Choosing your Ammo

[felimen]

How? How do you choose your ammo, let's say for target practice. I have fired many different rounds, as in brands and types, aluminum and brass, always 115grain, and FMJ thru my Sig 225, 9mm, never had a jam. I just always got what was inexpensive. Is anything wrong with that? Do you guys do that?

Now I just bought my first AR, 556, and I spent a nice chunk on it. Do I do the same, just get the ammo I can afford and shoot it, or only run the best ammo? What is the best ammo? Is there a "best" ammo? How far off am I?

I do understand, kinda, the difference between home defense rounds and grains but would love to be schooled on that subject too. I get the basics but just want a real persons opinion, thx again, Digs



Cannnnn youuuu diiig iiiiiit !

[BennyAdeline]

For the range I buy the cheapest brass available that will cycle.

For self defense I do research and spend without regard to price.

[dekul34]

Depends on what you're trying to do. If you just wanna have fun on the range get what's cheap. If you're looking to see what accuracy you're capable or want to compete you need to get the ammo your gun likes best which means trying different things or loading your own.

There's some other considerations, some ammo is known for being dirty so you might not want to use it especially in gas impingement guns, some ammo is known for having hard primers that don't go bang all the time, others that have soft primers that break and foul up your firing pin, of course both problems are possible with any ammo and even good brands can have bad runs... during the ammo scare after Newtown when Obama was talking national bans I got several boxes of Winchester and Federal ammo that had various problems, a couple bullets seated backwards, a couple with no bullet (yes loose powder scattered in the ammo box), a few rounds without primers and several primers that didn't go bang and all was over the course of 2-3 months when for the rest of my adult life those brands have generally been the 'good quality' ammo.

I would prefer to buy only ammo that I know to be as close to 100% reliable as possible, and runs clean and accurate in my gun, especially for ammo I intend to store. But for cheap range practice I will deviate and buy cheap crap that I intend to use up on that occasion.

For reliable range ammo I don't mind storing for shtf I like S&B when I can find it especially for handgun calibers, always had good luck, they load on the hotter end of full spec and run clean and reliable for me.

[Garv]

Lower cost, reliable, but reasonably clean for plinking.

[musick]

For the range I buy the cheapest brass available that will cycle.

For self defense I do research and spend without regard to price

Agreed. Its completely subjective but I recommend finding out what the FBI or local Police force use. If a self defense scenario ever happened I would feel more confident in court using the same cartridges they use rather than some "super duper radically invasive projectile" marketed by some companies.

Just an opinion.

[felimen]

Ok, when you say fires dirty, is this something you can tell *** your shooting, or when your done and cleaning your gun? I bought some inexpensive ammo at Big5 and he said its dirty, when it was time to clean I didn't notice it was that bad.

I just have this idea that I want a gun that will shoot **** in there face if that's all I have.


Cannnnn youuuu diiig iiiiiit !

[Jimmy's]

I don't sweat it, I buy name brand and shoot it in my handguns, though I ONLY reload or newly load 100% of my rifle ammunition.

[Dano3467]

(Dirty stuff) Clean your guns, but your likely to do that anyway.

For fun I shoot cheap-o-cheap ammo tula & the likes, cause I just want to shoot, not go broke. (this is the dirty stuff)

The good stuff for me is military loading's, gold dots, HST, these are pricey so don't shoot a lot of that.

[Scratch705]

i buy what is cheap for plinking but will still run reliably (not fun if your ammo causes jams or malfunctions). that is also not to say that this ammo will shoot wildly. i still expect this ammo to be max 4 MOA ammo (barring any errors on my part). as this will most likely be the ammo i'm carrying with me if society goes south due to natural disaster.

i also buy match ammo when i want to zero (Federal Gold or PPU Match) but otherwise i don't really stock up on these, only keep less than 500 on hand for each caliber.

[fritztkatt]

Whatever I can find cheapest that's typically not steel case or bimetal projectiles. I have no issues using steel in my glock, but not using it in my AR, personal choice.

For defensive use, within reason, cost is no issue. I'll spend $20 on a box of 9mm jhp.

Hunting ammo, same thing. You know you're out there to kill an animal, and your job is to do it humanely. Use the correct type and an accurate load/brand. Cost is minimal when you think about it. $2/Rd isn't bad if it puts 100lbs of venisonon the table.

Not going to mag dump $2/Rd though!

Match grade stuff is expensive, but you want to win right? Definitely a different type of ammo than hunting (wrong projectile type), and much more accurate than bulk/blasting.

Military style loads usually perform quite consistently (2-3moa), are affordable, and are known to last 100 years on the shelf. Good all around ammo for making holes in stuff. Just wouldn't use it for hunting, even if legal. Not the right projectile.

Homestly, for blasting ammo, like wolf, I'm ok with some hard primers, double feeds, weaker loads that don't eject, etc. Good training opportunity. We never get enough practice with immediate/remedial action, then when it happens most shooters stand there looking stupid.

[97F1504RAD]

While price is a concern, I have always tried to buy Federal, Winchester, Privi/PPU & PMC. Although I have also purchased some of the newer brands such as IMI and have had great results with it in 5.56 ammo.

[felimen]

Great idea! Have some quality ammo to zero, I guess this makes a big difference. Then can switch to the cheep to have some fun. I also like the idea of if a jam happens, how to respond and resolve it, quickly, it's all training right.

Now for the home defense do you get a heavy grain so it hits hard? So it won't keep flying thru walls until it hits a neighbors house?


Cannnnn youuuu diiig iiiiiit !

[DRM6000]

I'll buy what's relatively cheap and is accurate through my gun. Buying cheap ammo just because it's cheap makes for a frustrating shooting session if it's not accurate. You're just covering money into noise.

[felimen]

Idk, I have yet to blame my ammo for not shooting straight[emoji12]


Cannnnn youuuu diiig iiiiiit !

[BennyAdeline]

While price is a concern, I have always tried to buy Federal, Winchester, Privi/PPU & PMC. Although I have also purchased some of the newer brands such as IMI and have had great results with it in 5.56 ammo.

Privi makes some good stuff!!

Have you tried the wolf gold 223? Great stuff for AR food.