Handgun Ammo

[Paul Dial]

Hello all,
For my birthday my wife bought for me a HK USP .40, my first handgun. She bought along with the gun a box of Federal Hydroshocks, which I have determined thru internet research to be great ammo. I also have 2 boxes of Monarch FMJ that were purchased from Academy. My question is this: Is the Monarch any good and if not, what is a good brand of ammo for range shooting/practice? I'm a newbie in the handgun dept. of firearms and appreciate the help/info. I dont want to shoot any junk thru my "baby".
Thx,
PJ

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

Federal Hydroshocks, which I have determined thru internet research to be great ammo.

You need to find out how they run throught your gun. Same with range ammo. Try different brands and find what works for you. Chances are thast most things will work well, but some will work much better than others, even in the same price range. I have pretty good luck with Winchester White Box in .40, but your mileage may vary. The trick is to find the right "bang for the buck", the proper combination of price and performance that meets your needs. Sometimes you get lucky and find that the cheapest stuff works, other times you need to decide whether an extra buck or two a box is worth the increased performance/reliability.

With a new gun, however, I tend to start with nicer ammo just to ensure proper functioning of the gun. It's a lot easier to identify possible issues with more reliable ammo.

 

[mattw]

For practice just use stuff that is cheap.

You can't hurt a handgun (especially a high quality one like a USP) by shooting crappy ammo through it (unless it is crappy because it has bullet set back or something dangerous).

The worst thing that will happen is maybe you get some malfunctions and the powder burns dirty. Those are not really bad things in practice ammo, though. If you get malfunctions you can practice clearing them, if you get ammo that shoots dirty you just get to clean your pistol more often.

Stick with the hydroshocks for self defense and just shoot whatever is cheap for practice.

 

[Arkie]

Well let me be the first to say Happy Birthday and Welcome to The High Road.

What I use and most people is what is called WWB or Winchester White Box that can be bought a Wal-Mart or like others call it Wally World.

Don't use your Federal Hydroshocks for practice. Way too expensive to be punching paper. lol.

 

[AlaskaErik]

I have an HK USP Compact 40 and it's a great pistol. Your HK should handle any ammo without any problems. I know mine does.

 

[Working Man]

Happy birthday, welcome to THR, and congratulations on a wife that buys you
a firearm for your birthday.

Keep in mind HK cycles very well with HV or +P ammo. In fact.... IIRC it is
recommended for their guns. Every gun is different so trying a variety of ammo
is a smart thing to do but I don't expect any problems with it.

I have found Remington HV ammo to function great in mine.

 

[stevek]

Congrats and welcome to the club! As others have said, make sure to test any ammo in your particular weapon before relying on it in extremis As far as punching paper goes, Federal's American Eagle FMJ is reasonably priced and of good quality also, in addition to the suggestions already offered.

 

[Mannlicher]

With the cost of 'HD' ammo hovering around a buck a pop, I practice with ball ammo. I always use the same weight bullet for both though. In .40, I use 180 grain, because thats what shoots best in my BHP.

 

[beaucoup ammo]

Welcome! I'm not sure if this brand comes in .40 cal ( it probably does), but Academy has a great deal on Remington/UMC ammo...at $36 for a 250 count Mega Box. I purchased a few in .38 spcl and had no problems.

I reserve my Federal Hydroshocks for personal defense. As others have pointed it..it's a great round, but waay too pricey for the range.

Again, congratulations and Happy Birthday!

 

[RichardInFlorida]

For general practice, I also like the WWB stuff from Walmart. The price is pretty good and has functioned flawlessly in my both of my Sig 226s and my Glock 22.

HOWEVER, if you plan on using your pistol for self-defense, you need to run several hundred rounds of the Hydra-Shok through the gun. This will, at the very least, establish if your pistol will flawlessly function with that cartridge. Anything less than 100% reliability and you might want to look for something else.

Yes, 300-500 rounds of Hydra-Shok is expensive when compared to reloads or WWB. However, it is dirt cheap when compared to the lives of the people you expect to defend with the pistol.

 

[TX1911fan]

Monarch stuff is fine. I use it in my AR-15 all the time. Never had a misfire, and it doesn't seem to be any dirtier than the Remington stuff that is double the price.

 

[tbtrout]

My USP 40 has shot anything I have fed it reliably. Hydroshocks are good, however I prefer Speer Gold Dots.

 

[daysleeprx]

The brass cased monarch (green box) is excellent stuff.

 

[Todesengel]

congrats on a great wife & a great gun! just about all brass case ammo is fine, i.e. winchester white box, monarch S&B...I'd stay away from steel & aluminum cased ammo like Wolf or the older Blazer ammo.

 

[smokin'n gun]

does she have a sister?