Is this ammo good?

Mike said:
$1 per 22 mag rd...........$0.33 for 22 LR..........NOPE, never.
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I gotta stock up when I can, so because of this ammo shortage going on, I gotta pay if I want ammo. I've only had my 9mm since Dec. 23rd... I'm kinda behind on the stocking up. Had I got my gun a year or two ago, I'd have the same mind set as you do. But, I'd like to have more than 25 rounds in my ammo box.
 
I have used some of the Magtech 115 gr FMJ 9mm for plinking. I wouldn’t use it for self defense because it is very lightly loaded and will not cycle the action of some of my guns that require a bit hotter ammo.
 
StephanieC11 said:
I have Hornaday hollow points for home defense.
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Just seeing that you are totally new to this wonderful lifestyle.

As I said above, stay away from auction sites for ammo, stick with stores. Most display credit card and/or BBB approval logos.

Sites that are good (not limited to these, but I have bought from them over the years)... you can google search the name, and it will find the site:

Sgammo
targetsportsusa
selway armory
palmetto state armory
brownells
midway
ammunitiontogo
gunprime
lucky gunner
ammoman
LAXammo
>>deleted <<
sportsman's guide
outdoorsunlimited
dansammo

Cabela's and Bass Pro are big stores that are owned by the same company, they also have websites. In reasonable times they have stuff available, in fact they were one of the last places I placed an order from before it all went haywire.

Academy also carries, and has online sales (you won't find anything online now). Reliable sources say if you can get in line before the doors open, on days they get shipments, you can get a couple boxes at perhaps the most reasonable prices around. But you gotta be there waiting for the doors to open.


As a courtesy and public service, be aware that Cheaper Than Dirt is a seller that most avoid like the plague. It's not that they are a fraudulent site (they will ship what you order)... it's that they are, and have been for over a decade, the primary offender for jacking prices out of sight whenever there's a chance to make money.
 
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Continued-

You asked about Magtech 9mm; they are good.

Like the list of known online sellers that were good, here are some ammo brands that make "good" 9mm:
  • Magtech
  • Sellier & Bellot (S&B)
  • Fiocchi
  • Winchester
  • PPU (Prvi Partizan)
  • PMC
  • Geco
  • American Eagle
  • Federal
  • Aguila
  • Blazer (Blazer Brass, regular Blazer is aluminum cased)
  • Herter's (this is the 'store brand' for Cabelas and Bass Pro, I think they are currently actually made by Winchester. Used to be S&B)
  • Monarch- store brand for Academy, the brass cased is actually PPU
I would include Remington, but I don't know what's happening now with the company.

I say "good", a lot of people like some and dislike others, but these are top-tier brass-cased ammo makers.
I didn't list Maxxtech, you might run across that, I think it was generally avoided and considered sub-par. Same thing for Hot Shot, and if I remember correctly, Independence.
*at this point it's "get what you can find", but people weren't buying those brands if they had any of the choices above.

Non-brass cased ammo: there is steel and aluminum.
Aluminum seems to run fine for range use, tends to be practice loads. Never had any problem with them, the only gripes are that you can't reload the cases.
Blazer, Federal, some others. They tend to be cheaper than brass cases.

Steel cased- this has been a topic for a lot of back-and-forth. It usually tends to be the cheapest ammo. In normal times, it's usually considered "junk". Again no reloading.
There are internet myths about it, but the fact is, it's not HARDENED steel, and won't hurt a well-made pistol.
It's usually Russian made, but Winchester makes a line too.
The powder smells different, and tends to be dirtier, and it's not for super-duper precision target shooting... but it goes bang in my experience, and at 7-15 yds hits what you are aiming at. If you miss bad, it's you, not the ammo (99% of the time).
  • Tula
  • Wolf
  • Brown Bear, Silver Bear, any other color Bear...
Again, in normal times, most of us wouldn't put such "junk" in our guns. Times ain't normal, and I've put a few boxes through some of mine, and no harm done.
 
Cont. ...

You said you have Hornady for SD; that's a good brand.

How much do you have, and have you shot ANY to ensure your gun feeds it without jamming? I personally would recommend firing AT LEAST 1 full magazine, just to be sure. If you have a box of 25 and have a gun with 15 rd mags, I'd say save enough for 1 full mag, shoot the rest to be sure it runs.
 
scoobysnacker said:
Cont. ...

