Trying to figure out which ammo did it, .40 S&W "dirty" rounds.

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Patriot86

New member
I just purchased my new SIG P-226 .40 S&W this week, went to the range for the first time with it and popped off about 150 rounds. When I got home and disassembled it for cleaning wow was it dirty as hell, took me about an hour and a half to get it completely clean. I put two kinds of ammunition through it, a roughly equal number of Herters select grade and "Federal" both 180 gr FMJ with brass case. I have found a few reviews of the Herters that seem to imply it shoots "dirty" but can't seem to find anything on federal.

Before I go and buy in bulk, I wanted to try and figure out which is the dirtier of the rounds.

Also what brand .40 S&W "target grade" ammo would you recommended for general range use?

Truth be told I do not know as much about handgun ammo as I wish I did and any help would be appreciated.
 
From my experience Federal is some of the cleaner shooting ammunition. I find that Remington ammunition is by far the dirtiest, from there cheap target stuff to the gold dots, in all calibers from .22-.44, that stuff is dirty as hell. I know you werent shooting Remington just thought id let you know.
 
Thanks Drag, Will avoid Remington.
Going to pop off about 150 but use ALL federal next time around and see how it fairs.
 
Remington is dirty but for range ammo, it works just fine. Same with UMC and Magtech ammo. Personally, I wouldn't discount shooting it if it makes sense from a cost stand point.

Even if you shoot nothing but the "cleanest" ammo out there, you'll still need to clean your gun after shooting it. There may be dirtier ammo, but after 150 rounds, there won't be any "clean" ammo.
 
avoid russian made and to good to be true deals. i went to the range with some tula ammo, it shoots fine and fires every time, but the smoke smelled like incense and it was a little dirty.
 
The fact that it smells funny and runs a little dirtier to me isn't reason to avoid it, particularly if there's considerable cost-savings involved. But hey, go ahead and avoid it! There will be more left for me!
 
Thanks guys, Just wanted to make sure I wasn't shooting "Junk" ammo.
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The only ammo I refuse to shoot is bulk reloads you might find at a gun show. Otherwise it's all okay to use as range ammo.
 
Herter's is the culprit. Those cartridges are loaded with half cheap gunpowder, half topsoil from Chernobyl. It's the only ammo on Earth that will fowl my Kimber to the point of mis-feeding, and the Kimber will feed Lincoln logs! I shot one box and will never touch the stuff again.
 
Pffft like the guy who sold me my SIG said, "Hey, even if you run out of ammo you can always use it as a club". Like I said before, going to go off to the range again this coming weekend and put 3 box's of federal through my SIG and see what happens. Will report back
 
Patriot86 said;
Pffft like the guy who sold me my SIG said, "Hey, even if you run out of ammo you can always use it as a club". Like I said before, going to go off to the range again this coming weekend and put 3 box's of federal through my SIG and see what happens. Will report back
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And?? What's the final opinion? I bet it ends up more like...well...:D LOL... Than "this stuff is great!"
Yep.
 
Did not get out this weekend (Doh) Wedding prep stuff and the like. NEXT weekend though and I will make sure to post!
 
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