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What catridge brand/manufacturer is best??

5K views 40 replies 20 participants last post by  Capuano 
#1 ·
Hey Everyone. Any tips on which cartridge brand/manufacturer is best for my xd9mm? I currently use Winchester 115gr FMJ 9mm luger. I wanted to see my options...Thanks for the help.
 
#2 ·
for Self defense?? Try a bonded bullet from a major brand, make sure it works well in your gun specifically, etc etc. Speer Gold dots and ranger T or PdX1 are all bonded. Bonded just means they were made harder simply put.

Practice: whatever cycles the slide reliably
 
#5 · (Edited)
for Self defense?? Try a bonded bullet from a major brand, make sure it works well in your gun specifically, etc etc. Speer Gold dots and ranger T or PdX1 are all bonded. Bonded just mean they were made harder simply put.

Practice: whatever cycles the slide reliably
There are only 4 brands to bother with, because of ^^this...
Affectionately referred to as The Big 4 around here, listed in order of preference based on performance...
1)Federal HST
2)Speer Gold Dot
3)Winchester PDX
4)Remington Golden Sabre

Hornady gimmick ammo is crap...avoid it
FMJ practice ammo: Freedom Munitions baby! They have a cult-like following around here for a reason---cheap, reliable and bulk priced for easy stockpiling...

in 9mm, I would suggest a 147gr Hollowpoint over a 115gr...some guys will suggest otherwise, but my preference is the heavier projectile; Same with my preferences in 40, 45, 10mm and 357...I also like the mantra "Train How You Fight" so keep the practice slugs in the same weight range and make sure to run a couple of mags of your chosen JHP ammo through the pistol as well! I like to run 2 mags through with a clean, freshly lubed gun and then after a few hundred practice rounds, repeat the process to see if feeding of reliability are affected
 
#3 ·
well, thats a broad statement...are you talking practice/target ammo? defensive use? competing?
 
#6 ·
XTPs by hornady are a close 2nd to those listed above. They handle barriers well and retain weight and always expand. Critical defense.... That's a gimmick....

Sabres are old technology and separate like crazy. Can't believe I forgot HST!!!!!

would take XTP over rem sabers any day.. I got several hundred hollow points (components ) if you want to trade out !!!! lol
 
#7 ·
after looking the sabers up they do say bonded tech..... I'll be damned because I have a drawer full of em separated as he77... Better check the name of mine again?????


yep they are 180 gr rem Sabers. separate a lot.
Also gold guardian mag techs peel apart like a banana.
 
#21 ·
I have a silly question here:
If you have to stop an armed crook, who just broke into your house, and you shoot him with Golden Sabres..
Do you really care that the bullet separates after punching a dollar size hole inside his body ?
I've seen all the reports of the Non-Bonded Golden Sabres, and they show separation after 10 to 12 inches travel inside the gel.
Does it really matter to you what the bullet does after 12 inches inside the body of the crook, who was trying to harm you ?
And what about the bullets that have been designed for fragmentation after impact, are those bad too ??
 
#8 ·
Okay, awesome. I will conduct research based on everyone's recommendation. My goal is to shoot (at the range) cheap while maintaining a decent inventory of cartridges at home.

If there are any more proposals, please list them down. All info is greatly appreciated for your fellow newbie.
 
#9 ·
like red bull said a lot of folks who don't reload go with Freedom munitions for practice.

The same answers on the 4 SD ammo will be recommended pretty standard here.
My opinion.... leave the sabers out. Others are good to go.

I like the heavies too.... practice how you play as said..... same weight and feel or as close as possible bt SD and practice
 
#14 ·
For range practice, shoot the cheapest ammo that will reliably feed and function in your gun.

Don't worry about the ammo being "dirty."

- It's not the cause of a gun's mechanical woes.
- It's not the cause of a shooter's problematic and sub-par performance.

Go to any of the larger training classes, and you'll see that the vast majority of shooters simply shoot whatever they could get cheapest at the time. You'll even have fellow students with custom 1911s and 2011s or other upgraded/modified handguns that are literally $3 to $5K, and yet, they'll put Tul/Wolf or Blazer aluminum through them. They'll shoot graded exercises with the same: no one runs back to their range bags to dig out their special graded-exercise/testing "match" ammo. :lol:

Why?

