What's a good, accurate, non-premium 9mm ammo?

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1KPerDay

1KPerDay

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I'd be fine with 50-round boxes of "outdated" FMJs. Need suggestions for what you've found to be good quality accurate ammo but not necessarily top of the line SD rounds. I am trying to rule out my shooting in diagnosing a problematic 40-9 conversion barrel and I only have one type of round loaded up (plated powerbond 124 RN).

Want to pick up a box for shooting a couple of groups.
 
Honestly, I've had trouble finding stuff that was inaccurate. Different ammo will shoot differently in different guns, but the difference isn't as much as we often assume.

Here's the result of an experiment I did awhile back. I took 6 different kinds of ammunition (10 rounds total) loaded them all into a Glock 17 and shot a group at 15 yards. The group ended up being 2". The ammo was WWB, Remington JHP (100rnd box), Federal Champion, American Eagle, Winchester SX2, and Sellier & Bellot.

https://thefiringline.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=83409&d=1346546271
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You need to try different brands to see what is accurate and functions best in your handgun , my Shield is very accurate with Speer Gold Dot 9mm 124 gr +P. Couple years ago was getting complements for the groups shooting my 5906 with Blazer Brass 115gr , went back the next weekend same gun, ammo and was lousy
 
JohnKSa said:
Honestly, I've had trouble finding stuff that was inaccurate. Different ammo will shoot differently in different guns, but the difference isn't as much as we often assume.
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X2 and my humble excuse for testing has shown me the exact same results. Although my results or groups were not as good as yours; they were good enough for "government" work.
With ex-Military pistols and some 22 RF, I've found finding ammo picky eaters like is another challenge .
 
My favorite cheap ammo for accuracy is Federal American Eagle 147 gr followed closely by their 124 gr. In general I find American Eagle and Speer Lawman to have excellent accuracy out of a wide range of my pistols.
 
Yeah I’m leaning toward defective barrel but want to rule it out. I’ve shot back to back groups with OEM .40 barrel and conversion barrel and OEM barrel groups are half the size. I wonder if it prefers heavier bullets or something. It is not accurate enough for my purposes at the moment. I’m missing plates at 18 yards when getting a good sight picture and clean press.

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I’ve shot back to back groups with OEM .40 barrel and conversion barrel and OEM barrel groups are half the size.
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Glock factory barrels are actually pretty good, in terms of accuracy. I remember looking over the results of a test with 10 aftermarket barrels (and the original factory barrel) in a single Glock pistol. The user did find one he liked better than the OEM barrel, however the factory barrel outshot 6 out of the 10 tested aftermarket barrels.

The barrel that was selected as the winner outshot the Glock barrel at 25 yards with an overall average group size that was a little under 0.6" smaller. An improvement, to be sure, but certainly not a large improvement.

On top of that, with one of the different loadings tested, the factory barrel outshot all but one of the tested barrels--turning in an average grouping for that loading that was actually better than the overall average grouping for the barrel that took overall best in the testing. In other words, if the tester had focused on finding the best ammo for his gun instead of finding the best barrel for his gun and then used that ammo exclusively, he would have actually done better in terms of raw accuracy (with a single loading) than with the barrel that won the test with the overall smallest average group size.
 
1KPerDay, Factory ammunition that tends to perform very well for me as to both accuracy and reliability in several 9MM firearms is the Federal 115 JHP. This, in any of the three versions I've used, the 9BP, XM9001, and 9BPLE. The Federal is usually available from some of the online suppliers, and is neither the cheapest nor most expensive 9MM available. I realize YMMV, but the Federal has been a solid performer for me for some years now.
 
1KPerDay said:
Yeah I’m leaning toward defective barrel but want to rule it out. I’ve shot back to back groups with OEM .40 barrel and conversion barrel and OEM barrel groups are half the size. I wonder if it prefers heavier bullets or something. It is not accurate enough for my purposes at the moment. I’m missing plates at 18 yards when getting a good sight picture and clean press.
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Here's some advice;

1. Try different bullets in your handloads. My understanding is that powerbond bullets are plated. Plated don't have a good reputation for accuracy. I wouldn't trust them for any accuracy comparison.

Use jacketed bullets in your 9mm handloads that have proven to shoot well. Try: Hornady HAP or XTP. Try: RMR JHP or their FMJ FP Match Winners. Try Zero JHP (conical).

2. If you're going to make claims about accuracy, shoot the gun off a bench. Shooting offhand/standing you're adding a huge amount of potential human error into the mix.

