The other day I was cruising through Cabelas (awesome place) and decided to pick up some JHP's. They were pretty cleaned out and I ended up with some cheapish WWB 230gr JHP due to availability and price limitations. One thing I noticed is that the Federal HST and Winchester Ranger ammo is NEVER in stock. People must grab that stuff up as soon as it hits the shelf. What kind of ammo do you guys prefer? Does anyone swear off the overpriced SD rounds and stick with good old hardball?
For SD I use Federal 155gr .40 JHP. In my M4gerie I run Hornady TAP 75gr .223. For practice I try to stick with WWB 165gr FMJ for the pistol and Federal / Remington UMC 55gr (XM193) or 62gr (XM588) FMJ
It depends on the caliber. Carry/Training .38 Special: Federal Hydra-Shok 147gr +P+/Speer Lawman 158gr +P .357 Magnum: Speer Gold Dot 125gr/Speer Lawman 158gr +P .44 Magnum: Speer Gold Dot 240gr/Speer Gold Dot 240gr 9mm Para: Federal "Classic" 115gr +P+/Speer Lawman 115gr .40SW: Federal HST 155gr/Speer Lawman 155gr .45ACP: Federal HST 230gr +P/Speer Lawman 230gr None of it is really "overpriced" for me, especially considering if I can hold out and buy it when my agency buys it so I don't have to pay any excise taxes. That said, availability still sucks. Last time I was down there, GS was limiting you to one box per person for individual officers and they had no .45ACP in the building. .223 is plentiful again, but handgun calibers still suck.
Oh, I had to get over that a long time ago. Buy a box of .308Win lately? To fire my favorite Hornady load from my .45-70 costs me $2.36 every time I pull the trigger. Edit: And part of it may just be a GS problem. This is the time of year when most agencies order their yearly supplies. With the number of agencies they serve (at least several hundred), I'd imagine they're swamped right now and agency sales always take priority with them. In fact, they tell you up front that they have a showroom strictly as a courtesy to individual officers. They make their money on back office sales. That up front stuff is just gravy. But, I simply can't afford to buy it anywhere else. I only buy the quantities I buy because GS sells it so cheap. For instance, last year Apostle bought a 50 round box of my carry ammo from somewhere on the internet. He paid retail, but it's still three times what I paid. If I didn't have access to a Federal LE dealer, I'd have to find something else.
I wonder if the local big dealer around here gives lower prices. Probably not. Let's see...... Job issued: Speer LE Gold Dot .40 S&W 180gr Hollow Point Training rounds: Winchester FMJ .40 S&W 165gr, American Eagle FMJ 180gr When I first got my Glock I picked up a box of Remington Golden Saber 180gr Hollow Point Seriously starting to look into reloading so I can at least have practice rounds.
I got everybody to stop using the American Eagle stuff. If you look at the box, it's loaded significantly slower than the standard pressure stuff. There have actually been reports of it not cycling weapons correctly. I know you've never had a problem with it and I hope you never do. But, a lot of people have.
i can attest to that, got 500 rounds of american eagle .22lr and my Browning Buck-Mark stovepipes with it atleast once a mag
My usual luck: I stocked up on Wolf hardball in .45 and 9 when Cheaper Than Dirt had a sale. I show up at the only pistol range left within 25 miles and pull it out of my bag, and the rangemaster trots over and tells me Wolf brand is banned at the range.
That's stupid. It's like saying, "Your clothes aren't nice enough to shoot here." They might not like it, but there is absolutely NO reason to ban it.
If I had to guess, I'd say it's because it's ultra-corrosive (fucking with their ventilation system) and because the non-reloadable steel cases fuck with their reclamation efforts. That and I'm kinda surprised they let you bring any ammo. Most indoor ranges I've heard about require you to buy your ammo from them.
You can't reload steel? Oh and the ranges I've been too only require you to buy ammo if you rent one of their guns to shoot.
Figures. Since I became an adult, I've never been to a range where I wasn't at least one of the range masters. I honestly don't know the protocols public shooting ranges use. Apostle, yes. One year for me. Edit: No, you can't reload steel cases. Brass can expand and contract a few times before it enters the danger zone for rupture under pressure. When steel is bent, it's bent. It's not going back to it's original size and shape without weakening the molecular bonds. We know Wolf uses steel, but a lot of manufacturers (Mainly Winchester and some Hornady loads) use nickle plated brass, which can look like shiny steel, but it's not.
Corrosion resistance. The old adage that Brass doesn't rust simply isn't true in this case. By using electroplating, you can use a "cheaper" and more plentiful brass alloy for the shell casings. Unfortunately, those shell casings have a very high ratio of zinc to other metals, specifically copper, making it susceptible to corrosion.
The range that Shoes and I use, Range USA, allows you to bring your own ammo. They also sell a lot of ammo. The cheap, reloaded ammo they sell is just that - very, very cheap. Cheapest I can find! They've also started carrying cheap new ammo. The range is very clean and very well run, and has tons of classes 7 days a week. I've also been to other ranges that don't let you use other folks ammo.
Here in FL I've yet to run into a private range that made you buy their ammo to shoot at their range. About the only restriction I have seen is against reloads, and that is a liability issue brought about by wildcatters. Oh and as for Buying anything from Cheaper Than Dirt, but especially ammo....don't. You can normally find the same ammo at lower prices at other places on the net (I.e. ammoman, natchez, etc..)
All the indoor ranges I've been to allow you to bring your own ammo, including reloads. I did see a guy blow up his gun with a bad reload, though. Blew the mag out and fused the slide to the frame.
It took me a while to get an answer, 'cause all the rangemaster would do was reassert his power by telling me it didn't matter because it was a RULE, dammit. I emailed them later and asked politely, and they told me it was because Wolf has a steel core bullet, and they're afraid it would spark off the backstop and start a fire. Sounds like BS to me, but I've never cut a Wolf bullet open to check. I'd buy that reason before the fire hazard excuse. And that surprises me, 'cause I've never encountered that at all!
While the jacket is steel, the bullet most certainly is not. It's hard to say whether the proprietors of the range are telling you a lie because it's easier than saying they want the spent brass for themselves or they really are retards who would believe in such a ridiculous myth.
Maybe they meant steel jacket, but said steel core instead. Either way it's a pain, 'cause I got 800 rounds of the stuff.
Sorry, I meant the casing was steel. There are no steel components whatsoever in the composition of the projectile.
Wolf ammo, whether steel or brass cased, is non-corrosive. Just fine for plinking ammo, anyway. I used to fire it all the time from my brand new AR-15, but the casings started to get gummed up and stuck in the chamber as the gun loosened up after several thousand rounds.
I dispute that claim as entirely false. I've seen the steel cased cartridges destroy the magazines and inner workings of firearms when left in extended Condition Two. Remember when I talked about how the cartridges had rusted to the cylinder of my Chief's carbon steel revolver? I had to use a rubber mallet on the extractor to free the cartridges from the weapon. When a manufacturer uses the term non-corrosive, they're speaking only of the powder propellant. Wolf uses a chemical lubricant to prevent what I've described, but it dissipates over time and the metal begins to oxidize and rust. When you then fire the weapon, you're putting a lot of nasty stuff, besides the usual chemicals associated with gun fire, into the air.
