.45ACP ammo suggestions

A

AKrob

New member
Just received a Para 14-45 LDA Ltd from my father as a birthday gift (yes, I thanked him immensely). This is my first .45, and I'd like to order some target ammo. I normally shoot Proload through my other guns, but want something a little cheaper for now. I saw Fiocchi and Federal, both 230 gr. FMJ, for $109 and $119 respectively for 500 rounds on ammoman.com.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

BTW, the LDA is a sweet shooter!
 
S & B is truly good stuff.

Don't bother with CCI aluminum case ammo. It is cheapest in my market but it tends to jam. Use ammo with brass cases and pick up the empties after shooting. That way when you decide you just have to reload you are down the road a ways on collecting brass. You effectively get once fired brass for $20 / thousand.
 
Concur w/ Waitone

Get case quantity ammo with brass cases and save them up. I'd also look for PMC .45 FMJ ammo, it's as good as federal ball, cheaper and the brass is excellent. I've got a bunch of once fired brass (PMC, Fed, R-P and Win) and sooner or later I'll start depriming and cleaning them up. You can't do squat with aluminum cases.
 
AKrob:

I don't own an LDA, although I have shot one that belongs to a friend. Assuming that it's as reliable as I think it is, don't be afraid to shoot the CCI Blazer ammo.

I've shot several thousand rounds thru my Glock 21, and I've shot over 8000 rounds thru my 9mm & .40 caliber Glocks. If you plan to reload, ignore this advice. But $7.20/box (50 rounds) is an awfully inexpensive way to shoot new, factory .45 ACP ammo.

No offense to other posters, but if a pistol is jamming with Blazer ammo, there are other possible causes. The pistol may need some work, or the operator might be limpwristing. I know too many people who shoot Blazer to automatically assume that it's the cause of jamming.

Stay safe,
Dawg23
 
I'm with dawg23 on CCI Blazer ammo. A couple weeks ago I bought a case of 230gr .45 ACP aluminum jacket ammo and Im half way throught the case and have not had one failure of any kind. Yes, if you want to reload you'll need to shoot something else. But if you want inexpensive target ammo CCI Blazer through Natchez is the way to go. I spent $167.00 for 1000 rounds including shipping/handling, tax and postal insurance. If you plan on shooting a lot without reloading there is nothing wrong with CCI Blazer, it goes bang just like Fiocchi and American Eagle at almost half the price.
 
I don't think the real problem here is the aluminum cased ammo, its that the average Blazer shooter fails to clean up after themselves and therefore it leaves us re-users scrounging through mounds of useless aluminum! Bad enough with all the 22LR and steel cased Russian crap.

And no I am not preaching hypocisy, I am extremely adamant about cleaning up after myself. I only wish more people were.

The next battle for our shooting rights will not be fought about the right to own. For now we've won that one. Now we are being assaulted on the "Environmental" side. Do us all a favor and clean up after yourself!
 
Regardless of what you read here, you might need to try various brands to see which will work well in your gun. I don't reload and Blazer ammo has been great for me as a practice round. Some guns are just more picky about certain aspects of the ammo they digest.

S&B is usually pretty cheap from anyone who sells it, but you can find some outstanding sales if you have the time to shop around.

I have shot 10K+ rounds of Fiocchi and really liked it as well. The guys I shoot with loved my empty brass because Fiocchi brass off the ground is really pretty clean and required less tumbling to get clean than compared to S&B or other brands. The Fiocchi brass seems to be a high quality and reloads quite readily and several times over. I just got tired of spending an extra $40 per 1000 to supplement my reloading friends' hobby.

Personally, I avoid Wolf ammo because I don't like the steel cases (steel cases that rub against the steel barrel), the lacquer on the cases, and the smell after firing.

Between S&B, Fiocchi, and Blazer, in the 2K of S&B I had three rounds that failed to fire (hard primers?). I never had a problem with Fiocchi going bang, but every so often I got a brass sliver rammed into my thumb from the case mouth as I loaded mags. It is not a groovy feeling. With the 6K or so of Blazer, I have had one round that was seated too deeply and would not chamber and I have had one round that did not go bang on the first attempt to shoot it.
 
I guess everybody has a different opinion about this.

CCI Blazer tends to run long in OAL. Some 1911s (including one I own) have problems with Blazer because of the OAL variations. I have not observed this in a Sig220 or G30. I think problems with it are a combination of the ammo and the gun.

S&B is no dirtier than other brands in my opinion, and I have never had a round fail to feed or fire.

I buy it from www.cheaperthandirt.com, and as I recall its about $8 for 50 rounds.
 
I have had good luck in my 1911 with Blazer, S & B and PMC. I have had my biggest problems with the Remington UMC stuff.

But like it was mentioned earlier, you have to check and see what runs with your gun the best.
 
Between Fiocchi and Federal, I like the Federal ammunition better. I also like PMC and Winchester better than Federal and Fiocchi.
 
Hey, Adam - cool on the new toy.

I'd go with the Fiocchi or Speer Lawman, both can be had for $209/1000 shipped from ammoman.com. If you're not going to save the brass, Natchez has Blazer for $144/1000. A gun that won't feed Blazer has problems, IMO.

See 'ya around.
 
I have used several cases of the Hungarian made "Lake City" (trademark) .45 ball ammo. Very clean shooting, non-corrosive, boxer primed. No problems. As far as I can tell it is GI spec. Has worked well in all pistols and other .45 guns.

Jim
 
I also shoot the Lake City fodder. Around here, it seems cheaper than anything else. I did hear that they are a bit hotter and have harder primers than other ammo. Can anyone substantiate?
 
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