9mm Ammo

[Viss]

I am 52 yrs old and I have never owned a 9mm pistol.

Tommorrow I am picking up my new to me 39-2. I will plinking at steel targets mostly, should I be looking at 115 gr. 124, etc. This cartridge is new to me.

I will probably buy 500 rds. and save the brass and roll my own from then on, any suggestions on what to buy tommorrow? Thanks Dave.

 

[oldafsp]

For general target work the 115 FMJ is a good round.

Prices are pretty reasonable for even the name brand reloadable brass.

I shoot a lot of Federal Champion from Wal Mart 100 rds/19.97 when they have it.

Winchester White box is usually around $23/100.

Online deals are around too, sometimes with free shipping.

Enjoy.

 

[max]

Most brass cased 9mm is ok. I have had good luck with Blazer, WW, and Federal. I have also had good luck with Blazer aluminum, but have never shot it in a 39.

 

[DWalt]

Some places like Academy, Bass Pro Shop, Cabela's, etc. carry house-branded ammunition from various foreign manufacturers priced reasonably. Don't worry much about the brand, go for the cheapest, as that's all you need at present. I find it all works OK for me. You will want boxer-primed ammunition if you plan to reload, so that rules out Blazer aluminum (unless they are now loading boxer primers) as their cases are non-reloadable. There are other brands with steel cases which also can't be reloaded. If it's brass it is likely to be reloadable, and the box label should specify the primer type. But fired 9mm brass is very cheap, and may be free if you can pick it up on the range where you will be shooting. I have enough free range pickup 9mm brass at present to last me several lifetimes.

Gun shows are a good place to get cheap 9mm ammo - usually in the neighborhood of $10/box, give or take a buck.

 

[125JHP]

Whenever I have a choice and the money is about the same, i always go for the 124gr.

 

[Witryantum]

Just a general FYI - palmettostatearmory had Magtech 9mm Luger 115gr FMJ 50rds for $9.99 a box. You have to pay shipping, but it is the best price I have found in awhile.

 

[DWalt]

For casual shooting, 115 grain is fine, and likely to be cheaper. Most of the cheap 9mm ammunition is 115 grains, maybe all of it. The Magtech (Brazilian) seems to be good stuff, I recently fired a couple of boxes of it during my CHP re-qualification, but only because the instructor required the use of factory loads and not reloads. I also recently fired one box of TulAmmo 9mm (Russian), and it also shot fine.

 

[HotRoderX]

I would stay away from Winchester White Box. There have been a lot of reported QC issues. I have personally had 9mm bullets that where not set properly and had damaged cases.

I have not heard good things about Federal Brass and reloading seems people have said it wares out a lot faster. (Reloader can correct me on this if I am wrong I don't currently reload but have looked into it several times)

What you may wanna do is just pick up what ever is cheapest then order some brass online

Starline Reloading Brass 9mm Luger

My understanding is Starline is a premium brass. I know a lot of my "boutique ammo" comes loaded in it. Since you hadn't built up a supply of brass yet might be better to just buy quality right out of the gate.

 

[alwslate]

I would advise anyone to avoid Magtech 115 gr 9mm ammo. I have
some and it is underloaded junk. Chronographed 1059 fps out of my
Browning HP and will not even cycle the action on my well broken in
gun. The current trend seems to be to underload 9mm ammo by many
companies and I don't see the purpose in producing auto pistol ammo
that is too weak to even function a well used gun. Federal AE, not
Champion, at 1150 fps is usable and can be bought by the case at
good prices on the net sometimes. Remington UMC 115 gr at 1104 fps
is more junk that will not cycle my HP. I have some Blazer Aluminum
that runs about 1145 fps that is good but it is several years old and
I don't know if current stuff is as good. Watch the internet auction
sites for case lots with free shipping and some really good buys can
be had on Blazer Aluminum.

 

[Nevada Ed]

For target use ,you can't beat Ball fmj ammo which has a
good feed,no stove pipe/Jam record.

You might want to try a box of 115gr and 124gr ammo to see which shots better (poa/groups) in your pistol, before getting your bullets for reloading.

My 9mm did not do well with 90 and 100gr bullets and the
124gr near 1088fps was the most accurate in my 4" Radom for target work.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I'm a big fan of 124/125gr bullets for the 9mm even for target rounds.

With the price of ammo today are you sure you want to buy a full 500 rounds of factory ammo? The only brass I find at the range is 9mm and 40 S&W these days and there's a lot of 9mm laying around. no reason not to pick it up and reload instead of buying so much at current prices.

Good luck with your 'new pistol" and don't forget the range report when you get put to shoot it.

 

[Treeman]

Like Archangel I prefer the 124gr. That was the original design weight for the cartridge... but realistically 115 are only 9 grains lighter which is less than 7.5% difference so they really perform very similarly.

 

[Bengal07]

I have several 9mm pistols-----M&P9 M&P9C SR22 SR22C LC9 Sigma 9mm. Over the last two years I have put several thousand rounds through them using many brands of ammo------to my pleasnat surprise the best ammo in terms of reliability, cleanliness, consistent accuracy has been MAGTECH 115gr 9mm. I have bought and fired over 3000 rounds without one failure or missfire------I cannot say that about any other brand-------it is clean, reliable ammo------I just wish it were made in the USA but we may have forgotten how to make this stuff correctly