Cheap vs. Brand Name ammo

[Doc Holliday 1950]

I'm fairly new here so I can only write about what I encountered using cheap ammo vs. brand ammo. All my 357's started having ejector problems when I used about 12 or 16 rounds with the junk not from the US. As soon as i only used American made ammo did this stop happening. Now, I'll only use the top 5 or my friend's loads. My 357's are for self protection only and can't take a chance that the cheepos will fail when I need it the most IMHO.
Is your life or family's not worth it?

[Brotherbadger]

I think cheap ammo is fine for plinking. It does the job for a lower cost. HD/SD? No.

[herdman]

From Magtechs web page:

Q: Are Magtech Ammunition cases reloadable?

A: Yes, Magtech Ammunition loaded ammunition and component cases are factory fresh, virgin brass cases and are fully reloadable by those familiar with the science and art of reloading.

Q: Are Magtech Ammunition primers corrosive?

A: Absolutely not. All Magtech Ammunition commercial primers are non-mercuric and non-corrosive. Magtech Ammunition Clean Range primers are lead and heavy metal free.

[Boncrayon]

You've heard the phrase, "cheap shot"? All ammo is not made the same. You get results from the ammo you shoot...along with the practice you have achieved.

Neither do you have to buy the most expensive ammo. Rather, the proven run-of-the-mill brand names, such as Federal, Remington, Winchester, etc. are precision made. Understand also that some firearms do not "like" certain brands, and prefer others that don't jam on loading.

[Bucksnort1]

Cheapshooter, you forgot one thing in your mantra about guns. "You can't own too many guns".

[vito]

I know I am late to this discussion, but I have learned the hard way to avoid some "off brands" of ammo. I had the chance last year to get some Russian made Tula brand ammo, in 38 Special and in 40S&W. Not only did I find several duds, far more frequently than in any other ammo I have ever fired, but apparently the cases have some type of lacquer finish. At one point my Ruger sr40c failed to cycle, and I was not positive if the round in the chamber had fired or not (I had been shooting rapid fire at a close distance). I could only partially pull the slide back and could not eject whatever was in the chamber. I ended up using a wooden dowel down the front of the barrel and pushing the empty case out of the handgun. After that I vowed not to use Tula ammo again. Its just not worth the small savings compared to other relatively low cost brands. Its also much dirtier and takes more work to clean the guns.

[Skans]

No significant additional wear. I shoot lots of Wolf steel-cased 9mm out of my Sig X-Five. Accuracy is excellent. Reliability is excellent. No wear issues. Personally, I think when it comes to handguns, folks put too much emphasis on the ammo. Other folks will tell you that its all about training and practice.

I'm the oddball out here. While training and practice is important, a high quality handgun can greatly improve your accuracy. I simply buy the cheapest range ammo I can find which allows me to increase my training and practice.

Oh, and several other points about Wolf steel-cased ammo: I can shoot it in my Boberg XR9-S; but it will pull the bullet off of the case on most brass-cased range ammo sold. While I've experienced 3 (over long periods of time) squibs with brass-cased range ammo; I've never had a problem with Wolf.

[BigG]

I spend big bucks for my guns. No milsurps so I buy Winchester, Federal, or Remington ammo and reload the cases. Certainly no berdan or steel case ammo in my locker.

[Skans]

I spend big bucks for my guns. No milsurps so I buy Winchester, Federal, or Remington ammo and reload the cases. Certainly no berdan or steel case ammo in my locker.

Oh, come on BigG, if you're buying high-end handguns, certainly they are tough enough to handle a li'll 'ol Wolf ammo - that's part of what you're paying for...to make you look good even with cheap ammo! Good ammo is for crappy handguns that can't handle the tough stuff, right?

Seriously, I feed Wolf to my X-5 almost exclusively - I trust that stuff more than I'd trust an expert reloader. If better ammo would improve my accuracy with this gun even a tad, there would only be one hole on the target at 75'.

[trapper9260]

I reload my own ammo and not worry about the factory type.

