Best Commerical 9mm and .380 ACP Ammo

[Gun Master]

I have had several FTF in four 9mm and one .380 ACP semi.
I think it may be the ammo. I have other 9mm's and .380 ACP's, and no problem.

I am considering selling, or trading the five above semi's.
Also, I plan to keep ALL of my rifles, shotguns, and revolvers, and a couple of my dependable 9mm's and other semi's. If I can't shoot 'em, I don't keep 'em.

Could you please tell me about your experience of THE BEST commercial 9mm and .380 ACP ammo. I don't reload and usually go FMJ. You add the rest.

Thanks for your expertise.

 

[Good Ol' Boy]

I think this is a lost cause.

There is no "best ammo", only finicky guns.

That said my cheaper "looser tolerance" 9mm pistols eat anything and everything.


I have yet to experience an issue of any kind with ANY factory ammo.

 

[Mr_Flintstone]

I've had very good results with Sellier & Bellot, and believe it or not, WWB.

Usually, though, when I have failures to feed it's the feed ramp or magazine/mag springs. You might check those.

 

[Gun Master]

Additional Info

My "bad" 9mm's are FEG (Interarms) R-9 (used), Bernardelli P-ONE (new), Star Model Super B (used), and SCCY CPX-2 (new). The .380 is a Colt 1908 (obviously used).

Generally, do you think Academy Sports's Monarch (brass) is a dependable round ?

 

[9mmepiphany]

Could you please tell me about your experience of THE BEST commercial 9mm and .380 ACP ammo.

Asym

 

[mdThanatos]

I don't shoot as much as I like to but I have shot a few different brands over the years. Here are the ones I have had zero issues with, all of these in 9mm, can't attest to .380:


I consider all of these to be commercial as I can pick them up at local gun stores and big box stores and almost all of them can be ordered online


American Eagle
Federal Brass and Aluminum
Blazer Brass and Aluminum
Speer Lawman
Monarch brass and steel
Tula
Herters
WWB (My fingers turn brass colored after loading a few mags)
Winchester Nato
Perfecta

I have had bullet setback issues with PMC Bronze before.

Firearms that have been used with the above listed ammo:

Beretta 92FS
Beretta PX4 FS
S&W M&P 9FS, M&P 9C
Glock 17, 19, 26
CZ 75BD

 

[lpsharp88]

Before I started reloading, I had great luck with Blazer Brass. Probably 2k rounds and no issues at all. Still using that brass too

 

[drband]

Every gun is different. Just find what works for most of your collection. There will be some combination for most any gun, but if you don't want to buy specific ammo for a certain gun, just trade it away.
As suggested, be sure your gun & mag springs are up to the task before making a decision to trade. Good luck.

 

[Gun Master]

Asym

Metaphysics ?

 

[9mmepiphany]

Metaphysics ?

Did you follow the link?

 

[Gun Master]

Sorry. My oversight.
Thanks.

Call me old fashioned (and I am), but in semi-auto I usually trust FMJ .
They (Asym) seem to offer only HP.

 

[bannockburn]

No problems really to speak of with any of the mainstream manufacturers of 9mm. FMJ ammo including Federal, Remington, Winchester, Fiocchi, and Sellier & Bellot. With JHP ammo great results with Speer, Hornady, Federal, and Winchester.

 

[9mmepiphany]

Call me old fashioned (and I am), but in semi-auto I usually trust FMJ .
They (Asym) seem to offer only HP.

While I usually prefer JHP for defense and competition, I do understand that others might have other preferences, so....

https://asymammo.com/shop-ammo/handgun-ammunition/9mm-1/practical-match-147-grain/

 

[Zendude]

Generally, do you think Academy Sports's Monarch (brass) is a dependable round ?

I believe Academy's Monarch pistol ammo is made by Prvi Partisan in Serbia. It was one of the brands that my Bersa Thunder 380 did not like.

 

[Gun Master]

While I usually prefer JHP for defense and competition, I do understand that others might have other preferences, so....

https://asymammo.com/shop-ammo/handgun-ammunition/9mm-1/practical-match-147-grain/

Thanks. For PD I will consider it.

 

[Gun Master]

I believe Academy's Monarch pistol ammo is made by Prvi Partisan in Serbia. It was one of the brands that my Bersa Thunder 380 did not like.

I have some Prvi and Monarch in my stache.
I'll take heed.

 

[Speedo66]

All of your 9mm's are what might be considered "off brands". Try the same ammo in an "eats everything" Glock and let us know the results.

I understand people want some variety in their selection of pistols, but I'd carry the most reliable gun I could for EDC.

 

[unclenunzie]

GunMaster, have you isolated specific brands or lot numbers of ammo that failed to fire in specific pistols? Have you found a brand of ammo for each pistol that works without trouble? Do you find the same pistol or pistols have trouble with more than one brand of ammo?

These are the kinds of questions I would want to think about if I were diagnosing such a broadly stated problem. I would treat each pistol's failures as separate issues unless the ammo they fail to fire is common between them.

Obvious things should be checked such as weak firing mechanism springs, mechanical condition, especially if a previously reliable firearm begins to fail.

Ammo failures are pretty rare in my experience, but some things can happen where a bad lot is produced. I had some Hornady 38 special defensive ammo fail to fire in a Ruger SP101 but which fired fine in a S&W 686. The ammo was faulty and they replaced it for me. And yet one gun fired it but the other found it problematic, both are reputable brands and reputable models.

 

[Alec]

Haven't seen PPU represented here. My PPK runs perfectly with them; it's good stuff, and inexpensive as well.

 

[stchman]

Generally when people have unreliable firearms, they are not cleaning or lubing them properly. I have about 15 9mm handguns and all of them fire every time.

 

[RA40]

How are the firing pin strikes on those guns? The hardest primer I'd come across was some .38 spl Sampson-IMI from Israel in the later 90's. The strain screw on the S&W 586 was backed out about 1/4 turn and after readjusting, it didn't have a problem igniting those rounds anymore.

 

[Teachu2]

Given your parameters, I recommend Speer Lawman. It's loaded hotter than most range ammo, to mimic the performance of their hollow-point SD ammo. http://www.sgammo.com/product/speer...peer-lawman-124-grain-tmj-ammo-53616-or-53651
I've shot quite a bit of both 115 and 124 grain, and slightly prefer the 124. It cycles well in every 9mm I own, and I have about a dozen different platforms from Glock, S&W, Sig, CZ, Springfield, and RIA. Very consistent and reasonably clean.

 

[Hangingrock]

I have not experienced a problem using WWB 9mm 115Gr FMJ in my examples of Glock Gen3, S&W MP and Ruger RAP pistols.

 

[herkyguy]

Winchester PDX. I've never had a failure in either .380 or 9mm.


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[Rock185]

I haven't used .380 in years but have purchased and shot a "ton" of 9MM in a variety of pistols, revolvers and Marlin carbines. The vast majority has been Winchester, Federal and IMI. In the Winchester and IMI, mostly the NATO 124 grain version. The NATO just works without issue in all my guns. The NATO is sealed at case mouth and primer and has crimped primers. The crimped primers wouldn't be an issue since you don't reload. One case of Federal 9BP 115 JHP did display some split cartridge cases upon firing. Federal replaced that case. No issues since with these manufacturer's ammo. Strangely perhaps, the standard pressure Rem-UMC yellow box ammo has produced pierced primers in more than one of my guns. I suspect Remington uses their #1 1/2 primers which may display pressure indications at lower pressures than some other primers. Otherwise, I've experienced reliable performance from these manufacturers' ammo.......