9MM Ammo - What's the Difference (pistol, rifle, cheap, Winchester)
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I'm a newbie, so forgive the dumb question. I previously bought some Lawmans 124 gr FMJ ammo. Today I ran across Lellier & Bellot 115 gr FMJ ammo. What is the difference, besides the L&B being cheaper? I'm planning to use it for range practice. Thx
Both would be good for practice. 124 and 115 refer to the weight of the projectiles, so if all things are equal with the loading, the 124 might kick/recoil a little more but otherwise there should not be much difference for your purpose.
Also I think you mean S&B Sellier & Bellot, I have shot thousands of those rounds and never had a problem with any. If I remember correctly S&B is a Czech company and Lawman is made by Speer which was a US company.
What Lee said. Use whichever Full Metal Jacket practice ammo is cheapest that still reliably works in your gun. Assuming this is a defense weapon, and you said you are a newbie, you aren't trying for pin-point accuracy. You're working on achieving "minute of bad guy" groups and learning muscle memory for different activities like racking the slide, recovering from the shot recoil, and reloading.
For the bullets you actually use for defense, however, don't go cheap. Go with something like Speer Gold Dot, Federal HST, Winchester Ranger, Remington Golden Saber, or anything hollow point by Cor-Bon or Buffalo Bore. If your gun is rated for it you might even go for +P (over-pressure) ammunition.
For range practice, nothing really, but like Mr. Lee said, the 124's may have a bit more recoil, but then, I've shot some pretty hot 115gr FMJ, too. If your pistol runs it, use whatever.
You should also consider that using 115gr may not be powerful enough for the slide to do its job. You should be okay. It is something that can cause problems with pistols that have short, tight recoil springs.
What Lee said. Use whichever Full Metal Jacket practice ammo is cheapest that still reliably works in your gun. Assuming this is a defense weapon, and you said you are a newbie, you aren't trying for pin-point accuracy. You're working on achieving "minute of bad guy" groups and learning muscle memory for different activities like racking the slide, recovering from the shot recoil, and reloading.
For the bullets you actually use for defense, however, don't go cheap. Go with something like Speer Gold Dot, Federal HST, Winchester Ranger, Remington Golden Saber, or anything hollow point by Cor-Bon or Buffalo Bore. If your gun is rated for it you might even go for +P (over-pressure) ammunition.
Agreed with the caveat that you do want to test whatever you use for self-defense to make sure that it and your firearm get along.
Thanks all for the education! I bought the last five boxes can never have enough ammo.
Agreed, I own ammo cans full of 9mm and 22Lr and also have plenty of other cal's that I shoot or carry.
As others have already written, use quality ammo for self defense and I will go one further, test your weapon with plenty of rounds of the ammo you carry in it for self defense. I have seen all too often a person shoots tons of ball ammo at the range and gets pretty good with it, only to load up with hollow point ammo they have never tested in their carry guns. While most quality modern firearms will digest just about any ammo, some other guns can be fussy and will jam with certain types of projectile configurations and bullet weights.
I never carry any handgun or self defense rifle that I have not run at a minimum of 100 rounds of the ammo that I carry in it.
Enjoy your shooting and since you are just starting out, a good way is to buy 3 boxes for every 2 you shoot until you have a nice backup stash.
I have used Russian import ammo for target work, have some ammo designed to expand for defense in the pistol as a matter of course.
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