenty IMO.


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[bofh]

Shoot the cheap stuff to practice with. Still though be sure to run some full power defense rounds each time you shoot. It's always good to familiarize yourself with the higher recoil most have so there's no nasty surprises if you find yourself in a life threatening situation. You don't need to practice with them exclusively though so save your money. Just a clip or two is plenty IMO.

I am curious about those full power defense rounds you speak of. What do you mean by that?

 

[ericcrosby]

Hi, I am new to the forum. Thank you for sharing infomation.

 

[NavyLCDR]

I am curious about those full power defense rounds you speak of. What do you mean by that?

Some handguns don't like steel-cased ammunition.

I am curious about these handguns that don't like steel-cased ammunition that you speak of? What do you mean by that? As long as the ammunition meets the size specifications for the caliber, why would a gun not like it because of the steel case?

 

[bofh]

I am curious about these handguns that don't like steel-cased ammunition that you speak of? What do you mean by that? As long as the ammunition meets the size specifications for the caliber, why would a gun not like it because of the steel case?

Some handguns don't even like brass-cased ammunition to the point that manufacturers specify in the manual which ammunition brands and bullet weights to use. Not every handgun works like a Glock. The following factors can influence reliability: weaker vs. stronger powder charge, lighter vs. heavier weight, rough outside case surface/texture, amount of expansion in the chamber, polymer or lacquer coating, dirty powder, hard primers, and loose primers.

The State of New Jersey is currently suing Sig Sauer for reliability issues with their P229s. According to Sig Sauer's statement, it's the specific practice ammunition that NJSP uses that doesn't run in the P229.

If your gun can't cycle a certain steel or aluminum-cased ammunition, then this simply means that you have a gun that generally has problems cycling ammunition.

PS: Other factors at play are a dirty magazine or firearm, where new brass-cased ammo would still cycle fine, but aluminum-cased, steel-cased or even reloaded brass-cased ammo would not. There is a difference between firing 100 rounds through an initially clean gun at a square indoor range and firing 500 rounds through an initially clean gun in the rain and/or dirt of an outdoor range at a training class.