Ammo recommendations

The Federal 115 gr from Walmart works just fine. I've not heard of any "bad" 9mm.

Welcome to the forums rtba...

Winchester USA (white box) 115 or 124 gr.
CCI brass case Blaser 115 gr.
Federal American Eagle 115 or 124 gr.
Fiocchi Shooting Dynamics 115 gr.
Prvi Partizan 147 gr.
Tul Ammo 115 gr.

All these brands can be bought for under $15 a box of 50. The last one is steel case ammo and closer to $10 a box... but personally, I won't use the stuff in my guns.

Hi,

I'm looking for a 226 but the ones I've seen were pretty worn. If you don't mind, where did you find it and ballpark how much?

Thanks!

Where I live, Remington-UMC ammunition (115-grain JHP) runs a tick under $30 for the 100-round boxes at Wal-Mart. Though not very "high-tech", it can be used as a carry round as well, allowing practice with your "duty ammo" if you choose to carry it.

rtba said:

New here... and new to handguns. I picked up a used West German Sig P226 9mm that looked really clean. I rented a couple of different pistols and the range, and decided on this one. I like the size and feel, but I want to spend consistent time at the range to practice. Any cheap ammo to avoid? Any you particularly like? Should I be practicing with something that comes close to what I would use for home defense? Thanks in advance!!!

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The thing is begging for RWS-Ruag or Geco-Ruag ammo. Quite surprisingly at one time local Walmart carried Swiss made stuff.

You might want to check with your local indoor ranges and see if there is any ammo they don't allow.

Ranges around me don't allow Wolf for instance...

I've been happy with Blazzer Brass and I've been able to get it pretty cheap.

Have you decided what ammo you want to use for home defense?

Firing from a full sized nine - I can barely tell the difference between standard pressure and +P and haven't felt a difference between 115gr and 147gr or different bullet weights.

At this point it's probably more important to fire more rounds and get more practice with the firearm than worrying about using a practice round that has the same recoil impulse as your carry ammo. Cheaper ammo = more shooting.

Personally I love Fiocchi. Goes bang every time, cycles through the gun really well, and it's very clean. It's pretty affordable too. Winchester White Box is good too but dirtier than Fiocchi. Buy a box of 50 of some different kinds and see what works for you. You might come to prefer a particular brand.

Stick with the major manufacturers and you'll be fine: Winchester, Remington, Cor-Bon, Federal, Speer and etc.

Other than that you're going to need to spend some money on ammo to find out if what you decide on will run as expected in your gun(s). What you definitely don't want is to choose a round that's incompatible with your gun(s).

And yeah, practice, practice and more practice. Ideally you need to practice with ammunition similar to what you end up stoking your piece with. My practice is 100% with my own so advice on "el-cheapo" will best be supplied by other respondents.

Every SIG 9mm I've owned has been more accurate with 115 grain bullets, over the heavier ones, and most accurate with hollowpoint bullets.

If you don't reload, stick with quality, US mfg ammo, and stay away from crap like Tula and Wolf. Some people have had sucess with the cheaper stuff, but, I would avoid it.

Any cheap ammo to avoid?

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Yeah, Bubba's reloads.

I too was hesitant to run the steel case stuff through my M&P9c but I finally decided to try a few boxes and it ran like a charm. I think I've put ~400rds of 115 gr Tula with only 1 dud. My walmart has them for under 10$ a box which really pays off after a few. Didnt find it to be dirtier than any of the competition either.

I too was hesitant to run the steel case stuff through my M&P9c but I finally decided to try a few boxes and it ran like a charm. I think I've put ~400rds of 115 gr Tula with only 1 dud. My walmart has them for under 10$ a box which really pays off after a few. Didnt find it to be dirtier than any of the competition either.

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With steel case you get unlubricated steel on steel at the extractor and it causes it to wear faster than soft brass or aluminum would.

Also, steel doesn't expand as fast and seal up the chamber or so I've heard. I've never tested.

Aluminum can get hard and brittle over years of storage and can crack.

Brass can be reloaded. It's not terribly cost effective to reload 9mm NOW but who's to say what's coming. I save brass no matter what.

