Does ammo quality make a huge difference in accuracy?

[GM_77]

Take the human factor out of the equation and redo the tests. I don’t think you can conclude anything from what you just did, the human factor varies so much from person.

p.s.

Ok look this is 10yds... 10! I may be going on a limb here but if ammo makes that much a difference at 10yds my common sense has just been blown the F out of the water.

[redcliff]

If you shoot 5" groups at 10 yards keep working on the basics of sight alignment, trigger pull, front sight focus and follow-through. While different weight projectiles will shoot to a different point of aim, you won't see a big difference in group size at 10 yards.

For practice ammo I really like the PMC Bronze since they hold the powder charge to 3/10's of a grain or less variance. I find it to be more accurate than WWB in most of my pistols.

[CSACANNONEER]

Uh, yeah, he is.

Winchester Ranger 147gr. 9mm has a muzzle velocity spec of 990fps.

CCI Blazer 115gr. 9mm has a muzzle velocity spec of 1145fps.

He's more accurate with the slower stuff.

MV alone does not make it "hotter". There is a greater amount of energy in the slower but heavier bullet than the lite 115gr ones going a little faster.

[Bill Steele]

Better quality, tighter groups

I shoot a lot of the cheaper FMJ stuff. Anytime I am out on the range I usually bring a box of the expensive HP stuff I keep for defense to assure the things are cycling well in each gun.

It is rare for me not to shoot tighter groups with the expensive stuff. The longer the distance I am shooting, the more apparent the difference.

Having said that, low and left is likely your technique.

[CSACANNONEER]

Is blazer aluminum really that crap quality though? I've seen other people shoot just fine with this ammo. For that matter, I've asked some of the RSOs at the range to shoot my gun with my ammo, and they actually grouped pretty well at the same range. I'm thinking it might just be developing a flinch everytime I shoot the lighter ammo that has more felt recoil, but I wanted some more opinions from you guys.

No, some guns really like it. Your's may not. Barrels and ammo are a funny thing. You can take the same ammo and shoot it from identical barrels that were made one right afterr the other and, you might find that one likes ammo A and the other can't shoot it worth a scat but, it likes ammo B instead.

[Helpful_Cub]

With hand gun ammo at 25 yards you'll see at most around 1 inch change in impact. But that's mainly because of the differences in velocities between hot and slow rounds. You should still be well within the zombie.

[sammy]

I am not sure that ammo quality has much to do with handgun accuracy at 10 yards offhand. 99.9% of shooters will never tell a difference between handgun ammo other than recoil and muzzle flash. It has been quite a while since I shot factory ammo. Just for kicks about a month ago I brought several different .45cp loads to check for accuracy differences.

185g. Montana Gold HP 950fps
200g. Montana Gold FN 925fps
200g. LSWC Penn 920fps
230g. Zero FMJ Ball 870fps

Very boring test. At 15 yards offhand they all looked like this (photo not from the accuracy test described above) Point being it is the shooter, not the ammo that counts. Rifles tend to be a different story when shooting from a bench. Buy what is cheap and practice, practice, practice...

[iareConfusE]

I am not sure that ammo quality has much to do with handgun accuracy at 10 yards offhand. 99.9% of shooters will never tell a difference between handgun ammo other than recoil and muzzle flash. It has been quite a while since I shot factory ammo. Just for kicks about a month ago I brought several different .45cp loads to check for accuracy differences.

185g. Montana Gold HP 950fps
200g. Montana Gold FN 925fps
200g. LSWC Penn 920fps
230g. Zero FMJ Ball 870fps

Very boring test. At 15 yards offhand they all looked like this (photo not from the accuracy test described above) Point being it is the shooter, not the ammo that counts. Rifles tend to be a different story when shooting from a bench. Buy what is cheap and practice, practice, practice...

There has to be something different about the ammo that I'm shooting that would cause my groups to be low and to the left. If not the ammo affecting the groups directly, the ammo is somehow adversely affecting my shooting technique, thus causing me to create a change in my point of aim. Either an increase in recoil causing me to develop a flinch, or something else. That's just what I'm trying to find out. I can't definitively say that I'm completely at fault if I'm shooting one type of ammo really well, and then the next type of ammo really badly.

[Casual_Shooter]

Have someone load your magazines while you're not looking. Have them load them but not tell you whether it's a full mag or not.

Concentrate on shooting one shot per second. My guess is on the 3rd, 4th, etc shot, when the mag goes empty, assuming you don't notice the slide lock back (because you're concentrating so hard on that one shot per second rule ), you'll flinch forward and down to the left when you squeeze that final "click".

[iareConfusE]

Have someone load your magazines while you're not looking. Have them load them but not tell you whether it's a full mag or not.

Concentrate on shooting one shot per second. My guess is on the 3rd, 4th, etc shot, when the mag goes empty, assuming you don't notice the slide lock back (because you're concentrating so hard on that one shot per second rule ), you'll flinch forward and down to the left when you squeeze that final "click".

Yeah I was thinking of bringing a buddy along to load some snap caps into my mags without telling me how many in between. I think I'll try that this time around.

[NiteQwill]

You just need to practice more. Practice dry firing & fundamentals.

[j1133s]

So, does a more expensive round equal greater accuracy? I can't tell why I would be shooting well with the expensive ammo but crappy with the cheap practice ammo.

A more costly ammo does not always mean more accurate ammo. An accurate ammo has to be consistent round-to-round, which generally means a higher cost... but the other way isn't always the case.

However, accuracy wouldn't show up at 10 yards <-- the distance you were shooting. Maybe because the HP rounds were more expensive, you took more time to aim and fire?

[Voo]

Im with gryff in that snappier, lighter bullets often cause people to develop more of a 'flinch' reaction. Most of the beginner shooters I teach seem to do better with the heavier, slower moving bullets. When I shoot the gun, I notice zero difference in accuracy at distances as close as 10 yards (unless the ammo really hates the gun)

Think about what everyone has said and try out the ideas that appeal to you (for now). If they work that's great. You're on your way to being a better handgunner. The only other thing I'd recommend is possibly using a different target? Using something with a larger black or orange sometimes makes it easier to consistently find the same reference point.

[MT1]

I can really tell the difference with ammo - usually I shoot American Eagle & Magtech as my cheap range ammo. Granted it is not as consistent as my HD ammo, but the groupings are still perfectly acceptable. Now I stupidly bought a case of 500 rounds of CCI Lawman to try out and this stuff had me thinking my gun was broken until I changed out to a couple other Sigs of mine to try it out and had the same results - fliers that were over 6" away from the main groupings, and this was half the ammo in the magazine, a couple low and right, couple high and left, etc....will never buy that crap again and now am just using it up with draw and rapid fire drills.

[bsg]

No, some guns really like it. Your's may not. Barrels and ammo are a funny thing. You can take the same ammo and shoot it from identical barrels that were made one right afterr the other and, you might find that one likes ammo A and the other can't shoot it worth a scat but, it likes ammo B instead.

absolutely... true.

this is why you must test ammo (at least 200 rounds) in your gun to ensure reliability for defensive purposes; regardless of how that ammo has been reported to perform in other guns "identical" to yours.