I used to shoot primarily Winchester White Box, but now I’ve moved to whatever I can get that cycles cheap. I shoot Blazer most now. I’ve found it’s pretty dirty, but I’ve never had issues cycling it.
I did run cheap range ammo the other day. I’ve shot a few hundred rounds of it without issues, BUT I had a failure to feed in my new Glock the other day. I was bummed, but I’m blaming it on the range ammo that uses recycled brass.
Maybe you’d call it picky, or just particular — but kinda, yeah.
I want training ammo which duplicates my defensive rounds, So matching bullet weight and MV are important to me. Federal AE and HST are a good match, and I have been able to stock that. Making the gun run is critical, but it’s not enough — I want it to run the same. More or less.
I reload, so how cases perform over time is also important. I have encountered lots of Winchester white box which split on me prematurely, so that becomes trash. I have some MagTech and Blazer which seem to have uneven case walls, so they don’t seat uniformly — kind of a hassle. American Eagle and Fiocchi seem quite uniform for my purposes, and I think I have a lifetime supply of each. I have settled on single bullets, powders, and primers, and will stick with those choices if my stockpile lasts until supplies return. TBD.
I have not been shooting the long guns much, but hope to resume. I have bricks of .22LR from the 1980s to burn through before I go shopping — .223 same.
I am and always have been picky about my SD ammo, I’m all in with Gold Dot.
For practice, not so much, seems to me, my EDC’s all do just fine with pretty much all of the commercially available FMJ’s. As for price, I just gave up on that, I hold my nose and buy a box here and a box there.
I shoot whatever comes in brass or aluminum casing these days.
No reloads, factory ammo only.
Price is crucial, mostly with 1,000 or more rounds I can find good deal.
Recently I’ve bought Fiocchi, my favorite ammo, for $.28 per rd.
I have always been picky about ammo only shooting brass cased ammo. HST and M193 for defense. Lately I’ve been shooting Norma ammo for training. It is priced right and appears to be of better quality than it’s white box type competitors.
I swore of Winchester years ago. I’ve had more QC problems with them than all other brands combined, by a factor of like 2-3, and contacted Winchester multiple times with lot numbers, pictures, mic measurements, you name it, with nary a response.
I’ll dry fire for a year before I’ll buy more Winchester.
That’s my only pickiness. Otherwise for range use I really don’t care. Tula, Wolf/Barnaul, PMC, Federal Champion, CCI Blazer, Blazer Brass, Lawman, Federal American Eagle, Prvi/PPU, Magtech/CBC, MEN, IMI, Yavex, Atlanta Arms, Remington/UMC, Fiocchi, Sellier and Bellot, all good by me.
For defense I pretty much only use ATK family (CCI, Federal). HST, Gold Dot, mk262, mk318, Federal Tactical Bonded, Federal Fusion, stuff like that
For my self defense rounds I stick to brands such as Hornady Critical duty or Critical defense, Federal HST, Sig Sauer V crown. So you can say I’m picky with my self defense ammo.
. I saw they had a recall last year. I actually should check a box.