Only buying 50 round boxes of hollow points from here on out

AIM is currently selling PPU Defense Line 115g. 9mm JHP for $15.95 a box of 50. Reloadable brass cases, boxer primers.

Here's a link: https://aimsurplus.com/products/prv...-50rd-box?mc_cid=12fe575e33&mc_eid=1befdbddfa

It's just marketing. Very few folks would buy 9mm for a buck a pop if it only came in 50 round boxes......

Locally now Federal HST is $35/box of 20 (Sold out too). I bought them while CA allowed online purchases so in those days 9mm was $24 for a box of 50 in 124, 147 standard and +P. Before Walmart ceased ammo sales they had Remington JHP in 9 and 45 at fair prices. Buying factory ammo hurts and I say that even with .22LR because it was $.03-$.05/round last time I bought.

I've also been collecting brass because I also intended to reload. Whether I do IDK but it is here at least. Primarily I wanted to reload for the wheel guns as that is not plentiful and is $ to buy the factory stuff.

Boxes of 50 at Big Box stores? I hope they are available in brick and mortar stores.

It seems like the topic here has about changed to 20 round boxes, or reloads.

I've been shooting and hunting for 60 years. Most of those years I've been using Remington core lokt for hunting. Remington, Winchester and Federal for shooting. And now a lot of Blazer simply because its the cheapest on the shelves in my area.
I've mostly used bolt action and lever action deer hunting and can honestly say I don't remember ever having a fail of any kind using Remington.
I don't hunt anymore but I still go the the range at least once ever month shooting mostly handguns. I have had fails but none I can blame on ammo except ONE fail to fire using Blazer 9mm Out of probably 800 rounds.
Actually I don't remember ever having any fails ever using Remington, Winchester or Federal off the shelf that I could blame on the ammo.
I'll stick with those 4 brands. I see NO reason to pay more.

Hey
Check these studs out. I bought from them and the shipping time was excellent & prices were much better than average!
https://saintbarbsbullets.com/product-category/ammunition

A few years ago I decided to spend some serious money on a variety of .38 Special cartridges by various ammo makers to see what was most accurate from my S&W models 442, 36 and 60 Pro. What I found was the most expensive SD ammo wasn’t accurate at all from my J frames. The most accurate, Hornady American Gunner, was shown to be a terrible round from a snub nosed revolver according to testing by Lucky Gunner. But I found that a couple of different loads from Federal’s HDT line were also very accurate and performed very well in Lucky Gunner’s testing.
I did something similar with 9mm.
The thing I came away with in both tests was just because some online yahoo blogger, magazine writer touts it, like the Underwood’s Penetrator crap, high price doesn’t mean accuracy performance.
One of the most accurate rounds I tried wasn’t from a 20 round box of wonder bullets at all. It was that Remington green box JHP +P ammo sold at Walmart in .38. Unfortunately I haven’t seen that in a couple of years and it wasn’t part of Lucky Gunner’s test.

There is a lot of good info on this site. Lucky Gunner really did a nice job with this.
https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/self-defense-ammo-ballistic-tests/#9mm

Liek someone said on Page one, I only buy 20 round boxes to test accuracy.

I had a heck of a time finding an accurate JHP for my Kahr K9. It functions flawlessly but it is really picky on accuracy and wouldn't group HST 124gr(which is what I use in my other 9mms) at all. Come to find out after testing four different types that it likes 147gr much better than 124gr of anything. Once I figured that out I bought 50 round boxes of 147gr HST for it.

Probably the main reason I reload. 50 rounds doesn’t last long for practice. The little 20 round boxes are a joke. There must be a lot of people out there that don’t care to test with carry ammo much.

Pat Riot said:

A few years ago I decided to spend some serious money on a variety of .38 Special cartridges by various ammo makers to see what was most accurate from my S&W models 442, 36 and 60 Pro. What I found was the most expensive SD ammo wasn’t accurate at all from my J frames. The most accurate, Hornady American Gunner, was shown to be a terrible round from a snub nosed revolver according to testing by Lucky Gunner. But I found that a couple of different loads from Federal’s HDT line were also very accurate and performed very well in Lucky Gunner’s testing.
I did something similar with 9mm.
The thing I came away with in both tests was just because some online yahoo blogger, magazine writer touts it, like the Underwood’s Penetrator crap, high price doesn’t mean accuracy performance.
One of the most accurate rounds I tried wasn’t from a 20 round box of wonder bullets at all. It was that Remington green box JHP +P ammo sold at Walmart in .38. Unfortunately I haven’t seen that in a couple of years and it wasn’t part of Lucky Gunner’s test.