3. Sight in the barrel. It's a different barrel and might not be pointed at the exact same place as your OEM barrel. Your 10 yard targets show the 9mm rounds are hitting to the right. Sight it in at 25 yards, off a bench. Use the OEM barrel on the same target. Then you can see if the hits overlap - or not.
 
I find that Federal of all flavors seems to be a sure bet. A bit more expensive than the bottom of the barrel stuff by a dollar or two per 50, but it's always well made, accurate, and reliable. If I am out of premium ammo, Federal is what I load my carry guns with.

Now I have been very pleasantly surprised by Academy Sports' Monarch line. Good selection of jhp at or below Federal prices. Maybe a bit dirtier but seems to function and hit the target as well as I can shoot them.

One caveat here, I never shoot for bench accuracy. For me, my guns are for SD and posting up to pick of the most surgical of surgical shot isn't something I practice. Nor are headshots or any such unlikely scenario. I practice at 7-15 yards and alternate between keeping rounds CM or soft vitals rapidly not really worrying about the grouping and metered slow standing fire where I actually try to drill down my aimed accuracy.
 
I’m diagnosing a potential accuracy issue and I don’t plan on using this barrel for defense but I agree that practical accuracy is what’s relevant. For my intended purpose of range fun and informal competition this barrel/pistol/ammo combination is not sufficiently accurate at this point.

Plated bullets have proven quite accurate in my other pistols and this ammo shoots well enough in other barrels which is why it is bothering me.
 
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American Eagle in whatever your preferred grain weight is. For most firearms 115 and 124 are the most accurate loads.
 
tarosean said:
If the pistol was accurate before hand. The answer is likely the barrel.
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Accurate with 40S&W factory barrel using different bullet. OP is using Glock 22 with a conversion barrel - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...-9mm-conversion-barrels.859679/#post-11317647

tarosean said:
"Drop In" = wasted money
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Depends.

My various "drop in" KKM/Lone Wolf barrels in 40S&W and 40-9 conversion have been comparable to factory if not more accurate.

Glock factory 1:10 twist rate (1:9.84 actual) is too fast for some bullet types/powder charge loads and slower 1:16 twist rate of most aftermarket match barrels seem to be more compatible with all bullet types/loads. (Wilson Combat changed their Glock barrel twist rate from 1:10 to 1:16)

With Tactical Kinetics 1:10 barrel, I noticed wider lands with a center channel down the rifling thinking it was to compensate for faster barrel twist rate to better engage the bearing surface of the bullet base.

1KPerDay said:
I am trying to rule out my shooting in diagnosing a problematic 40-9 conversion barrel and I only have one type of round loaded up (plated powerbond 124 RN)
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When I initially tested my Tactical Kinetics barrel with reloads using pulled plated bullets, I thought the offhand accuracy at 7-10 yards was comparable to KKM with slight nod going to KKM but I used different bullet weight/powder (RMR pulled 115 gr plated RN with 4.0-4.2 gr Promo, faster burning powder than W231). I can do a benched comparison testing when the rain lets up. BTW, during Black Friday, I ordered 2 BCA conversion barrels with 1:16 twist rate and can test them also when they arrive.

I have 124 gr Power Bond RN and W231 so I can also duplicate your load and compare with other known accurate loads. It's been my experience that plated bullets are not as accurate as jacketed bullets.
 
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I may eventually send this one to you to test if it still shows worse accuracy after benching with factory ammo. I got some herters brass, some American Eagle 115, and some federal 147 FMJFP
 
1KPerDay said:
I'd be fine with 50-round boxes of "outdated" FMJs. Need suggestions for what you've found to be good quality accurate ammo but not necessarily top of the line SD rounds. I am trying to rule out my shooting in diagnosing a problematic 40-9 conversion barrel and I only have one type of round loaded up (plated powerbond 124 RN).

Want to pick up a box for shooting a couple of groups.
Click to expand...
I order Speer Lawman 124 FMJ by the case. These are also perfectly safe for indoor use (no lead primers) and are accurate in all of my 9mms. I get them from TargetSportsUSA for about $179.99/1000 freight included
 
In general, flat point bullets, like FMJ FP and JHP bullets, tend to be more accurate than round nose bullets. That's something else to consider when selecting ammo to test.

Sending your barrel to someone else to test is pointless. They will be putting it in a completely different gun, and it will most likely rpoduce different results than your gun would.

How well does this barrel fit your gun? Is it tight in the slide or does it wiggle around. What are the measurements of areas that fit in the slide? The length and width of the hood? Compare those measurements with the OEM barrel.
 
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