Because aside from your gun literally not liking the particular ammo and failing to properly function with it (i.e. it fails to cycle and/or feed), the rest of that stuff is really just excuses.

Yes, if you're shooting to find out the absolute mechanical capabilities of your weapon, you should be using excellent ammo - but honestly, if you're doing that, you'd be shooting the gun from a vice. ;)

The only exception here really comes in terms of either range requirements (i.e. disclaimers of "frangibles only," "no bimetal, steel core, non-brass cased ammo," etc.) or if you desired to use a specific load to better mirror your defensive ammo in terms of recoil impulse, muzzle blast/flash, and/or smoke.

In terms of defensive ammo:

Best Choices for Self Defense Ammo

^ Note that DocGKR specifically mentions that the list is not in any kind of order: all the list notes is that each of those loads meet the requirements set forth by the FBI.

Instead, one should vet their chosen ammo in their own gun - because each gun, while mass-produced within tight tolerances, still nevertheless carry unique variations in that tolerance. What that's stacked with the tolerances of the ammo, there are just going to be those weird and unpredictable incidences where one unique gun just will not reliably feed and/or fire X or Y ammo.

Vet the ammo for reliability in terms of feed and function, and take note of its subjective recoil characteristics as well as muzzle blast/flash and smoke (both important in low-light), and also look at how readily available the particular ammo may be in your local area as well as how reliably it's stocked by your favorite online vendors. Take cost into consideration as well, as you will need to routinely practice with this ammo, which can have not only different recoil and blast/flash/smoke characteristics from your favorite practice ammo, but also even external ballistics.
 
#18 ·
For what use? The answer for self defense or for target shooting is "Whatever your gun is most reliable/accurate with". For self defense, check independent ballistics reports from the Internet for the best penetration/most reliable expansion and go from there. Your Winchester is good as any, but I'd personally go with a heavier hollow point bullet for personal use. My EDC XD9SC carries Speer Gold Dot 147 gr. standard velocity JHP.
 
#23 ·
When that's all I could get I ran some Blazer. Never heard anything too good about it. Target only. But, I've now run a ron of it in 9, 40 and 45. NEVER had a malfunction. And, I think it hits its mark too. Also use Win. white box. It seems a bit cleaner than Blazer. Not really enough to upset me.
 
#36 ·
There's nothing wrong with Blazers for target shooting, Magtech and PMC Bronze are very dirty but OK too.
The dealers in my area have a big supply of Speer Lawman, which I consider one of the best target shooting ammo, and at $16 for .40S&W and $18 for .45acp can't be beat.
Of course, I like my reloads best ..
 
#24 ·
^ Both Blazer Brass and WWB have treated me well.

I've run literally tens of thousands of WWB - my failure rate with that ammo is somewhere around 0.3% (zero-point-three percent).

I will be cresting the 10K mark with Blazer Brass probably as of a pistol class I have lined up two weekends from now. I think the problem rate I've experienced will be par with WWB.

Although my other sampling for factory-new range-fodder is considerably lower, I've gotta say that I've never really had any problems.

The only exception has come to be Remington's UMC 115 gr. I'm seeing just under 1%, through probably 3K total. Not sure if this may have something to do with production dates/lots, though, as I've been using more UMC more recently.
 
#29 ·
roughly guessing, i'd say that the real world penetration could be halved to 1/3rd that of ballistics gel. unless it goes right into and continues through the entire length of muscle. then it's actually quite accurate. measure the distance from behind your knee to the top of your ankle. the Hornady Critical duty traversed this distance from damn near point blank range in my experience.
 
#34 ·
Buy a number of different brands and bullet weights....

I really enjoy casting my own bullets and reloading. The only 9mm I recently purchased was some S&B 115 gr. FMJ and Speer 124 gr. FMJ for my Walther P-38 (AC42). The old warhorse like both loadings.
 
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