New to shooting; just bought a 9mm; What is some good all purpose ammo? Brands?

sleigo, I have a M&P 9 and have had no problems with WWB 115gr and CCI blazer 115gr target ammo with non reloadable aluminum casings. Both have fed well and are least expensive I have found for practice. WWB from WalMart for $18.42 per 100 rds. and the Blazer from Sportsman's Warehouse for $9.99 per 50. For SD loads it is another story, which you can do a search for what others recommend. zorro49

you might read this article for some suggestions on defensive ammo:

http://www.chuckhawks.com/ammo_by_anonymous.htm

I have run several hundred rounds of Winchester WB FMJ and JHP 115gr through my Sigma 9mm without a single hitch.

Basically decide if you want to use fast and light bullets, slow and heavy, or something in between. Once you settle on a bullet weight (usual choices are 115, 124, or 147), then pick a quality JHP in that weight for carry and some decent ball ammunition in that weight for practice. Make sure both work reliably in your weapon.

If you're on a tight budget, you can try the Rem UMC 115 gr JHP from Walmart, it should be something like 26 dollars/100 give or take. (I stocked up when it was 20/100 so I'm not 100 percent on the going rate for it.) You can get UMC FMJ that hits to about the same POI on sale intermittently at Dicks sporting goods or else use the value pack WWB also from Walmart.

Fiochi, Winchester, Remington, and Federal all make good ammunition.

If you can afford it, you might want to get some LE grade 147 gr JHPs featuring a bonded bullet, such as Speer LE rounds, for carry.

My M&P 9 isn't too fussy and will shoot anything of decent quality without a hitch.

I ordered a box of DoubleTap Ammunition 9mm Luger +P 124 Grain Speer Gold Dot JHP for it and will see how that does.

Barb,
What barrel/grip length size did you go with?

quote:

Originally posted by sleigo:
New to shooting; just bought a 9mm; What is some good all purpose ammo? Brands?

I also have a new M&P 9 compact. I have fired 100 WWB FMJ 115gr, 100 ULTRAMAX FMJ 115gr, 50 rds of FMJ 125gr reloads, 50rds FMJ 124gr Monarchs and around 30 MAGTECH 124+P JHP. So far the gun has digested everything with no problems of any kind.

Keep your eye out for Fiocchi 115gr FMJ on sale. I really like their ammo. Natchez had some on sale so I bought a case. It's pretty snappy so it's good for practice (close to a SD load).

so far I have shot L&B, Independence, and Blazer and like them in that order. The Blazer was a bit dirty> Want to try Fiocchi!

I don't shoot "all purpose" ammo because I don't think there is such a thing. I shoot one for practice and load another for HD/SD. Many believe one should practice with the same round one uses for the real stuff. I would agree -- if I could afford it. But since my HD/SD round costs almost a dollar a round, I know I wouldn't practice enough to be useful.

My HD/SD round is 124gr Speer Gold Dot. Since my pistol is a T-series Browning Hi Power, over forty years old, this is the standard pressure version. (Your M&P could handle the +p version without difficulty.) My practice round is a hardcast truncated cone reload that I buy in bulk lots from www.mastercast.net. Mastercast is a reliable, prompt, inexpensive, reloading service, unlike others that I have dealt with. Counting the .38 sp reloads I have bought from them, I have shot off more than 4,000 of their products with no problems at all.
Cordially, Jack

quote:

Barb,
What barrel/grip length size did you go with?

It's the standard issue M&P 9 full size. I use the small hand grip on it. Saturday we shot Winchester Silvertips, Winchester USA 124 gr full metal flat nose, and some Speer Lawman 124gr through it and there were no problems at all with any of it.

I thank the lady!

I stopped and went to the link and article posted by MR 72 - It is really dated and there's a lot better choices today as well as the author's ommisions of certain guns such as
my all steel MOdel 60 3" .357 Mag. which has been around since '97, as well No mention of SPeer Gold DOts No thanks for that article.

I'll go back now and continue with the thread as I have a recently purchased CZ 75B

Randall

Well, I guess this thread hasn't gone very far. I do have a friend up in SPokane with a newish S&W M&P .40 S&W I will try when we hook
up some time soon. I have yet to shoot an M&P
-OR- the .40 S&W. He wants to try my S&W 1911 5" Bbl.Stainless Steel frame & slide as well as
any of my various S&W Revolvers but I'll probably take along the newest aquisition a standard blued (black really) CZ 75B in 9MM as we can compare in the same range session 9MM,
.40 S&W as well as the .45 ACP.

ONe range session so far with the CZ 75B

WW WB 115 FMJ 100 rds
CCI Blazer Brass case 115 gr. FMJ 50 rds
& CCI/Speer 124 gr. +P Gold Dot JHPs 10 rds

No Failure to Fire (TF) or
any Failure to EJect (FTE)

Reliable and very accurate my shooting partner
Ralph who used to compete and has a Glock 19 liked it at 15 yards he shot a 15 rd clip
12 rds in one 1+ inch hole with three fliers.

I had a Browning HI-Power about 25 years ago, selection of hollow points then was kinda limited - I recall it stove-piped/FTE Federal
and the pre-silvertip Win. but liked the Rem 115 gr. JHPs

After the range session I got a cheap box of PMC 115 gr. FMJs/50 for another brand to test
for target stuff, as well as popping for Winchester SXT 147 gr. JHPs - almost a buck a round but I want to try everything at least
ther're purty with nickel plated cases but going on the net I found they're only 990 FPS

Well, I hear tell of some marauding box of old
soaked up wet magazines in these here parts and
I think they need some shooting at real soon now. Pumpkins filled full of water only seem to be a bother aaround the end of October.

Where's that spoiled log of Bologna?

Randall