Ammo questions

[DRL247]

1. Do different brands affect accuracy or how you shoot? I ask because today I tried Blazer Brass and Fiocchi 9mm, 115 grain in my new pistol. Fiocchi seemed to have more kick and went more right while the Blazer was more accurate and seemed to have less recoil. I am not formally trained (but I plan on doing that as soon as my wife gets her gun) so I was wondering if the difference in accuracy was attributed to a lack of training or the different manufacturers.

2. What do you base your ammo purchase on? Obviously you will pick based on practice and home defense, but what makes you choose one brand over the other?

[ktmguy]

Yes every ammo brand and specific model can effect accuracy differently. Brands make there ammo to different specifications, there is not a set standard and there is deviation between each round itself, some are higher velocity, some are lower and different perjectiles change the accuracy also. If you shoot five (any number) rounds thru a chronograph all five shot will be a different velocity.

[Toxicxk23]

Subbed as I could learn a deal from a thread like this.

I agree with you on the feel of Blazer Brass. I was accurate and the recoil was noticeably less. Then again, I am new to shooting my own ammo (was military so had no choice on brand) and sometimes seemed overwhelmed with the amount of choices.

[ktmguy]

As far as the second part of your question, for most it comes down to price. But I'd suggest trying a few different boxes and seeing what your barrel likes to shoot the best, then buy bulk of what you shoot the best. As far as HD ammo goes you want to follow the same steps above but also go online and research which rounds have consistent expansion. speer gold dot, federal hst, rem. golden saber, corbon, win. Ranger and Barnes are all really high quality for pistols. I can expand on rifle ammo aswell if you would like.

The construction of the percentile will also effect accuracy. They are constructed differently depending on price, some have lead core, some steel core, some are bonded, some are all copper. Some are manufactured to stricter tolerances and others are just mass produced.for example military spec ammo is set to less precise tolerances than match ammo which is aims for the smallest variation between each round. But all match ammo isn't the same it varies between manufacturers and even between lots.

[BigPimping]

Except for shotgun ammo, I find every brand of ammo to be loaded differently and perform differently

[cyborg]

OP, also check to see whether your ammo is +P or not, as +P has more velocity/power, and shouldn't be used in some guns.

[EvoXguy]

2. What do you base your ammo purchase on? Obviously you will pick based on practice and home defense, but what makes you choose one brand over the other?

Usually what's on sale

[billped]

For #2, I'll buy most brands but I always investigate a "never heard of it before" brand. Recently I did this with Serbian ammo, then Israeli ammo. I largely stay away from steel/aluminum as the savings isn't amazing.

Now that's FMJ for practice. For HD I'm significantly more picky and I'll pay the extra money to get what I want.

[OlderThanDirt]

1. Do different brands affect accuracy or how you shoot? I ask because today I tried Blazer Brass and Fiocchi 9mm, 115 grain in my new pistol. Fiocchi seemed to have more kick and went more right while the Blazer was more accurate and seemed to have less recoil. I am not formally trained (but I plan on doing that as soon as my wife gets her gun) so I was wondering if the difference in accuracy was attributed to a lack of training or the different manufacturers.

You can usually find the muzzle velocity for most commercially available ammo. It sounds like you were anticipating the greater velocity and kick associated with the Fiocchi and were pulling at the trigger instead of a gentle squeeze. This is pretty common with new shooters and explains why the shots went to the right.

2. What do you base your ammo purchase on? Obviously you will pick based on practice and home defense, but what makes you choose one brand over the other?

You will get dozens of answers to this question. Over time you will form brand, bullet and load preferences for each application. I avoid really cheap ammo, use expensive ammo for HD, and load my own for hunting where I want consistency for long range shots. Your firearm will tell you when it doesn't like a particular ammo; either by being inaccurate, or failing to cycle properly. I'll practice with reloads, but never trust it for anything that counts.

[Wordupmybrotha]

Out of all the factory loads, to me, Remington UMC feels like it has the least recoil. It also tends to be more expensive so I buy cases of it when it goes on sale. Blazer brass also feels like it has low recoil.

But regardless of all that, I buy the least expensive ammo except for Freedom Munitions. Others on here generally like them, but I don't.

[Wordupmybrotha]

1. Do different brands affect accuracy or how you shoot? I ask because today I tried Blazer Brass and Fiocchi 9mm, 115 grain in my new pistol. Fiocchi seemed to have more kick and went more right while the Blazer was more accurate and seemed to have less recoil.

Yes, I agree that Fiocchi feels like it's the snappiest. Here's my totally unscientific ranking of lightest recoil to snappiest based on my feel - not based on chrono.

Remington UMC (lightest recoil)
Blazer brass, aluminum
Winchester white box
Aguila, Federal, Freedom Munitions, Brass Maxx, Prvi, PMC (all about the same)
Magtech
Fiocchi (snappiest)

As for accuracy, I couldn't tell the difference. Fatigue might play a role though after shooting a lot of snappy ammo - whether it's actual physical fatigue or perceived mental fatigue.

[Jimmybikes]

Stock up on what's on sale and don't worry.

For accuracy you will find what is the best fit for your sidearm. Keep a bit of that too.

As said earlier make sure you gun is rated +p before you buy it.

Good luck, be safe and have fun!

[Rizzo]

When .22LR was hard to find, I ended up with several MFGs of ammo.
I shot them all through my Ruger 10/22 and saw quite a difference in shot patterns and POI (point of impact).
From that testing I found what my 10/22 was happy with.
Not surprising (to me), CCI MiniMags were the most consistent and surprisingly, Remington Golden Bullets (Improved) were also pretty accurate.

It is best to try different ammo to find what is what your gun likes.
Do not assume you can just buy any ammo and expect to hit the bullseye with it.
Other things like jams, Fail to Fire, Fail to Eject, etc. are also things to observe with each brand of ammo and your firearm.

[Jimi Jah]

I like consistency even if it's not the most accurate.

[djhall]

1. Do different brands affect accuracy or how you shoot?

Yes every ammo brand and specific model can effect accuracy differently. ... If you shoot five (any number) rounds thru a chronograph all five shot will be a different velocity.

The question I'm always wondering is, "Are the differences significant enough to affect the outcome for ordinary shooters in real life shooting scenarios?"

For practice purposes, I'm not such a great shot that a 1/2" variation in POI is going to be detectable in my groups if I'm standing at 25 yards with a pistol. For defense purposes, I've read that something close to 80% of shots fired by police don't hit the suspect at all.

Is this one of those things where if you have to ask the question then you don't shoot well enough for the answer to matter?

EDIT TO ADD: I suppose it is possible that normal factory pistol ammo has significant variations like +/- 3" at 25yds and I just don't know it. Whenever I've seen something like that with factory ammo I've always assumed it must be the shooter.