Dumb question?

[SureShot]

O.K. guys I need to tap in to your vast knowledge. I have all ready broken in my carry gun with about 450 rounds, but it’s all been F :)MJ. Now I’m looking for a carry load, I know to fire a minimum of 100 to 150 rounds to make sure it’s reliable in my gun. This might be a dumb question. Do I have to fire all 100 rounds at the same time, or can I fire a box at a time? One box a week or so.  The reason I ask is if I test more then one or two brands, this can get expensive. And one more thing, how accurate is accurate enough? What kind of grouping should I look for at three yards, out of a 3 ½ inch barrel? A one inch group, two inch, Three inch? What is acceptable? I know everyone wants a tack driver, able to punch one hole at three yards, but how big a group is to big? Thanks, and stay safe.
Paul
Proud NRA, TSRA and GRRN member

[fightingquaker13]

When you find out let me know. I can't afford to shoot that many SD rounds. I've settled on 124 gain Golden Saber, but at $2 a roud its been one box down the range and the rest el cheapo wal mart specials. Non-ideal, but I don't have $200 to piss away firing the things. I'll take my accuracy with other 124 grains and 20 rounds for a performance check and leave it at that. I mean hell, its going to be inside of ten yards anyway. If I win the powerball, I'll update.
FQ13
PS Welcome aboard

[tombogan03884]

Fire enough of the good stuff to be sure it will feed properly then do the rest of your shooting with cheap stuff.

[PegLeg45]

Not dumb questions, by any means.......but, there is no cut and dried answer either.

Practicing with SD carry ammo is expensive. You have to decide on how many rounds of a particular ammo type/brand you are comfortable with before carrying it as a SD round. Then shoot as much as money will allow until you are comfortable with it. I personally will not carry a particular ammo brand until I have ran 200-250 rounds (but that is just me) and I can't afford to do it all at once either. Until I am comfortable with an ammo as a SD round, I only carry what I know will work, and in most cases that is FMJ. Any time I have taken up a new gun as a carry gun, after break-in, if the only ammo I have tested is FMJ, then I carry FMJ until I can run enough rounds of another type through it to be comfortable. And yes, I do understand that FMJ is not optimal for SD ammo (there are valid concerns with over penetration and/or less than acceptable stopping abilities), but reliability in a carry gun is paramount (IMHO) over ammo vetting. The gun has to run, first and foremost, to stop a fight.

As to combat accuracy, if you can routinely keep all your shots in an 8" paper plate at combat distances, you should be good to go.

***This is by no means an expert opinion, YMMV, so take it with the recommended grain of salt.***

[ellis4538]

I agree with Peg.  For a good SD check out Hornady Critical Defense or Cor-Bon Power Ball.  Both are configured to feed in almost anything while still expanding.  Back when ammo was cheap(er) I still couldn't afford to run a lot of SD ammo thru my carry guns.  The only thing I was able to do is use them in competition to make sure they would run with reloads.  That does not meen they are 100% because nothing is ....REMEMBER MURPHY!  But I am very secure with what I carry.

FWIW

Richard

[Sponsor]

[Ichiban]

One other thing to consider is the magazines you are using - be sure to use the ones you are going to carry when testing your SD rounds.   It might sound silly if you only have two magazines but as your collection grows you end up with all sorts of magazines.  This is especially true if you're into 1911s.   

After a couple of hundred FMJ I will run three or four magazines of SD ammo before I feel comfortable with it.  After that I kind of think you are just wasting money.  As always, YMMV.

[Rastus]

All good advice.  Don't forget the failure drill!!!

[Timothy]

Try Federal expanding FMJ...  if you can find some.

http://www.federalpremium.com/products/details/handgun.aspx?id=403
http://www.federalpremium.com/products/details/handgun.aspx?id=401
http://www.federalpremium.com/products/details/handgun.aspx?id=406

Otherwise, I've used ball as a carry ammo until I've run a few boxes of premium defense stuff.  I too have settled on Golden Sabers for my 1911 but tried a few others as well in case the Remington are in short supply.  It helps that I carry a revolver too so I have something while I'm going through testing.  They always go bang.....I didn't bother testing defensive ammo at all in that.

[david86440]

SD ammo feeding issues?   Whats that? 



Carry a wheel gun.

[Solus]

If you have reloading gear or would be interested in learning that skill, you can consider this.

Chronograph your chosen SD rounds to get the muzzle velocity.

Find a cheap bullet of the same weight, configuration won't make much difference at SD range.

Load and chronograph them until you get a load with the same velocity as your chosen SD loads.

This will give you practice loads as similar to your chosen SD ammo as possible without knowing the burning characteristics of the powder being used in your SD ammo.