Well I for one refuse to use American Ammo (AMERC). I base this on my own personal experiences of seeing it and handling it in the store. I equate it right up there with Jim-Bob Doofus' Homebrewed Surefire Extra Special Reliable Reloads.
Any time I can push 4 bullets from a single box down inside the case I won't trust it.
Anytime I can take and TURN several bullets in their cases with my fingers. (except for .22rf) I won't buy it.
I was taking all of the comments about AMERC ammo with a grain of salt because I wondered how it could be so bad yet still be on the market.
I am still wondering.
As for buying ammo based on smell? To me that's silly. I use Wolf. I like it. As for the smell? It's not really that bad.
I used to have a Lightweight Commander that was less than 100% with it.
But then it was only 99.99% with any ammo. Which is why when someone, at the range with me one day, offered me way too much money for it. I sold it.
I already had the Government I carry now. It IS truely remarkable in it's reliability. It's almost boring to test new ammo in it. I am running out of new ammo to test.
This gun out of the box was 100%. I have changed a few things for comfort and "cosmetics". The only problem I ever had with it was when I installed a slightly used Wilson mainspring housing. The installed mainsporing would give me 1 or 2 light strikes in every magazine. After putting the stock Colt mainspring in the Wilson housing everything is good.
When I first test ammo I fire at least 70 rounds from 8 magazines. Almost all are different.
Mec-Gar 8 round nickled with the finger floorplate. This mag is slightly longer that a flush 8 rounder.
Mec-Gar flush floorplate 8 round blued
Mec-Gar flush floorplate 8 round nickled
Colt Factory 8 round blued
Mitchell 8 round stainless
Metalform 7 round stainless with rounded follower stamped MARLIN CAL .45 AUTO
High Standard 7 round blued with the stock dimpled follower
High Standard 7 round blued with a Pachmayr rounded follower.
I start with a round in the chamber and all mags fully loaded.
I fire 4 rounds and change magazines. This shows me how everything feeds under maximun spring pressure. The last mag is fired until slide lock. Then the rest are fired to slide lock. This confirms feeding at lighter tension and assures slide lock.
So far I have kept a log of everything fired in this gun. I am slightly past 6,000 rounds fired without a single problem since the initial light strikes which all occured between shots 200 and 300. I have never had a failure to feed or extract/eject.
The top 7 most fired ammo in this gun is;
Wolf
CCI Blazer aluminum
Sellier & Bellot
Miwall lead reloads
Winchester USA (white box)
Armscor
PMC
Add to this at least 150 rounds each of
Remington Golden Sabre JHP
Speer Gold Dots JHP
Federal Hydra Shock JHP (230 gr) I did shoot 40 165 just because even though I don't like it)
Speer Blazer with the 200 gr flying ashtray
Magtech JHP
Remington 185gr JHP
Winchester Silvertip
As you can see I'll try almost anything.