What is considered Crappy Ammo?

[sarbiker]

I look at ammo purchases like this - With the exception of my Glocks most of my handguns cost north of a grand. Why would I try to save pennies with the possibility of shortening the life of my weapon.

Unless you're shooting a Hi Point I would be picky with the rounds that I use.

[ProtectThe2nd]

Hi guys...What are your go to ammo brands?

My brands shouldn't be your brands...

1. When you acquire a new weapon, try a bunch of ammo (never reman) to find the ones your new weapon likes.

2. Once you know which ammo is most accurate in your weapon, pick the one you can afford to shoot.

3. You may not be able to stock wide and deep on the ammo you shoot 1/2 MOA with...but you CAN afford the 1 1/2 MOA stuff and you're happy to get that result all day long for the price.

4. Buy a couple/few boxes of the "show off" stuff for when you feel the need to show off

So, know what each weapon likes the best but buy what you can afford and stay away from remanufactured

[nedro]

You Sir, have not had the pleasure of using craptastic Olympic 5.56x45 from back in the day.

Olympic?
The name just oozes liberal. And no, I have not had the pleasure.

[crufflers]

Wolf, Tula, Pmc, magtech, all steel cases ammo are on my crappy don't buy list. Blazer is down there & I'll only buy if it's an amazing price. I've been shooting a lot of freedom munitions reloads recently and their product is as good as Winchester white box, thousands of rounds with zero issues. LAXammo on the other hand nothing but duds and issues


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Yeah from what I have read, LAX. I always had good luck with TUL, Wolf, Brown Bear,but they are the cheapest Russian fodder. I still have some. Probably a case of TUL .223 and Brown Bear, but 90% brass 5.56 NATO stuff. SKS and Mosin ammo is all Russian stuff though IIRC.

Crappy rimfire for me is Rem Thunderbolt and any Winchester. Funny that Win rimfre blows (IMHO) and the centerfire is so decent.

I guess if it was half the price, I'd shoot some steel cased pistol ammo in my guns to see how it functions, but brass cased is so cheap with the deals lately, why bother. I have shot plenty of WOLF .45 ACP and 9mm in my IMI Jericho .45 and Ruger P95 DC way back and do not recall any issues though. I do remember we used to get the WOLF .45 for $10 per box, and I beat that price on new brass case stuff this year a few times already, which would be encouraging if the impending 2018 B.S. wan't looming.

[JDMIS300]

Avoid reloads over here unless they are my own. I shoot lots of steel ammo in all of my guns and have not had issues. If you shoot a lot, that $30 you save per case adds up very fast. For everyone who says steel ammo is crap hasn't really given it a try. I would much rather shoot Wolf than PMC, Winchester White Box, or UMC.

[k1dude]

I stay away from most comm bloc steel ammo (except Golden Tiger), anything Aguila, Brassmax, and Remington, and Winchester shotgun shells. I will never shoot someone else's reloads and remanufactured ammo.

I've have very good luck with anything Federal, PMC, and CCI.

[CandG]

I usually stick to these due to cost/availibility:

Sellier and bellot
Winchester white box
Federal (all their products - American eagle ,etc.)
fiocci
Remington
Blazer

^ This. I quit buying re-manufactured ammo, not because I had a bad experience with it, but because I read so many horror stories and didn't want to be one of them. There is plenty of factory-new ammo that only barely costs more than re-manufactured ammo, so I see no reason to buy anything but factory-new. My guns weren't cheap - do I really want to risk blowing up a $700-$4k firearm just to save a few pennies on each trigger pull? No thanks. If I shoot 5000 rounds, and my ammo costs 3 cents more per round by buying new, that's only $150 more that I paid in order to keep my guns from kabooming - that's worth it, for peace of mind alone.

I also avoid inexpensive factory-new ammo loaded by tiny little ammo-loading facilities, like LAX. Those companies' production is too small to be able to make a consistent product, IMO.

It helps that I don't shoot often enough for a few pennies per round to make a difference.

[crufflers]

Avoid reloads over here unless they are my own. I shoot lots of steel ammo in all of my guns and have not had issues.

I used to shoot MIWALL reloads a lot because they were at my local LONGS DRUGS cheaper than anything else... 9mm was $4.97 IIRC. .38 was maybe a buck more. No issues I can recall. Those were the days. That Longs in Auburn had more ammo than my favorite LGS - cases, cans of surplus, Russian cans, 7.62 Nato, foreign surplus, etc... it was almost like being in a free state.

[divingin]

Don't know about their centerfire stuff, but Aguila and Wolf rimfire are fairly well regarded in target circles (at least their mid-grade offerings, in Aguila's case.)

[splithoof]

I shoot LOTS of Russian steel-cased ball, as long as it's not corrosive. I also RELOAD steel cases, in a number of calibers, that are Boxer primed, although the steel cases don't last as long as brass cases.
I refuse to use commercially re manufactured ammunition, or that reloaded by another individual.
I shoot and reload any brass-cases ammunition that is affordable, and can be purchased in 1K round cases.
Surplus ammo I have had good luck with over time has included stuff made in Africa, America, Argentina, Britain, Brazil, Columbia, China, Egypt, Europe, etc, etc. Some has been reloadable, some not.
In all that time, only a handful of duds.

[CalNRA]

I don't know what the PMC did to some of us here but I always had great luck with it, in my 1911s they are the most accurate of the budget stuff, their 5.56 is clean enough and their 9mm seem to be as good as any main stream offerings.

First time I shot PMC Bronze in 45 I thought I got some more expensive stuff by mistake because the rounds down range kept going into a 2-3 inch circle at 25 yards off hand.

[Blade Gunner]

I look at ammo purchases like this - With the exception of my Glocks most of my handguns cost north of a grand. Why would I try to save pennies with the possibility of shortening the life of my weapon.

Unless you're shooting a Hi Point I would be picky with the rounds that I use.

My thoughts exactly. I even treat my .22 to CCI minimags exclusively.

[Nguyen]

I never had any crappy ammo. I run mostly tula or wolf.. Maybe because my gun isnt a piece of sh*t and is able to run any ammo.

Springfield 1911 TRP and Glock 19.

[simonp]

Guess it goes to prove the point that regardless of label at least for the big companies, its all just luck. I agree that UMC is dirty but it always works and is frequently on sale

[simonp]

It's interesting to me to see how many folks here avoid commercial remanufactured ammo / reloads. I get it with small companies who are new or may not produce enough to have a good QC procedure. But when you look at the volume of someone like Freedom Munitions or Loadx who is local (Santa Rosa) and have been doing it for years, seems like the risk is virtually the same as buying factory ammo - all using the same machines and probably hiring from similar labor pools to do the actual work.