You said you have Hornady for SD; that's a good brand.

How much do you have, and have you shot ANY to ensure your gun feeds it without jamming? I personally would recommend firing AT LEAST 1 full magazine, just to be sure. If you have a box of 25 and have a gun with 15 rd mags, I'd say save enough for 1 full mag, shoot the rest to be sure it runs.
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Yes, I've shot about 70 rounds of Winchester and then 50 rounds of Venom.... they were the only ones they had at the gun range (where I bought the gun too) and had NO issues at all. Only issue I did have was the fact that I am left handed and the first time I fired it, my hand pressed the magazine release and the magazine fell out. I had the gunsmith at the range switch the release button to the other side and I was very happy and very comfortable with the gun after that. Right now I have about 200 rounds plus the 25 Hornaday HD rounds.
 
scoobysnacker you have done fantastic work in this thread. I don’t share your peace with steel cased fodder, but that is okay.

With that said, I will vehemently and with vigor argue one item:

Freedom Munitions

This is textbook BAD stuff. And having folks say “I burned a case of it and no complaints!” is akin to the guys who says “I’ve freebased coke and never had a problem, THUS it must be safe” ...it just isn’t the case.

The internet is far beyond littered with countless examples of their failures, and here is one example that popped up when I went to see whatever became of their recent bankruptcy:
[Status] Freedom Munitions Bankruptcy - Pew Pew Tactical

In any political or market climate, you could not pay me to load this total dreck in to any firearms that I hold dear, and I could never in clear conscience recommend this awful stuff to another shooter.
 
StephanieC11 said:
Yes, I've shot about 70 rounds of Winchester and then 50 rounds of Venom.... they were the only ones they had at the gun range (where I bought the gun too) and had NO issues at all.
Click to expand...
Good deal getting practice in, and as a fellow lefty, yep, we have to adapt.

But I meant, have you shot any of the Hornady yet? I know they're the "expensive, don't have many" rounds, but you NEED to know the gun feeds them. Some pistols can jam on some bullets, and hollowpoints are more likely to do so than range ammo (not a smooth round surface going into the chamber).
At least shoot one magazine's worth. I'd say more, but you don't have much more.

Remember, home defense likely isn't the Alamo, a magazine's worth should be enough for that encounter. You're not going to have time to reload magazines, if you're lucky you might have time to use a second magazine if needed. So the EZ, if I read correctly, has 8 rd magazines... 2 mags worth saved for emergency use. That's 16, save that, at least shoot a mag (8 rounds), to KNOW it will work in an emergency.
 
Sevens said:
scoobysnacker you have done fantastic work in this thread. I don’t share your peace with steel cased fodder, but that is okay.

With that said, I will vehemently and with vigor argue one item:

Freedom Munitions

This is textbook BAD stuff. And having folks say “I burned a case of it and no complaints!” is akin to the guys who says “I’ve freebased coke and never had a problem, THUS it must be safe” ...it just isn’t the case.

The internet is far beyond littered with countless examples of their failures, and here is one example that popped up when I went to see whatever became of their recent bankruptcy:
[Status] Freedom Munitions Bankruptcy - Pew Pew Tactical

In any political or market climate, you could not pay me to load this total dreck in to any firearms that I hold dear, and I could never in clear conscience recommend this awful stuff to another shooter.
Click to expand...
I'm not a longtime fan of steel cased ammo for Western/NATO guns (I have no problems with Combloc guns)... but it has been fine so far. Surprisingly so. It's not precision, it's not clean, but nothing has broken or fallen apart, or otherwise protested much.

Freedom Munitions... I've shot their ammo in 9mm and .45 acp, and it was ok. I'm talking about the reload/new load company that has the winged logo. I do know there's another Freedom, with absolutely scathing reviews.
Best reaction- remove both, avoid confusion.
-I deleted the Freedom entry

To the OP (Stephanie): my pistols have shot steel-cased ammo without problems. I don't have a Shield, and there are internet reports that some guns do not run well with steel.

If you can stick with the brass-cased, or aluminum cased ammo from the list above, you should be fine.
If you can't find anything else, try the steel-cased, but don't buy a lot until you can test a box. If it doesn't work well, it's useless.
 
