How many ammo brands are there?

G

groverdill

New member
Just wondering how many different brands of ammo are out there. I'm talking about brand names (Federal, CCI, Remington, etc.) The reason I ask is because I just picked up some 9mm from a company I never heard of before called Fiocchi. (Still new to shooting, so don't laugh too hard:D ). And does each gun manufacturer also produce their own ammo? How about a list of ammo manufacturers, just for the fun of it?

Mike
 
Fiocchi is a major Italian ammo maker, quite reputable and good ammo.

Some other foreign makers are :

Prvi Partisan (Serbia)
Sellier & Belloit (Czech)
Hirtenberger (Austria)
Eley (UK)
Centurion (Italy)
Aguila (Mexico)
PMC (South Korea)

I'm excluding the Russian makers, it's cheap but cheap is not always good.

All the above make quality ammo and should not be avoided because it's not 'Made in the USA'. Also good ammo coming out of Scandinavia, Israel, and Australia. Canada, too.

Here we have a lot of ammo makers : Remington, Winchester, Hornady, CCI, Black Hills, Buffalo, Federal, there's a long list out there somewhere.
 
Fiocchi makes good ammo. They used to be a well-kept secret and were therefore a good source of great practice ammo at very low prices. Now the prices are higher because too many people know about it.

Here's an incomplete list. The situation is complicated because some companies load ammunition under other brand names. I've got some of those associations shown, but I don't know about all of them so some of the names may actually be duplicates--one company that sells ammo under two or more brand names.

Federal
CCI
Fiocchi (GFL)
Winchester
Remington
Lapua (also makes SK rimfire and Wolf Rimfire)
Norma (also makes Weatherby ammunition)
PMC
Speer
Estate (Shotgun)
Hirtenberger
Hornady
Black Hills
Buffalobore
Hunting Shack
CorBon
Aguila
Norinco
Barnaul (Brown Bear/Silver Bear/Golden Bear)
Tula Cartridge Works (TCW, also makes Wolf Steel centerfire)
PRVI (Makes Wolf Gold)
Eley (rimfire)
Kent Cartridge/Gamebore
Load-X Ammunition
DDupleks (Also makes Monolit. Shotgun)
Baschieri & Pellagri (Also makes Legend. Shotgun)
MagTech
Kynoch
Dynamit/Nobel (GECO, NobelSport Italia, RWS)
IMI
Brenneke
Sellier & Bellot
RIO Ammunition
Ultramax
Centurion
CZ
Sako
 
Sometimes major American makers do a production run under some other name. For example, I recently got some 45 ACP ammo with a label that says Independence. The salesman side it was from CCI, but nowhere on box does it say CCI. This is not the first time I have encountered this situation.
 
That "incomplete" list has a lot more than I was aware of. But that's a good thing. The more, the merrier. I just wish they'd all start producing more .22lr ammo!

Anyone know how many American ammo manufacturers there are?

Mike
 
Armscor
Atomic
Magnum Research
FN
Barnes
Independence
I believe Sig just started making ammo

Those are just some that I hadn't seen mentioned yet. There may be some ties to other companies that make the difference negligible, but these are just a few that I could think of that weren't mentioned. There are also countless companies that make remanufactured ammo or specialty ammo.
 
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There are thousands of brands out there. Most are only sold locally, or regionally, though.

Many of the common brands manufacture their own ammo. But, they also make ammunition and components for each other.

For example...
Sellier & Bellot currently makes the Winchester "Metric" line of ammo, but Prvi Partisan made it in the past (and it was better ammo).
ArmsCor made the majority of Fiocchi rimfire ammo imported into the U.S. for several decades.
CCI currently makes Fiocchi .22 WMR and a couple specialty .22 LR loads, as well as almost all brands of .17 HMR ammo, and most .17 HM2 ammo.
Aguila uses Eley rimfire hulls.
And the list goes on...


And, some of the different brands are essentially one entity.
ATK owns Federal, Speer, Blazer, CCI, and a bunch of other firearms and ammunition related companies and their subsidiaries. Most Blazer, CCI, Speer, and Federal handgun brass comes off the same production lines.
 
A source for a few more names...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Ammunition_manufacturers

Not all gun manufacturers produce their own ammo. In the cases of those that do it is sometimes the case that ammo manufacturers own the gun manufacturers. DuPont did this with Remington ammo for a long time...

http://www2.dupont.com/Phoenix_Heritage/en_US/1933_detail.html

Some companies are global, like Olin. Some "small" like Buffalo Bore and Cor-Bon.

A look at the sites of ammo sellers will show you more.


tipoc
 
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IT SOUNDS TO ME like you, yes YOU, are a prime candidate for a fresh copy of " CARTRIDGES OF THE WORLD".
FIOCCHI[ feeOkee] is an old line manufacturer of cartridges in business for many many decades now. READ !!
And so it goes...
 
I'm excluding the Russian makers, it's cheap but cheap is not always good.
Click to expand...

I'd say that depends..Tula I think is great depending on the gun for a sks or ak47 it will eat it up all day long and is a great choice..in 5.56 or 45 it leaves something to be desired..I say use the Russian ammo in the Russian guns they were made for use quality American made ammo in your others..but for putting holes in paper anything is good so long as it is safe..
 
Well, that just goes to show you how confusing this topic can be.

The Perfecta ammo is not loaded by Tula, although it is distributed by Tula Ammo Usa.

It is made in Italy, and based on similarities in the packaging and lot numbering scheme, it appears to be made by Fiocchi who does, in fact, make a line of ammunition called, "Perfecta".
 
IT SOUNDS TO ME like you, yes YOU, are a prime candidate for a fresh copy of " CARTRIDGES OF THE WORLD".
FIOCCHI[ feeOkee] is an old line manufacturer of cartridges in business for many many decades now. READ !!
And so it goes...
Click to expand...

I second that.

"Ammo and Ballistics" by Forker is also useful as is the "Ammo Encyclopedia" by Bussard. Useful and fun.

tipoc
 
So let's complicate your question with a common practice (at least overseas): Private labeling of ammo is common. Ammo made in a very large manufacturing facility (private, contract or governmental) may, depending where in the world, be sent out under many different labels. It's also sometimes used to mask the origin of commodity ammo.

It is less expensive than many think to have private, 3rd party labeling of your own ammo, call it "groverdill special" brand of 9mm or other caliber. The easiest is to just print different boxes. If you want to buy enough or pay a setup fee, you can have something stamped (or printed) on individual cartridges.
 
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