# Ammo to use?



## todd1584 (Feb 19, 2009)

I havent bought a gun yet. I live in the upper peninsula of Michigan and im going down state next week and I plan on buying either a springfield XDM 9mm or a Sig (Model to be determined). I guess what im saying is I dont know to much about handguns, I bought 2 boxes of some remington 9mm luger will this work for these guns? It was just some fairly cheap ammo i used a giftcard because it has been hard to find 9mm ammo, and that I just plan to mess around at the range with.. Will this ammo work with these guns? what are some recommendations for a higher quality amount to have for home defense?


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## FlaChef (Dec 31, 2008)

absolutely it will work if you end up buying a 9mm, not so much if you pick up a .40 or a .45:mrgreen:
As for defensive ammo, most of the premium SD stuff out there works great if you stay with companies like remington, corbon, federal, speer, winchester. 
I like Winchester Ranger-T and Federal HST, but that is for fl where i am more worried about overpenetration than i am heavy layers of clothing. 
Federal makes Expanding FMJ and also the CorBon DPX which might both be better for when targets have on multiple layers that can clog HP's and a little extra depth of penetration might be needed.
But test a couple boxes through whichever gun you get, I have seen guns of same make/model where gun a liked brand A but not brand B and then gun B was the polar opposite.
And on a side note, i prefer SD stuff that comes in boxes of 50 for $25 bucks instead of boxes of 20 for $20


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## Redwolf (Nov 29, 2008)

check here, most likely will answer your questions
http://handgunforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=81


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## literaltrance (Dec 24, 2008)

FlaChef said:


> And on a side note, i prefer SD stuff that comes in boxes of 50 for $25 bucks instead of boxes of 20 for $20


Big +1 here.

For the sake of being thorough I'd like to back up a bit because I saw:



todd1584 said:


> I guess what im saying is I dont know to much about handguns...Will this ammo work with these guns? what are some recommendations for a higher quality amount to have for home defense?


Ok so, obviously you know there is a difference between self-defense (SD) ammo and run-of-the-mill ball/target/practice/full-metal-jacket ammo. Sounds like you just want some recommendations on what brands and possibly where to get them.

For practice, Winchester (white box, or WWB), Remington (UMC), Federal (premium), CCI Blazer (brass) are all great for plinking. Some others which I don't think get enough praise would be Magtech, Sellier and Bellot, Georgia-Arms, and Fiocchi. These are all going to be ABOUT the same price, the trick is knowing where and when to get it. Wal-Mart is famous among handgun enthusiasts for stocking affordable WWB. Aside from that, you can often find great deals online:

http://www.natchezss.com (has the best deals, just have to check periodically)
http://www.ammoman.com (usually a better source for bulk SD ammo)
http://www.georgia-arms.com (some reloads, some new, great bulk SD prices)

The shipping is not as bad as you think and the savings will often make the shipping worth it when compared to local prices.

Now, some practice ammo I think you should AVOID would be:
-wolf:
On a tight budget this is about as cheap as you can get. The ammo works fine but the cases are plastic-coated steel and you will encounter the occasional faulty primer (maybe one in 200). The big thing is you should never have foreign steel objects in your firearm.

-federal classic:
Natchez Shooting Supplies once had this on bulk sale and I nabbed 2k rounds at a hell of a price, something about some Police Dept. returning the ammo. Little did I realize there might have been a REASON for them to return the ammo. The powder loads of each cartridge varied to the degree that I became "concerned." After getting into about 200 rounds, experienced a slow primer ignition. Smoke came out of the chamber REAL slow, hissing slightly, and the bullet never left the barrel....this is a rather scary moment because you can't be entirely sure whether or not the powder is going to have a delayed ignition or if the bullet got lodged in the barrel. AVOID THIS AMMO!

-CCI Blazer (aluminum, not Brass):
I find aluminum-cased ammo to be acceptable and cost-effective, provided you're not too concerned about getting minor aluminum scuffs in and around the chamber of your handgun. Being a new gun though, I figured you'd appreciate knowing this ammo CAN leave marks which are not easily removed.

Now self-defense ammo, well, I don't think you can go wrong with most. I usually carry georgia-arms defense loads because of their great bulk prices, but you'd be just as well off (if not better), with any of the following:

Federal Hydra-Shok
just about anything from Corbon
Speer Gold Dot
Hornady TAP
just about anything from Double Tap
Buffalo Bore (my personal favorite! :mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen

This list is the tip of the iceberg in self-defense ammo, by the way. Most manufacturers have a line of defense ammo and even the likes of Wolf Gold and Magtech Guardian Gold are certainly worth looking into. Also keep an eye out for "+P" self-defense ammo if your handgun is rated to handle the extra pressures...I'd be surprised if the XD's weren't. These will offer better ballistics at the cost of slightly more recoil.

Good luck!


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## dblshred (Jan 31, 2009)

Another potential problem with the inexpensive, non-brass ammo is some ranges forbid using it (at least in my area).


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## diskgolfer109 (Feb 19, 2009)

so i got my xdm9mm today at a small gun shop and their ammo selection at the time was minimal, (going to cabellas tomorrow for some self defense rounds) but they sold me what they said was good for practice it called lellier&bellot 9mm luger, is it an ok round ? box says fjm 7,5 G 115 grs its from the chex republic?


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## DevilsJohnson (Oct 21, 2007)

i like sellier&bellot ammo. for FMJ rounds they work really well. They're a little hot but I like em like that. Great practice ammo :smt023


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## literaltrance (Dec 24, 2008)

diskgolfer109 said:


> so i got my xdm9mm today at a small gun shop and their ammo selection at the time was minimal, (going to cabellas tomorrow for some self defense rounds) but they sold me what they said was good for practice it called lellier&bellot 9mm luger, is it an ok round ? box says fjm 7,5 G 115 grs its from the chex republic?


I love the stuff myself. I mentioned above they make some good/cheap/quality/underrated ammo. Same goes for Magtech and Fiocchi.

S&B and Fiocchi tend to be a little hot, but I wouldn't call it +P. Apparently both DevilsJohnson and I like it that way, too! :mrgreen:


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## paradis1142 (Dec 23, 2008)

winchester white box


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