What 9mm ammo do you like for your builds? And what do you avoid?

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Firearms101

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It is time for me to stock up again on 9mm ammo. During the last big ammo panic, I sold a bunch of my 9mm ammo because only had a few 9 mm pistols. That was before I started building the 80%. Things have changed and I need to rethink my 9mm ammo inventory requirements.

What ammo do you all like for testing, break-in, and general target shooting? Right now my inventory is mostly Federal 115 gr FMJ, Sellior & Bellot 115 gr FMJ, and Speer/CCI Blazer Brass 124 for FMJ.

Also any specific ammo to avoid in the P80s or GSTs?

Thanks for your insights?
 
You shouldn't have any problems with your ammo inventory listed.

Unless you use stock OEM glock barrel its not recommended to run lead, non-jacketed bullets.
If you use any other match grade barrel you should be fine even up to 147 +P HP’s
 
Thanks, I was just wondering if any specific go to brand for the 80% builds. Did not know about the concern with lead, non-jacketed bullets - don’t usually buy those but do have a few boxes will avoid.
 
Firearms101 said:
Thanks, I was just wondering if any specific go to brand for the 80% builds. Did not know about the concern with lead, non-jacketed bullets - don’t usually buy those but do have a few boxes will avoid.
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The lead concern is only for Glock OEM Gen 1-4 "Polygonal" barrels, as lead-fouling can build up in the rifling... Switching back to jacketed can actually increase chamber pressures dangerously in rare instances. Aftermarket barrels aren't a concern.

I like to feed new Builds a wide variety of ammo -different types, weights, brands... The only thing I haven't used in a handgun is steel-case, (I have nothing terribly against steel-case, but I never found a good enough deal to be worth the extra wear on my firearms -rifles are different), and the only thing I will NOT use again is Remington's UMC brand. Winchester's "White Box" junk is also pretty much off my list.

For personal defense however, I prefer S&B JHP in 115-grain, Speer Gold-Dot in 124-grain, or Cor-bon 115+P. I've also started using IMI "Die-Cut" from Israel since I got some VERY good deals on it, though I believe their expansion is somewhat lacking. I used to be 100% Cor-Bon and Winchester Silver Tips, with Remington, Winchester, Federal, and Blazer primarily for target shooting, but not so much now. If I could get Blazer for a good price, I would still use them, but the last sane deal I got on FMJ was Herters, at just under $10/box of 50. Much more than that, I will just stock up on defensive ammo instead, and shoot a lot less.
 
Interesting....Win White Box....I haven't shot any of that in years, but my last boxes of it were REAL dirty. Terrible, so I never purchased any more. That was in 9mm AND .45ACP...some of the grubbiest I'd shot. The S&B from say, 20 years ago wasn't the cleanest, either, but not as bad as Winchester White Box, IME.

For me, for break-in, I like bulk 124gr FMJ, just to get acquainted with a new sidearm's functioning. For more serious protection rounds, I want something with some more mass and thump than 115gr, but have some of those onhand as well like the SIG 365 115gr, which at times will find its way into our SC's, though usually it's the Sig VC 124gr.

Generally we use and keep onhand SIG 124 JHP V-Crown, SIG M17 124gr +P, and Federal HST 147gr. for HD/protection duties. I'm not an ammo authority by a stretch, but I like these. There's a lot of good choices out there.
 
These days, it's hard to be picky. I was able to go a few years without buying ammo since I had stocked up. But, this build hobby dwindled my inventory. I had to buy some recently. I got CCI Blazer. Good stuff.

I bought a bunch of WWB years ago before I knew how crappy it is. I'm still shooting some of it, just trying to burn it all. I'll never buy WWB again. I find it to be inconsistent. Some of them will give me some wild "flyers" that I KNOW were not me.

Not specific to P80 builds, but just in general... I like Federal and CCI for bulk range ammo. I have also had good luck with the Korean PMC. I have never shot steel cased commie ammo... and won't.

For SD (hollow points), I like... in no particular order... Federal HST, Speer Gold Dot, Winchester Ranger SXT or Ranger T-Series.
 
For me, what ever is on sale at the time. I have avoid steel only because my indoor range wont allowed it.
 
