9 mm ammo for indoor range?

H

holyhandgun

Inactive
I'm looking at a fun club where the membership is nice and cheap, but they don't allow FMJ ammo at their (indoor) range. That's fine for my .22, .357, and .45, but my nice new G17 ...

The problem is fragmentation. FMJ bullets have kicked frags back to the firing line. (OK by me. It's bad enough when brass goes down my cleavage!)

I've looked all over the internet for unjacketed 9mm, but no dice. I can find "soft-nose" partially jacketed ammo, though.

Does anyone know if that fragments, like FMJ? Or if there's any 9mm ammo that shoots like plain lead?

I'm going to a gunshow soon, in search of cheap ammo & stuff.

Ruthie
My new G17 has the green polymer, so I call it "Greenpiece."
 
International Cartridge Corporation, 2273 Route 310 Reynoldsville, PA 15851 makes non-toxic frangible ammunition. It is spefically made for indoor ranges. It appears to have a thin copper like jacket, but disintegrates after hitting anything solid. I've fired them at an outdoor range that has 1/4" pressboard target backboards. It punchaes a nice hole in the paped target and exits in a cloud of smoke. You can probably run a Bing or Google search for the specifics. Safer than all lead bullets and has no lead residue which can cause lead poisioning.
 
http://www.ammunitiontogo.com/catalog1/index.php/cName/9mm-frangible-ammo

Frangible bullets are not made from a lead projectile covered with a copper jacket, but are composites of hybrid materials either pressed together at high pressure or glued together with adhesives. Frangible bullets are designed to break up into smaller pieces upon contact with harder objects or surfaces. The polymer-compound round produces no splashback and vastly decreased ricochets.
 
First, cheap range but expensive ammo might not make sense economically, and frangible or hollow point is expensive.

Second, not much plain lead factory ammo, and less in 9mm. Keep that Glock barrel real clean if you shoot lead through it.

Third, I would say they messed up the backstop if jacket fragments come back. If fragments come back, then some lead bullets will bounce back, too. I would stay away.

Last, start reloading. I recommend Dillon. ;)

Lee
 
There is an aftermarket company that makes barrels for Glock so you can shoot lead bullets. That's what I did when I had a Glock. Sorry, but I don't remember the name.
 
Lone Wolf makes aftermarket barrels for your Glock so you can shoot plain lead through it.

Ultramax is plain lead, but you'll discover the bullet lube gets burned off and creates a huge cloud of smoke, not a good thing indoors.
 
Reload...Plated bullets

If you were a reloader, I would suggest reloading plated bullets that look like FMJ, but they aren't bonded like FMJ. (Ranier, Berry's, Powerbond.)

I would agree that the backstop needs to be investigated if you're getting splatter on an indoor range.

Speer makes a clean-fire line of indoor practice ammo, but it's primarily a cleaner primer. The round itself is a traditional SPEER TMJ.
 
Thanks, guys, and please keep the suggestions coming.

Yeah, I wonder about the backstop. IIRC, they don't allow frangible, either. They're associated with my local rec center, which is one reason I want to support them.

Not to mention that it's only 7 miles from my rural home.

I'm going for a range orientation in a couple of weeks. I'll ask about the backstop then, I guess. And I'll check out frangible ammo in the meantime.

I'm going to a gun show this weekend, and just got $$ from savings for spending there. I'll see what they have in the way of ammo.

I'm not thrilled about the idea of getting a different barrel for shooting lead through. I'd still have the problem of finding lead in 9mm, and I want Greenpiece to be "stock." I already have one spare "barrel," the yellow plastic one I use for safe practice of everything that doesn't require bullets.

Now 'scuse me while I go practice drawing from concealment... :D

P.S. Aaron, my other 3 guns have names, too. It started with my .45, a Cold 1991 in matte black finish. The noise & recoil took me a bit by surprise, and I found myself humming an old (1930s) Josh White song: "Black Betty Black Betty, blam t' blam, Black Betty Black Betty, blam t' blam..." so I called the colt Black Betty. After Greenpiece came along, I decided to name the other two: the big .357 is Bogie, and my .22 semi is Baby.
 
Big +1 on reloading your own case lead rounds...

But if you do shoot lead through your Glock barrel, you should know that they do not have typical rifling. They have polygonal rifling and have a tendency to build "leading" which is a buildup of lead in the rifling of the barrel. This will require much more strict attention after every shooting session and is something to be careful about.

As for the reloading...
Last, start reloading. I recommend Dillon.

Lee
Click to expand...

I recommend Lee.
...wait... what?:confused:

~LT
 
Hi,

Shooting lead through a glock is not recommended because of the type of rifling.

What you should look at is the plated bullets by Berrys. There seem to be a lot of people on this forum that use them and like them alot.

There is a difference between "plated" and "jacketed" bullets. I think you should be OK with Berrys plated bullets.

-George
 
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