which 9mm round for IDPA practice class?

Whatever is cheap and runs in your gun is perfect to get you started.

I use commercial reloads, usually Georgia Arms "Canned Heat", which is fairly cheap at the gun shows in 500-round cans. It's 9mm 115-grain FMJ at a listed 1150 feet-per-second, which gives it a power factor of 132250, so it's legal for IDPA competition.

For shooting sports, I like 147gr in my 9mm. Minimum power factor in USPSA and IDPA is the same (even if they refer to it slightly differently), and at a given power factor heavier bullets will have less perceived recoil. Also the sights on my M&P seem to match POI with POA better with 147's than anything else.

ny32182 said:

Whatever is cheap and runs in your gun is perfect to get you started.

Click to expand...

This is true for practice.

For major matches I use Federal American Eagle 124gr FMJ.

Whatever you use you will need at least 100 to 150 rounds with you per match. I would recomend whatever is the cheapest if you shoot every month. Personally I like 124 grain remington hollow points, they seen to work best out of my pistols.

Yours may be different, you need to test a number of brands to see what you can shoot most accurately.

Jim

Yup. If you're buying off the shelf, get whatever's cheapest so long as it makes your gun go bang reliably.

If you're reloading? 147 gr. cast bullets over some quick powder in whatever quantity makes them go just over 850 fps.

When I first started out I just bought the 100 pack federals. Cheap and they were reliable in my gun. After shooting a few matches, I prefer the 124gr bullets now. They hit still a bit harder which is useful.

I use 115gr FMJ-RN reloads for IDPA. <edit>

115 FMJ is going to be cheapest. However, I prefer 124 grain ammo in 9mm. I load my own. 124 grain JHP, 1.090" OAL, 4.5 grains of universal. It will work in any stock 9mm I've tried it in.