Yes, unfortunately I am…Fiochi or Federal for me
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Why is everyone picking on steel cased 
…AK-47"s gotta eat too
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I use my own loads and won’t even pick up tulammo spent shells I’ve seen a lot of aftermath of gunners who tried and had split cases, primers put in backwards, no power in the brass, and some rounds with the bullet push in to far. These are items out in the desert were I go to target practice.call me retentive but I investagate others leftover rounds on the ground and more offen than not they left Tulammo, there quality control is not so good.
22 LR firearms can be picky about ammo. My “Steak & Lobster Debutantes” (SIG Mosquito and Winchester 290 run on CCI ammo very well–Mini-Mags, Blazers, and SGB. CCI seems to be the best ammo in terms of dimensional integrity and reliability of the many brands I have tried. On the opposite end of the spectrum, my Rugers 10/22 and 22/45 eat just about anything not badly bent or covered in grit.
My centerfire training ammo is my own reloads tailored to match my carry ammo.
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Tell me more about Fiocchi, Jeff. I’ve never fired any but see it on sale quite a bit.
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Fiocchi is the best branded ammo ever. Very clean and reliable. Shot thousands of them with different firearms without single malfunction 
I’m with Jerzy, very clean and reliable ammo. Can be found on sale frequently as you noted. It is also very consistent, performs stable from batch to batch.
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Thanks guys! I’ll add it to the list.
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I’ve kind of turned into one. I really like Winchester white FMJ. It’s normally reasonably priced and I have had zero issues. I do mind blazer brass, but one of my guns has porting and I’m not really supposed to use it in that gun. I also find it dirtier than winchester.
I used cheap range ammo in a new gun a few weeks ago and had a really bad malfunction. That’s not something I want to see in a carry gun. I’ve had zero malfunctions with Winchester.
It doesn’t matter to me the brand of ammo that I shoot for training as long as it goes through my guns well. I look at it as having options for the amount of money that I have to spend. I do, however, have a few particular brands that I like to stick with for my EDC service ammo. For that I generally go with Federal, Winchester and Aguila FMJ’s and Sig, Remington, Federal and Speer Gold Dot hollow points. However, I do occasionally stick in some Defender hollow points as well as some Fiocchi and Sellier & Bellot FMJ’s. I like to have a few different brands available for my carry ammo too, again to fit my budget at any given time.
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Winchester Range 124gr is my current target ammo at roughly $8 a box of 50 from my preferred gun shop.
I’m a little bit of a snob on range ammo, but it’s about balancing cost as well.
When I pick out range ammo, I will usually order a box or two of a bunch of different brands/weights and then shoot them to see:
- how reliable it is
I buy ammo so I can shoot it, not to practice malfunction drills. So if I get too many FTF/FTE (and I know it’s the ammo and not the gun/mag), I won’t get any more of it - how accurate it is
Shooting and missing sucks. It doesn’t have to be super accurate, but if I miss the target I need the ammo good enough to know that it was me so I can work to fix the problem - how clean/dirty it is
I’ve only come across one or two brands ever that were dirty enough for me to say “nope”, but it is a minor factor.
For brass vs steel I personally don’t run it, but I know others that do. If it’s an AK-47, it had better run steel cased ammo without problems. ARs should run steel-cased also, but my understanding is mixing brass/steel is where you run into issues so as long as you stick with one or the other it should be fine. Glocks should eat anything. One of the ranges near me bans steel-cased ammo, so that is a possible consideration too.
The main reason I don’t run steel-cased is it’s usually much dirtier, and slightly more prone to malfunctions. The cost savings isn’t enough for me, as a low/med-volume shooter, to be worth the hassle. But if you are a high-volume shooter the savings can be significant.
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My range sells Blazer and that has been working for me.
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I tend to avoid ammo whose past performance has been less than acceptable. Does that make me an “ammo snob”? I think not. I think it just makes me a savvy consumer who, pun intended, wants the best bang for his bucks.
In the past it has been my experience that Remington green & white box ammo causes significantly more dirt and fouling on my guns than any other brand (so much so that one of my pistols that usually only acts up after about 400 rounds at the range will start having issues and require cleaning after every 50 round box) so I avoid buying it when I can.
I also had a bad experience with a box of Magtech Guardian Gold 9mm (I train with my carry ammo and was considering switching to this) where 1 out of every 3 rounds was a dud (good solid firing pin indent of every primer). When I reported this to Magtech (with lot # info and where purchased and offered photos of the primers or the defective rounds for their examination) the response I got back was to the effect “Our ammunition doesn’t do that, your gun is defective” and no offer of replacement or refund. I have never purchased another round of their ammunition since then. A 33% failure rate in ammo that I may have staked my life on scares the bleep out of me. This is why I will not carry ammo from a lot that I have not tested, regardless of the manufacturer. Does this make me into the aforementioned “ammo snob”? Possibly, but if the survival of my pretty pink body (okay, wrinkled old skin and varicose veins) might hinge on every single round going “BANG” when I need them to go “BANG” then I will accept and wear with pride the title of Ammo Snob.
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My range always has something they want me to try.
I think I’ll go today. Need to let some steam out at paper target.
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My local range doesn’t allow steel cased ammo for other reasons, however.
I agree with it being hard on extractors,
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The range I frequent doesn’t allow steel-cased ammo, but I have never bought it anyway.
I’ve tried Blazer, and settled on Magtech for my practice ammo. Federal for my defense ammo. My Glocks have never had a problem with either, and I’ve put >1,000 of rounds of Magtech and 100s of rounds of Federal through them.
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@P365–Please send me your old brass!
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I custom reload my own ammo to fit each rifle/pistol I own
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