[skizzums]

I am a fan of tula ammo. I reload now so I don't use it anymore, but it has a decent punch and it's quite consistent. I can't say it's less accurate or more than other factory but it seems just fine. their was an extensive test on using bi-metal jacketed ammo versus domestic and the results wee that bi-metal wore the barrels (if I remember correct) 15% faster than pricey stuff. but when they did the math, the cost savings on the bi-metal was so great that they could afford to replace the barrels faster and still be saving $$. I have only had issue with steel case in an AR15 where the case would get stuck in the chamber and the extractor would break the brittle rim off. has never happened in sks, ak or 9mm, just the ar15. I guess if I had a rare gun that I could get replacement parts for if necessary, I would probably only feed it domestic, but I don't have any high end pieces like that

[James K]

A word on reloading Berdan-primed cases. Yes, you can remove the primers either by the water pressure method or by using a tool to pierce the primers and pry them out. But I strongly recommend against drilling or grinding the Berdan anvil and drilling a center flash hole in order to use Boxer-type primers. The combination of the original flash hole(s) and the additional center hole will allow too much primer flash through to the powder chamber, and can result in pressure spikes that could cause problems.

I believe that, unless proper Berdan primers are available (and they rarely are), it is better to just discard fired Berdan-primed cases; there are few Berdan-primed cartridges for which Boxer-types are not available and saving a few dollars is not worth damage to the gun or the shooter.

That flash hole looks insignificant, but its size is carefully controlled by the ammunition maker to work with known kinds of powder and primers.

Jim

[Shadi Khalil]

I have no problem with the inexpensive ammo, In fact The majority of the ammo I've shot over the past few months has been 9mm re-manufacturered ammo from freedom arms or steel stuff from wolf. I've seen no adverse effects in terms of accuracy function in any of the handguns.

[IdahoG36]

Cheap vs. Brand Name ammo

Throughout my entire life shooting firearms, I have stuck to these guidelines and have been just fine so far-

When selecting ammunition, I do not purchase steel cased ammo for anything that isn't an ex Com Bloc weapon. It is dirty and usually loaded on the weak side.

I NEVER purchase reloaded or re-manufactured ammunition!!! There is one exception, and that is Black Hills ammunition blue box. Black Hills is a top notch company though, and the rest are not.

For fmj range ammo, I stick to brass cased ammunition produced by well known, reputable companies. This includes- Federal, Winchester, Remington, PPU, Herter's Select (made by S&B, which is a great company as well), Fiocchi, and MagTech. These are the only brands that I shoot at the range. I can always find one of them available.

My least favorite of those brands would be Winchester and Remington. Remington ammo in handguns has been very dirty compared to others, both before firing and afterwards. Load some mags with Remington UMC and look at your hands afterwards.

I used to shoot a ton of Winchester in the 90's and 00's. Winchester's QC has definitely declined in the last 5-6 years. I have had more issues with Winchester ammo than all others combined. I've seen several defects in their ammo in the last year-

A round of 357 Sig white box that was crushed in the neck area due to the case mouth not being flared enough(my best guess)

A round of 9mm white box fmj that had the jacket peeled upwards on one side where it caught the case mouth.

Rounds of .380 white box had various defects. Deformed primer(like it was installed a few degrees off, and the edge was smashed?), a case that had a small split at the case mouth(1/16th" in size)

A 20 round box of .45 Ranger that looked like the rounds inside were run over by a lawn mover(contacted Winchester, they overnighted the box back to themselves for inspection, apologized profusely, and cut me a check for twice the amount that I paid for the Ranger ammunition. They do have excellent CS)

I no longer purchase any Winchester pistol ammo, unless as a last resort, other than 124gr Nato 9mm. I have not seen any issues with this ammo in the 1500 or so rounds I've fired so far.

[Doc Holliday 1950]

I have found in the less costly guns that American made ammo has given me much less problems. The shells do not get stuck in its chambers like the garbage from other Countries. This is only about my guns/ammo which I no longer own having sold them to get one of the best revolvers out there.
In my spanking brand new Ruger GP100 which I am getting Tuesday, I will only use American ammo first grade not their cheaper stuff like stated above in the Remington ammo Now when I use my friend's hand loads, I do not expect to have any problems at all. His ammo is super. But as in all things sometimes things just happen. IMHO. As a newbie I am always trying to learn.