Gambling on your ammo?

We’ve discussed different types of ammo and different carrying options for ammo throughout the Community. Here’s an older blog post that explains why he carries name brand ammo - it’s great food for thought:
https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/blog/why-bet-against-the-odds/

There are all sorts of awesome self-defense ammo out there. And I’ve heard plenty of horror stories about ammunition and firearms not working well together. That’s not something you want to gamble on in the middle of a self-defense incident.

What ammo does not work well with your gun? (Please be specific)

4 Likes

I had friends and relatives who were big on hand loading for all their firearms. One coworker even hunted with his .357 and shot at jackrabbits (quite well too!)

I thought about rolling my own, but after being given reloads to shoot requals with tainted my thinking on that. I had a hot .38 round that became a flyer, it sounded different and the downrange sound was way off. It zinged loud enough that I heard it through my earmuffs. It also went high and off of the target. This was an outdoor range not indoor. The range supplied the ammo for our qualifying, so if they who reload thousands of rounds could not q and a their ammo then I can’t be sure of my loading.

Then there is the legal aspect and perceived reasons that can be hammered on by an atty. No thank you!

Nearly all my ammo has gone through their respective weapons without excessive issues. No fail to fire, a couple of fail to feed, and that is it.

Magtech 9mm FMJ.

It’s the cheap ammo at my local range so I would just buy that when there.

After 100-150 rounds the striker bore on my Ruger SR9c would fill up with brass shavings and I would start getting light strikes.

Switched to Blazer Brass and haven’t found any shavings since.

My Walther PPS M2 occasionally has issues with feeding Federal HST ammo on the first round from a full magazine. But works perfectly with Hornady Critical Defense and Critical Duty, so that is what I carry in it. I have had good luck with the HST (147 gr and 150 gr micro) in my other guns, so I don’t fault the HST ammo. I suspect the mag spring in the Walther is pushing the first round against the slide a little too much, I have tried it in a number of Walther mags with the same result.

Springfield XD-S .45. Won’t eat hollow points period. Sent to Springfield twice. They couldn’t resolve the issues. It would fail to feed the second and third rounds out of the factory extended mags. The only mag that would feed it reliably was the 5 round.

1 Like

I have failed to find any ammo that did not feed through any Glock that I have ever owned including Glock models 19, 22, 26, 27, 35 or 42. Not to say I have never had a failure, but they were few and far between,

2 Likes

Magtech is owned by the same company that makes Taurus firearms. Oddly enough, Aguila ammo has shot better in every Taurus I’ve ever owned.

Made the mistake of trying a 50-box Aquila 115 grain FMJ 9mm for last training session with a Gen 5 Glock 19. It was a dollar or two cheaper than the Blazer I usually buy. Had several failures to feed with the Aquila. It almost seemed as if the casings were too big to fit in the barrel. Was able to shoot the whole box, but had a lot of trouble doing so, so many FTFs.

I’m pretty limited on what I can buy locally. Atwoods Farm & Home is close by. For training, I get Blazer FMJ 9mm there, and Winchester whitebox when they have it. Have never had a problem with either of those.

For carry I’m running Federal Premium Law Enforcement 147 grain HST. I buy that at GT Distributors when I’m in Dallas. It’s a LE supply store, but sells to the public with most anything you’d ever want. Get whitebox and other training ammo, too, there when I can.

To get to Atwoods I drive right by WalMart. Swore them off years ago. Will never, ever, not ever do business with them again.

Academy is about 20 miles away. Used to buy there. But I swore them off, too, back when they got chicken and hid their ARs back in the store room after the Florida shooting. Told them so, too.

My Ruger hates federal aluminum casing ammo…

Haven’t tried any aluminum in anything else…