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Freedom Munitions is the sister company of Xtreme plated bullets. They are indeed the ones with the “winged” logo.

Went these guys first went live, they splashed their pictures all over Xtreme’s site and FB page. They showed a gorgeous picture of a pile of 9mm and it was polished as bright as the surface of the sun. The hi-res picture was mesmerizing... and folks immediately pointed out an inverted primer clearly pictured. (Actually haha, it was showcased.) And they even tried to walk it back “ahhh well that was a pre-production photograph, trust us, all of the product is quality checked prior to packaging!”

Right. These are same guys that shipped someone a box of 9mm ammo with 49 rounds that looked okay and 1 round that had a 115gr slug atop a piece of .380 Auto brass.

We are talking “day one mistakes at the load bench” but done on a commercial scale.

Avoid this stuff, it will contend for “worst on the market.”
 
scoobysnacker said:
Good deal getting practice in, and as a fellow lefty, yep, we have to adapt.

But I meant, have you shot any of the Hornady yet? I know they're the "expensive, don't have many" rounds, but you NEED to know the gun feeds them. Some pistols can jam on some bullets, and hollowpoints are more likely to do so than range ammo (not a smooth round surface going into the chamber).
At least shoot one magazine's worth. I'd say more, but you don't have much more.

Remember, home defense likely isn't the Alamo, a magazine's worth should be enough for that encounter. You're not going to have time to reload magazines, if you're lucky you might have time to use a second magazine if needed. So the EZ, if I read correctly, has 8 rd magazines... 2 mags worth saved for emergency use. That's 16, save that, at least shoot a mag (8 rounds), to KNOW it will work in an emergency.
Click to expand...

Oh ok, my bad... I misread the question. I have not yet fired any of the Hornaday. It seems I've been treating them like a prized possession LOL. Sounds silly I know. I'm getting great advice from many here and I so appreciate it. I didn't know, or wasn't advised when I purchased the gun, that firing a few rounds of the Hornaday would be a good idea.

Yes, the EZ came with two 8 round magazines. I keep one loaded with 8 Hornaday at all times, (overkill? Maybe but being out in the country, I feel safer) but when I do go out back to practice, I take them out. I need to get a 3rd magazine I guess lol.

Thank you so much for all the advice and tips!!
 
StephanieC11 said:
Oh ok, my bad... I misread the question. I have not yet fired any of the Hornaday. It seems I've been treating them like a prized possession LOL. Sounds silly I know. I'm getting great advice from many here and I so appreciate it. I didn't know, or wasn't advised when I purchased the gun, that firing a few rounds of the Hornaday would be a good idea.

Yes, the EZ came with two 8 round magazines. I keep one loaded with 8 Hornaday at all times, (overkill? Maybe but being out in the country, I feel safer) but when I do go out back to practice, I take them out. I need to get a 3rd magazine I guess lol.

Thank you so much for all the advice and tips!!
Click to expand...

Stephanie, you have got a lot of info here. All is to try and help you out.

Like in any other subject you will get divergent advice. I do not care what is the subject people disagree.:eek: Cars, guns, investments, restaurants, stiles of clothes, doctors, legal drugs ETC.

Please read all here and make up your own mind. Bottom line you only have you to satisfy. :cool:
 
NYlakesider said:
Stephanie, you have got a lot of info here. All is to try and help you out.

Like in any other subject you will get divergent advice. I do not care what is the subject people disagree.:eek: Cars, guns, investments, restaurants, stiles of clothes, doctors, legal drugs ETC.

Please read all here and make up your own mind. Bottom line you only have you to satisfy. :cool:
Click to expand...

Oh yes, I have gotten tremendous advice so far and I'm very appreciative!!! I'm going to keep on getting advice and learning!!!
 
It must be pretty good ammo............

there is this guy named Jerry that shoots it in all his weapons from revolvers, pistols to rifles and has a lot of

the "Fastes times" in shots on targets than any other professional shooter in years of competition.

It has to feed well and not have misfires, to get that done.....
so it has to be good ammo.

I give it a thumbs up.

Good shooting.

PS;
just looked the ammo test up from one of my favorite sites.
The "Blue box" ammo in the 124 gr NATO ammo gets....
3" 1049
4" 1143
5" 1195 fps
 
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