Preferences in 9mm practice ammo

G

Gene Pool

New member
Gentlemen,

For daily practice (at steel targets) and keeping my shooting skills honed, I purchase 9mm FMJ ammo in bulk quantities. Cost is naturally a factor but so is quality control at the factory (don’t want any kabooms). So my question is, in YOUR EXPERIENCE, and considering Winchester white box, PMC, CCI Blazer brass, and MagTech, how do you personally rate them? List your first choice 1st, followed by your second choice, etc.

I have been buying Winchester white box and PMC, but am now seriously looking outside of those two.

Thank you in advance,
Gene Pool
 
Never heard of or used PMC, so I won’t rank it. Among the other three:

1. Mag-tech
2. Blazer Brass
3. WWB

For inexpensive range ammo, I’d put American Eagle above all.

For what it’s worth, I shoot Speer Lawman almost exclusively in all the calibers I own. It’s a little more expensive, but I find it more consistent in terms of accuracy and I find my guns are quicker to clean after using it.
 
I buy in 1,000 round cases and usually multiple cases at a time. Blazer or Blazer Brass is my go to ammo. I’ve shot tens of thousands of rounds of it. It goes bang every time. It feeds reliably and about 98% of the time, it is the cheapest. Going price now is about $190/1000 before shipping.

Not as good as the heyday of $80/1000 off the shelf at Academy but a fair price.

ETA: my mistake, Blazer Brass is currently $170/1000 at Luckygunner.
 
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Bartholomew Roberts said:
I buy in 1,000 round cases and usually multiple cases at a time. Blazer or Blazer Brass is my go to ammo. I’ve shot tens of thousands of rounds of it. It goes bang every time. It feeds reliably and about 98% of the time, it is the cheapest. Going price now is about $190/1000 before shipping.

Not as good as the heyday of $80/1000 off the shelf at Academy but a fair price.
Click to expand...
WWB $160 for 1000 here..

https://carolinamunitions.com/winch...nato-124-gr-full-metal-jacket-500-rounds.html
 
Gene Pool said:
Gentlemen,

For daily practice (at steel targets) and keeping my shooting skills honed, I purchase 9mm FMJ ammo in bulk quantities. Cost is naturally a factor but so is quality control at the factory (don’t want any kabooms). So my question is, in YOUR EXPERIENCE, and considering Winchester white box, PMC, CCI Blazer brass, and MagTech, how do you personally rate them? List your first choice 1st, followed by your second choice, etc.

I have been buying Winchester white box and PMC, but am now seriously looking outside of those two.

Thank you in advance,
Gene Pool
Click to expand...
I've used all except PMC and have found them all to be a wash..all fed and fired fine, zero failures of any kind(Glock 17/4).

I think there are some others worth mentioning if the idea is inexpensive, safe, range ammo..Like Tulo, Wolf, Aquila, Wincheter Forged..others.
 
1. My own reloads.
2. Mag-Tech / ArmsCor / Blazer / Fiocchi / PPU / Federal (AE/FC) / Aguila
---
9. Winchester*
10. Remington*

*Quality and Quality Control aren't what they used to be...

I won't buy or shoot PMC or S&B, outside of special circumstances. I've encountered too many problems with their loaded ammo and fired cases. (The same goes for Federal with rifle cartridges. ...As do some of those other 'rankings' change with rifle cartridges.)
 
Practice stuff in any gun is normally the same thing I'd shoot seriously! I do flip a bit on 9mm. Practice with 124gr cast and carry 124gr JHP.
 
By default I pick Remington if available across all calibers. In 9mm in particular I have one pistol that is a bit picky and the Remington brass fmj stuff runs perfectly in it.
 
Blazer Brass is my favorite FMJ ammo. Very consistent and reliable. Have had no problems with UMC but seems underpowered sometimes. PMC is dirty and seems underpowered. I saw several boxes of WWB .223 55gr with loose bullets so not a fan of that brand at all. Fiocchi has been very good so far but not nearly the number of rounds shot as Blazer and UMC.

Just based an excellent experience with Aguila .22LR ammo I would definitely try their centerfire ammo if it was available and a good price. But around here Blazer Brass is widely available and cheaper than most quality brands so that is my preferred blaster and testing baseline ammo.
 
I am currently using my own homemade stuff, but I used a lot of WWB prior to starting reloading, with lesser but significant amounts of PMC and Blazer Brass. My opinion of those is that they were inconsistent, with rare duds of one sort or another. I don't consider that criticism, though, because what you are buying in those brands is cheap practice ammo, cheap in no small part because quality control and monitoring is pretty low. It is the nature of the beast. I remember having a box of WWB with several mashed case mouths. They sent me a coupon for, IIRC, $20, and apologized, but I doubt that it caused them to institute a vigorous quality control effort. That isn't their target market. Cheap plinking ammo is what they make under that label, and that is what you should expect to buy.

I don't mean to sound scolding, only to suggest that for plinking, it is probably OK to just get the best price you can and write off any minor amount of hiccups.
 
I prefer 124 gr for 9mm practice ammo. I find that Aguila tends to be dirty, but that doesn't bother me. I've found Sellier & Bellott to be good to go. Prvi Partizan as well.
 
My practice ammunition is a variety of FMJ stuff from who knows because I just got tired of the hundreds of boxes and I dumped it all into buckets... probably should have separated it all lol.
 
Im exclusively using the Federal Syntech 9mm line and have been for about two years now.
LOVE THE STUFF!

Ive rolled my own coated bullets for years but Federal is doing it for me now...YIPPIE!
No lead or copper fouling
Shoots as clean as 'premium'
Limits barrel wear
Now loaded to mimic HST
They've also brought back coated expanding bullets (NYClad anyone?)

I can often find it delivered for about 18 cents
Or tag onto a department PO for about 15 cents

Some will scoff at paying 18 cents but the time saved cleaning is more than worth it....
And I use ultrasonics

10-federal-syntech-pistol-ammo.jpg
 
Magtech would be by preference. My club used at least 15,000 rounds during the last month, all in 115 grain. Not a single issue and it was fired from various handguns. No issues.
 
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I have shot all 4 of these. I have not shot winchester in a while. Personally my preferred is Federal, however all 4 of the ones you listed work just fine for training. If I can't get Federal I would go in the following order.

1- Mag Tech
2- CCI Blazer
3-PMC
4-Winchester
 
Winchester has a recall for their 9mm ammo, they put the wrong powder in it. I have a box of Winchester 308 FMJ out of nine rounds I fired two rounds did not fire. Deep indents on the primers, Winchester rimfire has given me the most trouble out of all the rimfire I have tried. I will not buy Winchester ammo again. I will buy CCI/Blazer, Federal, Agulia. ymmv.
 
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