Ammo choice: 9mm. Cost is an issue!

P

Pond James Pond

New member
Time to get another stack of 9mm.

The weight and type will be 123/124gr FMJs.

Being limited to 1000rds in storage, I am waiting to finish my last couple of boxes of cartridges in my next competition after which I will buy my next supply. Boxes of 1000 have a far more advantageous price than buying 999rds, hence the delicate changeover from one stock to the other.

I have already narrowed down the choices based on decent quality (no steel cased) but also an affordable price...

So I can get, in order of cost:

Magtech: €185
Sellier & Bellot: €190
Fiocchi: €209

Most recently I have been shooting the Fiocchi. Some shooters say the Fiocchi are quite hot loads.

In a sense I like this. If I get to handle those well, then lighter loads will easier to handle in the future, but that this juncture, the €24 difference is not something I can just ignore, but am willing to cover if the Fiocchi are noticeably better than the others.

So which do you recommend? And WHY?
 
I have never used Magtech but Sellier & Bellot and Fiocchi are both about the same to me, so I would go with the cheaper one. Fiocchi's 9mm Makarov ammo does seem a bit hotter to me than Sellier & Bellot but I have never noticed a difference with any other calibers that I have shot.
 
ME for Fiocchi is quite a bit higher than S&B looking at published data on their sites. 560 to 510 respectively (Joules, I think).

Couldn't find Magtech data.
 
I've used all 3 you noted (in 4 different guns).
I like the S&B, but have had no problems with any of them.
 
I've used all three... They all work.

I think the s&b is less accurate, but it could just be my pistol and it don't get along.
 
Before I started to reload, I used quite a bit of Magtech and liked them as well as any other load I've ever used. I have not used much Fiocchi or S&B in 9mm. What little I did, it was fine too. Shotgun shells with the later two is a different story. Nothing but good things especially the Fiocchi.
 
Pond said:
Magtech: €185
Sellier & Bellot: €190
Fiocchi: €209

...

So which do you recommend? And WHY?
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I can't recommend any of them over one of the others. I have shot all three, and I consider them all to be good to go. Of the three I've probably shot Sellier & Bellot the most, and Magtech next. For my purposes, I wouldn't spend an extra 15 percent for Fiocchi if I could get either of the others.
 
Magtech tends to be dirty.

Avoid Hungarian Fiocchi (brown box) due to very hard primers.
Blue box American Fiocchi is fine.
 
Avoid Hungarian Fiocchi (brown box) due to very hard primers.
Blue box American Fiocchi is fine.
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I've only ever bought Italian. Nice Ferrari red box.


Seems I'm going to S&B: almost the cheapest and also puts money in the pocket of a shop that I like.
 
I think the S&B have a brass case but steel jacket... with a copper wash.
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Oh crap!!

Should've checked TFL before placing the order!!...

Hopefully that will not kill the grooves in the barrel too quickly!
Next time, I'll go for the other two then.... I prefer all-copper jackets.
 
Dear Baltic 007,

I'm in Europe like you and only shoot 9X19 (German P226 - P2000 - BHP) !
I've been testing about all ammo available in Belgium (only FMJ like you), the worst being WWB (the dirtiest crap you can find) !

And the best for me is GECO FMJ 124 gr !
Not a failure, not a click and no bang, very consistant in accuracy shot after shot and very clean. And they are on the hot side.

I buy it 109 € by 500, should be 200 or less by 1.000 !?

My 0,2 Eurocents
 
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BTW, for the semi steel jacketed ammo. The velocities of pistol rounds as compared to rifle rounds in addition to the much shorter barrel lengths of pistols make steel jacketed ammo in pistols much less of an issue in pistols than say an AR. Even then, you'd have to be doing mag dump after mag dump (and a lot of them in short order) to get the barrel hot enough where the mild steel jacket is going to hurt the barrel. Even on the LuckyGunner AR test that people point to, their end conclusions was that with the money saved on crappier ammo they could have bought multiple replacement barrels. Frankly with the amount of ammo you'd have to put through a pistol to shoot out the barrel, the cost of a new barrel would be peanuts.

Short of it? Don't worry about the S&B. You'll be fine.
 
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I think the S&B have a brass case but steel jacket... with a copper wash. Jusoyouno
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The most recent headstamp S&B has been brass according to my magnet. Occasionally I get the 'fake' brass, but they are usually before 2013. This is here in the States though, might be different in Europe.

Regardless, S&B must use a really stiff brass alloy because it takes considerable effort to resize the cases.

Edit: I see you are more concerned about the steel jacket. Either way it's something to know if you decide to reload at a later date.
 
chris in va: The most recent headstamp S&B has been brass according to my magnet...
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I think you're missing the point. The cartridge cases are all brass or a brass alloy... that's not the problem. The problem is that the projectile jacket is steel with a copper wash. Not necessarily a huge deal especially if the bore is HCL. But some folks just don't like putting it through nice guns.
-SS-
 
TunnelRat: BTW, for the semi steel jacketed ammo. The velocities of pistol rounds as compared to rifle rounds in addition to the much shorter barrel lengths...
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I've heard it said that it's not about heat and the typical erosion we expect, but more that some metals do not like to slide on other metals on a molecular level. Some metals could gall. The Cu wash helps but is mighty thin. I wonder, though, if this is a legitimate concern, whether it might be prudent to allow that Cu to accumulate in the bore some? What do we think. Either way, I'd be surprised that the S&B will outright kill the barrel. Who knows?

I also wonder if it might be a good idea to clean the bore with a dry molly each time until you use that stuff up. But I think you need to be careful with that stuff. Don't tumble loaded ammo in it for example.
-SS-
 
First off, I did not know there were ammo amount restrictions, James? No more than 1000, even by one? We had the same type of thing in England, but what it is now? Have not lived in the UK since 1965, so I have no idea.

I have no idea how much rifle ammo I have, just a few hundred of 9mm, oops, just bought 1000, rounds! I forgot. $239.00 free shipping, not too bad.

And secondly, saw no bickering? When you get close to 80, you miss stuff!

That is a way for Governments to control we gun people, via the ammo.
Florida seems immune to dumb rules.
 
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I actually prefer magtech. it some of their stuff is a little dirtier but they dont use steel jackets like S&B, and it's decently accurate.
 
No more than 1000, even by one?
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That's the law. Whether they'd through the book at you for having a couple of extra cartridges rolling around in the bottom of the safe, I don't know, but I'd rather not take the chance.

Well, this business of steel-casing came up that bit too late. But 1000 rds won't be the end of the world. I just won't buy it again.
 
I checked, out of interest.

Well, my little magnet showed absolutely no interest in my new S&B bullets.

Bullets and case are the exact same colour and neither shows any attraction to a little magnet. I guess this means mine are copper jackets and for some reason the US market gets steel jackets. :confused:

Still, I am happy to see that no steel will be going down my barrel.
 
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