cheap ammo...

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I've been hearing the phrase getting alot of mileage on these and other pro2A boards.. And it's got me to wondering. What do you call "cheap ammo"?

More to the point.. what qualifies or elevates a certain brand of ammo above being "cheap"?

I mean I typically see two price points for just about every caliber of pistol and rifle ammo. One for so-called target or 'plinking' rounds and other, much higher, for self defense/hunting rounds..

Whether it's umc, wwb, blazer, monarch, wolf or fill-in-the-blank, fmj's seem to be fmj's. They're all, for the most part, mass produced and good enough to put down range. I mean, there's some higher end stuff but is it that much better than those that come in the 100 and 250 round boxes??

I just don't see what the big deal is about not wanting to take out a second mortgage to be able to take a little target practice. I understand that selfdefense/home defense rounds are worth, for the most part, spending that extra little bit to get what makes you feel comfortable but as far as target ammo, unless you're competing at a relatively high level or need to be able to put a whole mag thru a 1/2" hole, I don't see what the big deal is...

anyone care to educate me on the virtues of target ammo that's not "cheap
"??
 
Cheap to you and cheap to me are two different things. It's all about the amount of disposable income one has. "Cheap" is a relative term.
"...the virtues of target ammo that's not "cheap"..." Factory? Competition 'target' ammo or fun shooting ammo? Not the same thing. Mind you, the only factory ammo I've bought in 30 years or so has been .22's. Except for a few rifles I don't shoot much, everything else gets reloaded. Mind you, that's not as 'cheap' as it used to be either.
 
The only thing that I would see as an issue is that the cheap stuff, if shot a lot, may affect your shooting performance for the good stuff when you need it. The more you practice, the better you become at holding your arm steady, aligning with the target, etc. If one becomes used to compensating for cheap ammo that doesn't deliver the accuracy of good ammo, it may be harder to use the good, accurate ammo without becoming used to the good ammo. I could be totally wrong here, though. I'm happy to use the cheap stuff for occasional plinking, but when I'm practicing at the range to get better . . . I dunno.
 
"...If one becomes used to compensating for cheap ammo..." You don't. You just don't expect much from it. Some .22's(even high end target pistols) will shoot cheap ammo extremely well and not shoot the pricey stuff worth beans. They can make you crazy.
Mind you, if you're not reloading centre fire and with all .22's, you have to try as many brands of ammo as you can to find the ammo your firearm shoots best. In the case of a semi-auto, it has to cycle the action too. The price of said ammo means nothing either.
 
I'll tell you how I used to determine 'acceptable' ammo.
I started this several years ago and have settled on just a few brands now, but...

I bought every brand of ammo in the store and ran the entire box thru my Colt Government. Then I field stripped it and gave it a cursory cleaning, and went to the second brand. After 4-5 boxes of 50, I had an idea of which of the bunch fed well, what kind of recoil from each brand, was accuracy affected at all, how it fed in my magazines, and how dirty did it leave the gun - and me!

The next range session I would repeat my experimenting with different brands. Over the years I have tried just about every brand out there. Some are clean, some are very dirty! Some are very snappy on recoil, some are mild. Some had difficulty feeding or ejecting, most did not.

Eventually, I would try the different ammo in some of my other guns, like my carry Colt Commanders for instance.

I began to determine which ammo brand my guns liked and which brands they didn't.
The brands that the guns didn't like got labeled as 'cheap ammo'.

And generally ball ammo is used for practice, and hollow points are used for self defense. Although some competitors I know shoot hollow points in competition. I really don't think it matters which bullet you use, just as long as it feeds reliably in your guns and suits you.

You need to shoot several boxes of different ammo to determine what you call 'cheap ammo'.:D
Good luck!
 
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