Racer88- CCI does make a pretty consistent, quality product overall; though I've never shot any of their 9mm loads....I think we may have a few boxes of the Blazer 9mm on-hand, and If so, I'll check them out.

We haven't tried the Speer Gold dots or G2 ammo, and that's one I'd like to give a try and have heard nothing but good reports about them.
 
Mooner said:
For me, what ever is on sale at the time. I have avoid steel only because my indoor range wont allowed it.
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I've only shot steel cased ammo in 7.62x49....I won't put any steel-cased ammo in our sidearms, unless we have nothing else to choose from.
 
For break in, I like a wide variety of weights, 115, 124 and 147. Typically, CCI Blazer Brass, Federal and occasionally Remington or Winchester. Now that I'm reloading, it's 115gr from RMR bullets using either HS6 or Longshot powder.

For HP, I'm a fan of 124gr & 147gr HST, or 124gr Gold Dot.
 
Not P80 specific, but the only ammo Ive had issue with is Remington. If shooting alot of it in a day. It seems to build up quite a bit of sludge/greasy paste on the firearm. Dragging the slide and springs.
Oddly enough the only issue I've had with Winchester white box is unspent powder and not that much of a issue.
S&B has been working lately, but its been greasy too. Correction last year. Haven't been able to shoot for a year. I was burning through close 1k rds monthly.
 
Stephen G said:
Not P80 specific, but the only ammo Ive had issue with is Remington. If shooting alot of it in a day. It seems to build up quite a bit of sludge/greasy paste on the firearm. Dragging the slide and springs.
Oddly enough the only issue I've had with Winchester white box is unspent powder and not that much of a issue.
S&B has been working lately, but its been greasy too. Correction last year. Haven't been able to shoot for a year. I was burning through close 1k rds monthly.
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I like S&B. Got some good bargains on them a while back, and figure they may not be 'top notch' but I wouldn't feel like I had a BB-gun if I stuck in a bad spot with a mag full of their JHPs. I do prefer Speer Gold Dots and some others, but they aren't always easy to get for a decent price, especially now.

Winchester White Box -the last pack I got was from Walmart, back when they still sold pistol ammo, and I had a new 9mm that mentioned them specifically as a 'break-in' cartridge, among a few others. Still a Winchester fan at that point from having carried Silvertips for so long, I bought a 100-pack for a great price and felt ready. Unfortunately, the case-size was borderline out-of-spec! I couldn't load the new magazines to capacity, as they would suddenly start flinging out between the feed-lips. I had never seen such a failure before, or since. I've tried other cartridges, including other Winchester product-lines, and it was only the WWB's that experienced the mag-vomit effect. Sad.

Remington and I go back a looong way, but I avoid them now because they (did, anyway) used non-Mil-Spec primers in calibers that (at the time) ONLY military-grade rifles were chambered in, and ALL of those rifles had full-floating firing-pins. Meaning that when the bolt carried forward to load the new cartridge, the firing-pin would carry forward into the primer under its' own inertia, and I experienced a slam-fire ONE TIME, with Remington (their yellow-box "UMC" target rounds), fortunately the ONLY time in my life I have had one (to date). There was no good reason for soft civilian-grade primers in a military-only cartridge. Except for bean-counter logic, or pure unprofessional ignorance, and THAT isn't good enough for MY safety.
 
Racer88 said:
These days, it's hard to be picky. I was able to go a few years without buying ammo since I had stocked up. But, this build hobby dwindled my inventory. I had to buy some recently. I got CCI Blazer. Good stuff.

I bought a bunch of WWB years ago before I knew how crappy it is. I'm still shooting some of it, just trying to burn it all. I'll never buy WWB again. I find it to be inconsistent. Some of them will give me some wild "flyers" that I KNOW were not me.

Not specific to P80 builds, but just in general... I like Federal and CCI for bulk range ammo. I have also had good luck with the Korean PMC. I have never shot steel cased commie ammo... and won't.

