Author Topic: Is there one good FMJ round to suite most or all purposes?  (Read 22490 times)

Offline CW3

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Re: Is there one good FMJ round to suite most or all purposes?
« Reply #15 on: June 18, 2016, 07:03:10 PM »
Great prices on Great Ammo!
I just got 1000 rds of 9mm/147 gr Blue Bullets from TNT Munitions last month and will be ordering another 1000 next week!  Try'em, you'll like'm!

https://www.tntmunitions.com/9mm-luger.html
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Offline PappaWheelie

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Re: Is there one good FMJ round to suite most or all purposes?
« Reply #16 on: August 11, 2016, 10:34:30 PM »
Speer Lawman FMJ in 1000 round box is cheaper from SGAmmo than Winchester White Box from Walmart, and is indoor sweet.
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Offline Dvrdwn72

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Re: Is there one good FMJ round to suite most or all purposes?
« Reply #17 on: August 13, 2016, 08:28:22 PM »
Precision delta both components and loaded. I also use lawman sometimes due to the fact I get a good deal from Leo friends.

Offline Chino Hills

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Re: Is there one good FMJ round to suite most or all purposes?
« Reply #18 on: November 06, 2016, 12:40:40 AM »
I'd think the rough basic answer is, "No."  There isn't one maker/FMJ that is best for all purposes. 

Smoothing the answer up is that FMJ is probably a good choice for general use, practice, etc.  A typical FMJ round from a good manufacturer should be consistent, feed well, be reliable, reasonably accurate, etc., and might well be the least expensive option.  Some shooters may find reloading a good idea, especially high volume shooters.  Re-using brass may drive the price down and while lead bullets might be cheaper, I'm not sure that's always the case and environmental concerns or range requirements may vary.  Steel or aluminum cases may be cheaper for practice and less trouble to retrieve and reuse (you can't really, but maybe scoop up for scrap/recycling in some ways?).  Price and availablity may vary but I'd think that may result in different makers moving to the top of the list at times.  Recently I found bulk Winchester white box .40 S&W FMJ at WalMart in 50 and 200 round boxes and the 200 round sale price was crazy cheap.  Cheaper than available on-line, etc.  Just found a 250 round box of Ranger Brass .40 locally that was extremely competitive with on line pricing.  Both worked fine but the Winchester was still cheaper and after comparing in use, if I find the Winchester again at that price, I'll get more.  I would not be uncomfortable buying other makers, S&B, Remington, etc.  For FMJ/practice, I'd go with what was cheapest.

Others may find reloads or remanufactured ammo for less, maybe steel or aluminum case ammo.  Local sources/pricing may or may not be competitive but the hassles of shipping and freight costs may make different brands or sources better at times.  Market forces will drive price and availability changes rapidly these days, too.  There may or may not be warranty/quality issue with some types as well.

I would not use FMJ for personal protection if I could avoid it.  While real world, especially military, experience shows FMJ type ammunition "works," real world experiences also show that it is less effective than readily available (for most of us) alternatives.  There are a lot of factors that differ between military use, legal considerations of various sorts, and tons of discussions on these issues out there.  What I do is to some extent look for reliable brands, standardized or comparable test results of that load if available, and availability such that I can test fire a reasonable quantity of that specific load in the gun I expect to use it in to test reliability. 

Offline frgood

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Re: Is there one good FMJ round to suite most or all purposes?
« Reply #19 on: November 06, 2016, 09:10:22 AM »
This is a good thread to resurrect.

I have to re-examine the question, and I do this reluctantly. The concept of a universal, and versatile, round works as much as the number of handguns in your position. Let's say you own and use a
  • TS 9mm                  - For USPSA Competition (Major PF)
  • 75 or 85 Combat    - For Production or IDPA
  • PCR                        - Self Defense
  • 1911                      - Steel Challenge / Plinking
Now re-ask the question and what is your result?
Might I suggest buying in bulk by general category : Competition, Self-Defense, and Practice/Plinking. This way you optimize your results and can keep track. My personal preferences are:
  • Geco for competition  - bulk is available and ammo is pretty consistent between batches
  • SigSauer for Self Defense - I liked the gel test result/videos
  • Geco, Sellier & Bellot - Practice (Competition/target)
There also are a few local custom loaders that may be worth considering. If you supply materials the price can be quite reasonable and the might work with you to find a custom load that can be averaged across all your handguns. I was recently talking to Two Brothers Ammo (Tampa area) about this and they can produce some pretty large batches. Although in their case I am not sure if they are getting their business completely off the ground just yet.

To sum up, since competition accurate bullets seems to fall into flat point or, even, hollow point, there may be a compromise to be had where the comp cost is a tweak higher due to a better hollow point and the offset is you self defense slightly less effective as you may not get the best spreading hollow point. But a sufficient one.  I think part of the key at this point is measuring all your barrels to find an average/optimal OAL and see who can build to that spec.


.02 for the day.

Offline Patsfan6

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Re: Is there one good FMJ round to suite most or all purposes?
« Reply #20 on: March 20, 2021, 01:50:16 AM »
Federal, Speer, Winchester, Remington, hornady seem to have some of the most reliable cartridges & highest quality control standards in the industry. Of course there are many others, but those are the top of the pyramid in my opinion. You may consider powerball ammo, shaped like fmj but performs like hollow point for defense purposes if your gun has feed issues. Don't know if it's available nor do I have experience with it. American made only for me for my pistols, with the exception of pmc bronze 115 gr. hp in my pcr due to its massive expansion. Russian ammo quality control is pretty bad. I avoid no name brands, and remanufactured cartridges personally. Can't go wrong with the previously mentioned brands or their variants.