Ammunition

[crazysquirrel]

I read about a Taurus and a Walther. Both 9mm, and both do not recommend +P or +P+ or reloaded ammunition.

I am interested on one of those brands because I know someone who got one and someone else who got the other. I liked the feel of them.

Not real heavy and seems to fit my hand pretty comfortably.

Of course neither would let me shoot them lol. Ammo too hard to come by.

 

[crazysquirrel]

I have no credit or debit card. Been debt free/bank free for a decade now.

Some of my friends aren't too hep on the idea of ordering anything gun related online. I struggle just to get them to order me a lousy hard drive for my computer lol.

Prepaid Visa cards and such are usually limited to $25 if I remember correctly and cannot be used for online purchases (something to do with the patriot act).

A green Dot card could work but that links your social security number with it and I am too afraid Walmart isn't secure enough for me to 'share' it with them so to speak.

Currently I am in Kansas but do tend to move around a bit.

 

[Warp]

I read about a Taurus and a Walther. Both 9mm, and both do not recommend +P or +P+ or reloaded ammunition.

I am interested on one of those brands because I know someone who got one and someone else who got the other. I liked the feel of them.

Not real heavy and seems to fit my hand pretty comfortably.

Of course neither would let me shoot them lol. Ammo too hard to come by.

My advice...avoid Taurus pistols, especially semi autos.

 

[lysanderxiii]

(1) I also did not see a thread regarding how to store ammunition so that it works when you need it to. Water/humidity issues perhaps?

(2) What to do with suspected bad ammunition? (3) How can you tell if it is bad by looking at it?

1) Store in a cool, temperature stable, dry place.

Extremely high temperatures, for prolonged periods, tend to make propellant deteriorate faster.

2) Don't shoot it, pull the bullets, burn the propellant, snap the primers. Depending on what's wrong, you might reclaim the bullets.

3) Corrosion on the case, split or cracked necks. Unfortunately, you cannot tell if the propellant is going bad by looking at it. But, if stored properly, that should not be a problem.

 

[CapnMac]

Lets see here.
Ammo--ammo stays good for a long time. I've shot Lake City Arsenal ammunition manufactured in the '60s Some of the Greek .30-06* ammo dates to the mid-'50s.

Ammunition pretty much stays good until it goes bad. How do you know it's bad? Pretty much it does not go Bang! when fired. Things that are bad for ammo: Fires, Floods, and flurocarbons. You want to be careful with solvents and lubricants around ammo (not obsessive, just careful).

Bullet weights are--in the US--measured in grains (1/7000 pound) by tradition. powder charges are also measured in grains (shotgun ammo includes a dram measurement by tradition as well).

In the days before "smokeless" powder, ammunition was measured by caliber and charge size, such as 32-20, which fired a .32 caliber ball from a case of sufficient volume to hold 20 grains of black powder. At the very end of the black powder era, the bullet weight was appended to differentiate the ammo, e.g. the .50-110-210 (.50 caliber, 110gr charge, 210gr bullet, often paper-patched).

European tradition is to just measure bore and case length, which is where we get 9x19 to differentiate the 9mm parabellum from say, the 9x18 soviet round, or 9x16, the 9mm kurtz or .380acp round.

On average, lighter bullets will often have higher muzzle velocities. Whether that has more or less perceived recoil is more related to what gun the ammo is shot from, and the fit that weapon has to the shooter.

Now, for a blizzard of round weights, you need look no further than revolver ammo. .38spl/.357mag ammo comes in 110, 125, and 147 grain weights (among others). Each of those has a different "feel" when fired from the same gun. The 147gr .38/.357 rounds were adopted in 9x19 as a way of 'slowing' any 'over penetration' the 115gr rounds might be said to have.

________________________________________
* .30-06 refers to the 'US Government .30 caliber round adopted in 1906; this used a 172-176gr 'spitzer' (pointed) full metal jacket bullet. This differentiates it from the .30-03 of three years' earlier which used a 200gr round nose ball; and to separate both of those from the previous "gov't 30" the .30-40krag (a 30 caliber ball on 40gr of powder)

 

[psyopspec]

CrazySquirrel, Visa gift cards can be had for up to $500. If access to a variety of inexpensive anmo is something you're interested in, as shopping online tends to yield, you could consider an Amex Serve card.

 

[AR-15Nutt]

115's are usually FMJ

124's are mostly defensive HP and some other types have "stopping power"

my OPINION !!

 

[Warp]

115's are usually FMJ

124's are mostly defensive HP and some other types have "stopping power"

There are a whole heck of a lot of 124gr FMJ rounds. I'll wager that most 124gr bullet weights for 9x19 that are sold today are FMJ, by volume/number of rounds.

 

[KNO3]

I like to train with the bullet weight I use for (anticipated) self defense, which is 9mm 124gr. I have stored away Speer Gold Dot JHP +P, and Hornday American Gunner 124gr +p with the XTC JHP. I own a Glock 19.
I like to train with the same bullet weight as my self defense round to develop the muscle memory needed for consistent recoil management and accurate follow-up shots.
Don't know if that completely necessary as the interwebs are not consistent in this regard, but for piece of mind, I don't mind paying a little extra per round.
Ammoseek.com has new brass cased 124 FMJ from a "known" manufacturer can be had for .20cpr before shipping. I pick up the Hornady at my local Bimart for anywhere between .66cpr to 54cpr. Can be found online for as little as .51cpr before shipping.
If you are going to use your gun in self defense, I would look at http://www.luckygunner.com/labs/self-defense-ammo-ballistic-tests/ and http://http://www.ar15.com/ammo/project/Self_Defense_Ammo_FAQ/index.htm as they provide a wealth of information.

 

[USAF_Vet]

There's also plenty of 115 gr 9mm, bothe +P and standard.

 

[David4516]

Ahhh.... you could equate small Gr with hitting a target further way more accurately whereas a heavier Gr has more stopping power at close range.

Not really. For pistols I don't think it makes much difference anyway you're not going to shoot at long enough range for the trajectory to be a big deal. Rifles are another story. I'm going to throw another term at you: ballistic coefficient

BC is a number that gives you a basic idea of how aerodynamic a bullet is. The higher the BC the better. Heavy bullets will typically have a higher BC than lighter bullets in the same caliber. For this reason a heavy bullet will often be better for shooting at longer distance despite the fact that it starts out at a lower velocity.

Also heavy bullets carry more momentum with them. Imagine throwing a baseball. Now imagine throwing a crumpled up paper roughly the same size/shape as a baseball. The baseball will fly further and impact harder because it weighs more (all else being equal).

As far as recoil, usually a lighter bullet will recoil less than a heavy one, all things being equal. Think Newton's law (equal/opposite reaction). But there are other factors too, the gun itself being a big one. For example, if you have a big gun and a small gun and you shoot the same ammo out of both, the bigger gun will kick less.

 

[il.bill]

Lets see here.
...
European tradition is to just measure bore and case length, which is where we get 9x19 to differentiate the 9mm parabellum from say, the 9x18 soviet round, or 9x16, the 9mm kurtz or .380acp round.

...

A small clarification to a nice post - the .380 ACP can also be called: .380 Auto, 9mm Browning, 9mm Corto, 9mm Kurz, 9mm Short, 9×17mm and 9 mm Browning Court