There is a lot of good info on this site. Lucky Gunner really did a nice job with this.
https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/self-defense-ammo-ballistic-tests/#9mm

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Look at Paul Harrell's YouTube videos. He may have done some testing with Green and White box Remington 38+p JHP. If my memory serves me right I think he found Hornady Critical Defense preformed well in at least one of his J frames. He normally likes the inexpensive Remington loads.

sgt127 said:

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I loaded up on this when it was $13 a box at Targetsports. I’ve got about 2000 rounds. If I carry a 9mm, that’s what’s in it.

The price of designer ammo in dainty little boxes is ridiculous.

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Just looked at Federal's website. Don't see that in the line up anymore.

A few years ago I got a good bit of hollow point ammo for cartrdiges I have. I never really shot much of it, it was expensive to me then, and I didn't feel like blasting most of it to test function, so - for the most part I've just stuck with ball ammo. I practice with it, it functions, and it is one less thing to worry about going wrong. I do carry some high end hollow point defense ammo in a revolver, but - I don't really have to worry about it feeding or jamming off the feed ramp and being an issue. I more concern myself with keeping my gear functional, tested, and being able to generally hit what I'm aiming at reasonably quickly. I just never prioritized bullet type for day to day. I sometimes carry ball in a little .32 ACP pistol, so - to me ball in 9mm is just a bigger version. Everything is a compromise at some level, just pick your priorities and make them work for you.

KevininPa said:

Just looked at Federal's website. Don't see that in the line up anymore.

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No, not sure it was ever a listed item. It was supposedly an overrun for the RCMP. Between the 9BP and 9BPLE. Kind of a 9BP+P.

Super reliable feeding. Old tech. But, it’s what I have. Both the other Federal versions served admirably for years.

This had me thinking of my old stuff.... (Old to me with this being from the 90's.)
Cost $15.99 then. Can a box of 50 - .45 ACP JHP's be bought for $30 in current times? Only see FMJ at those prices.

buck460XVR said:

It's just marketing. Very few folks would buy 9mm for a buck a pop if it only came in 50 round boxes......

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The premium boutique self defense ammo is all just marketing hype created to detach customers from their money.

I think it was the geniuses at Federal that first started the whole boutique ammo craze back in the late 1980's with the Hydra Shock. The story I heard was a bunch of Federal marketing guys were sitting around trying to figure out how to distinguish their JHP ammo from all the other brands JHP ammo when one of them struck on the golden idea... What will make guys go crazy and loose all sense and reason when it comes to handing over their money???... TITS!!!! THAT'S IT!!! WE WILL PUT TITS IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR HOLLOW POINT AMMUNITION!!!! Guys won't be able to think straight and they wont be able to get enough of them!!!! And so the story began....

Ot isn’t always easy to find defensive ammo in anything but 20-round boxes anymore.



I was able to find 147 gr Federal HST in 50- round boxes and a LE oriented gun shop. It wasn’t cheap at $30 bucks a box, but it wasn’t as expensive as some of the others I’ve seen. These will be loaded in my HD pistols.

Stay safe.

MikeInOr said:

The premium boutique self defense ammo is all just marketing hype created to detach customers from their money.

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Yep the boutique ammo has been marketed well and some will pay a premium for it.

I handload but I am also a bargain shopper for bullets. This summer I was able to buy 4000 124gr gold dots, 1000 147gr HST's, and 1000 40 cal 165gr HST's, all for around $10/100 bullets.

I am sick of trying to find practice loads and defense loads that actually shoot to the same POI so I am moving to just finding good enough deals on bullets that my carry ammo can also be my practice ammo but the same ammo doesn't always agree with everything else. The two guns I carry most are my LC9s and my SR9. I have 3 loads for my LC9 that all shoot to the same POI, one practice load with 125 gr HAP bullets, one defensive load with the 147 hst's, and a "woods" load with a 158 gr XTP. The gold dots shoot way to the right in the LC9 so I load those for my SR9 only, and the other LC9 loads don't shoot to the same POI in the SR9 either.

And then I have to have another load for my target pistols because the throat is too short for my LC9 practice load, and the target load shoots like poop in the two rugers because their throats are a mile long. Then I have a 147 gr subsonic load for my suppressed P80, and a different 147 gr subsonic load for my AR9 because the pistol load is too fast in the AR9, and the AR9 load wont cycle the pistol.

So 7 different 9mm loads to keep everything happy. Would sure be nice to consolidate a few of those.

Wwb hollow point ammo seems to perform consistently well out of service sized handguns. I'd buy it without concern.