For SD (hollow points), I like... in no particular order... Federal HST, Speer Gold Dot, Winchester Ranger SXT or Ranger T-Series.
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CCI Blazer Brass is my all time favorite. I have close to 2000 rounds of it stashed away. for Hollowpoints i also agree with you on the first two mentioned, my preference is Speer Gold Dot 124 gr +P or HST 124 gr +P. they have always done well for me.
 
Not really a type but a weight. 124gr doesn't matter if it is HP , XTP , Ranger P+ ,FMJ. They feed well through my AR's and Glocks. Exception is 115gr through my G26.
 
I've found S&B to be inconsistent in terms of the load. Especially with 10mm.

Generally, I avoid discount range ammo or reloads. Not worth the few pennies you save. Wait for the sales on the popular branded and buy bulk. Ammoseek makes it easy to find deals. Federal, Speer, Hornady, Sig, Fiocchi, Remington, Winchester, cant go wrong. Blazer is less pricey and it has always run well for me. Magtech... so so. I'd compare it to S&B.

In the defensive realm, I like Fort Scott TUI and NOVX copper. Occasionally the Inceptor ARX composite. I've gradually shifted away from hollow points.
 
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The Fort Scott copper solids fly a little weird, I have shot two boxes of 9mm and two boxes of 40s&w. Accuracy opens up after a few rounds in a warm barrel.
The Sig VCrown SD ammo is a little hot, had a nickel case 357sig rupture inside in new gun so beware.
Ranger SD ammo is a safe bet, LEO Ammo !
 
MikedaddyH said:
The Fort Scott copper solids fly a little weird, I have shot two boxes of 9mm and two boxes of 40s&w. Accuracy opens up after a few rounds in a warm barrel.
The Sig VCrown SD ammo is a little hot, had a nickel case 357sig rupture inside in new gun so beware.
Ranger SD ammo is a safe bet, LEO Ammo !
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Sig has been pretty consistent quality for me. But discounts are rare. I've never seen a case rupture in a pistol in 20+ years, shooting 1000-2000 rounds a month for most of that time. Rifles... a few. But those were hand loads somebody intentionally or unintentionally made too hot.

Unfortunately the science of ballistics exceed most peoples math skills. You can teach a monkey to read but you can't make him understand. Buying a gun makes no one a marksman like buying a press makes no one a ballistician. :)

For the solids, I prefer NOVX. Fort Scott... I like the TUIs, which are solid also but designed to tumble on impact vs carve a wound channel with hydraulic pressure. They are all defensive rounds so I don't get my butt puckered about accuracy. It's not an issue at the typical defensive distance. I can put any bullet in the world using any handgun in the IDPA -0 circles at 15 yards. For me the TUIs perform as well at HST or Speer at anything under 25 yards. These loads aren't range ammo and the need to take a shot beyond 25 yards in a real self defense scenario almost never happens.
 
Bongo Lewi said:
Sig has been pretty consistent quality for me. But discounts are rare. I've never seen a case rupture in a pistol in 20+ years, shooting 1000-2000 rounds a month for most of that time. Rifles... a few. But those were hand loads somebody intentionally or unintentionally made too hot.

Unfortunately the science of ballistics exceed most peoples math skills. You can teach a monkey to read but you can't make him understand. Buying a gun makes no one a marksman like buying a press makes no one a ballistician. :)

For the solids, I prefer NOVX. Fort Scott... I like the TUIs, which are solid also but designed to tumble on impact vs carve a wound channel with hydraulic pressure. They are all defensive rounds so I don't get my butt puckered about accuracy. It's not an issue at the typical defensive distance. I can put any bullet in the world using any handgun in the IDPA -0 circles at 15 yards. For me the TUIs perform as well at HST or Speer at anything under 25 yards. These loads aren't range ammo and the need to take a shot beyond 25 yards in a real self defense scenario almost never happens.
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Agreed on the solid copper rounds !
Hollow point Self Defence rounds are what you are going to carry, so some thought should be placed into this. Should you have to use it ! Winchester Ranger is what a lot of Law Enforcement Officers have in their guns. That takes the Lawyer from saying bad sh!t about your intentions with your carry ammo. Do some research and find out what you local cops have in their guns and use the same stuff. My opinion !
I absolutely love XTP projectiles, all around price & quality the best baby for the buck.
 
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