I have experienced and witnessed some real quality control issues with 115gr 9mm Winchester white box recently, namely primers not being seated.

I agree with COuntZerO. I've put a lot of rounds through a P-226 and you'll hardly notice a difference in recoil shooting +P loads. I put very few standard pressure rounds through mine. Almost all of it has been +P including mostly handloads at +P level. For factory defense loads I like the SPEER 124 gr. +P Gold Dot or the Ranger 127 gr. +P+ loads. The 226 will handle them with ease. I wouldn't pass on a good 147 gr. +P JHP either. That's one reason the SEALs passed on the Beretta and went with the P-226.

WWB from Wallyworld should be fine for bulk.

For Carry/SD/HD ammo, do try in in smaller quantities before buying a whole bunch of it. I've know a few pistols that just didn't like a particular bullet, but were fine with others. It stinks to buy 200 rounds, and then find you can't get through a magazine without a malf with it.

My pistol trips to the range as follow- I go for shorter visits more often, instead of longer visits less frequently. Ideally, an hour, once a week.

I start by drawing my EDC and emptying my EDC mags of my EDC ammo (at Steel targets).

Then I'll load up with my bulk Ammo (WWB, PMC Bronze, my Handloads) hang some paper, and 'shoot for score' for about 100 rounds.

I'll run another 30 or so rounds of my SD ammo from the holster (usually back on the steel), load up my EDC mags with my SD ammo, and leave.

It's baby brother, the 239, seems to like Remington UMC 115 grain loads just fine. 7 yards, 5 rounds. All shots fired from the Decock Position in Double Action Mode.

Depending on how much you're willing to spend, I prefer to buy inbulk lately. You can find 1000 round cases on the internet for around $190 + shipping. It usually steel cased or remanufactured.

I like to check luckygunner.com, aimsurplus.com, cheaperthandirt.com etc.

WWB for regular range works, then go to a Federal +P 124 grain and see the difference. Shoot cheap stuff for fun, practice a little with the 124gr +P to get the feel and leave it in.

Skip the frangible and over-hyped HD stuff. Practice head-shots and you're fine.

I bought 1000 rounds of these guys' "blaster" ammo recently, in 9mm:
http://www.freedommunitions.com

At $9 a box, it's cheaper than the steel cased Tula that Wal Mart sells, but comes with brass cases that you can collect and send back for credit with your next order.

I've only shot one box of it so far, but I was pretty happy with the results. Subjectively, it didn't seem to make the gun as dirty as Winchester White Box from Wal-Mart does, I had no malfunctions, and it seemed every bit as accurate as the WWB I'd been using.

Edit: Gun in question is a Gen 3 Glock 17, which is nearly brand new.

That said, ordering from Freedom Munitions was not a perfect experience:
1. I ordered mine on the 11th, and it didn't actually ship until like the 21st. I gather this had to do with massive order volume following the election.
2. Shipping cost $24, which is somewhat understandable, given the weight, but still seems a little high. Given that my order was $169, adding $24 in shipping really soaks up a lot of what you save by buying this way.

I'll echo what CZ mentioned about the 147gr rounds, though I like both the standard and plus p versions.

Winchester White Box, Remington UMC - 115 gr FMJ, good target ammo for the price. I like Corbon for SD ammo

Pretty much all the ammo I buy anymore for my Pistols is Underwood Ammo. It's not really the cheapest plinking ammo, but it is excellent stuff for the $, and very hard to beat for the $ also. Their rounds loaded with Gold Dots are really good SD rounds IMO. I tend to prefer heavier grain bullets and 147 gr is my favorite for 9mm, and this is the best 9mm bullets I've ever shoot to me other than the Winchester Ranger T 147 gr JHP's that I can no longer find and that cost a lot more. These are excellent rounds. This is pretty hot stuff, and not just some light/cheap/typical plinking ammo load.
http://www.underwoodammo.com/9mmlugerp124graingolddotjackethollowpointboxof50-2-1.aspx

I love Underwood Ammo's 10mm loads.