9mm Luger Ammo Brand Preference?

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MacPapRonin

CGN Regular
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Location
Toronto, ON
The brick and mortar stores in my area seem to be having a bit of price war and the cost for a box of 1000 rounds for all of the following brands and lines are virtually the same today (March 21st, 2024), $349-359-369 CAD.

Sellier & Bellot 115gr /124gr FMJ
PMC Bronze 115gr FMJ / 124gr FMJ
Federal American Eagle 124gr FMJ
Federal Champion Brass 115gr FMJ
Fiocchi Training Dynamics 115gr FMJ
Fiocchi Shooting Dynamics 115gr FMJ

I've shot all of these except Federal Champion Brass and I haven't noticed a significant difference in reliability or quality in 3000 rounds fired of various types.

Given that they're all within 1-2 cents per round in cost of one another, which one would you pick?
 
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The 124 grain stuff would be my preference.
American Eagle is pretty dirty stuff and the S&B primers pockets seem to be giving my 650 a bit of grief when reloading the brass....
So, my choice out of all of what you posted is the PMC stuff first.
If you don't collect your brass and hand load 9mm, then either the PMC or S&B.
 
All will be good. American Eagle and S&B 124gr are my standards. I don't find AE 9mm dirty.
 
I've got the most experience with the PMC and AE, they both work well and the brass is easy to reload. I've used a bit of S&B but not as much as the other two.

So I would probably go for the cheapest, too. :)
 
I Dont Care About You said:
The cheapest one.
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They're all within $20 of each other. The difference in cost is so negligible, it's literally two pennies a round difference at the biggest difference of cost. ($349 to $369 per 1000 rounds)

belftfed said:
If you don't collect your brass and hand load 9mm, then either the PMC or S&B.
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I don't currently collect my 9mm brass. I am collecting my .303 British brass.

Sounds like most people are just saying cheapest, I'm hearing that. I may go for the Federal American Eagle 124gr FMJ just for a change of pace.

Thanks for all of your input. I would've thought that the opinions would vary more; I appreciate everyone who took the time to answer!
 
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MacPapRonin said:
They're all within $20 of each other. The difference in cost is so negligible, it's literally two pennies a round difference at the biggest difference of cost. ($349 to $369 per 1000 rounds)
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The cheapest one.



MacPapRonin said:
Sounds like most people are just saying cheapest, I'm hearing that. I may go for the Federal American Eagle 124gr FMJ just for a change of pace.

Thanks for all of your input. I would've thought that the opinions would vary more; I appreciate everyone who took the time to answer!
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It's 9mm pistol ammo. What difference are you expecting to see? If it feeds and goes BANG, it'll be as good as any other.
 
Ipscshooters said:
You didn't list Magtech 124g , it's really good ammo for the price

Check it out
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I didn't notice it in either store's sale prices. I'll remember to look again next time. Thank you.

What difference are you expecting to see? If it feeds and goes BANG, it'll be as good as any other.
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Given that it's CGN, and very few people seem to be able to agree on anything, I thought that opinions would vary about which one was best of the listed items, not that one was necessarily actually better than the other.

If only the general public would hold on we might be able to see even better prices
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"Hold on", as in refrain from buying ammo for a while? I'm not sure what you mean.

I ended up buying Federal American Eagle 124gr, but I will look at Magtech 124gr in future. Thanks to everyone who responded.
 
I like S&B 124. Using it for over a decade.
One time a few years back I took it out to the range, along with American Eagle and a reload brand, I forget which one.
Groups were far more consistent with the S&B, and I have used it exclusively for competition ever since then.
Now I have only my lack of skill to blame.
 
Like most said, whatever's cheapest. There's a short list of factory 9mm you want to avoid, and none of it is on your list. I'd also prefer 124 grain over 115, but beyond that, no real preference between S&B, PMC, and Federal. Other than S&B is notorious for tight primer pockets, so it's a bit of a pain to reload sometimes, but that makes no difference to you if you're not reloading it. All 3 will likely be between 99.9% and 100% reliable. I've never had an ammo related malfunction from the big manufacturers.
 
The Luger has a lot of serial numbered parts. If you replace such a part, the value of the gun goes down.

For this reason I shoot mild loads in my Lugers. So my answer to the "which" question is "The mildest load."

European ammo is often hotter than American, So I would chose the AE, Blaser or federal 124.
 
Ganderite said:
The Luger has a lot of serial numbered parts. If you replace such a part, the value of the gun goes down.

For this reason I shoot mild loads in my Lugers. So my answer to the "which" question is "The mildest load."

European ammo is often hotter than American, So I would chose the AE, Blaser or federal 124.
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I don't think the OP was specifically referring to the Luger pistol.

Your Luger is worth nothing at this time because you can't sell it to anyone. Might as well shoot the thing.
 
In 9mm the S&B and Fiocchi can be a little warmer than the US stuff. The federal is the pretty mild. The paper doesn't really know if the bullet goes through at 1150 or 1200 fps. If the mild stuff is $20 cheaper, get that - if not get what's cheap.
 
Federal or Fiocchi. Their brass doesn’t give issues when reloading. S&B primer pockets are a pain to work with in my Dillon. No experience with PMC.
 
I Dont Care About You said:
The cheapest one.
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^^THIS^^
always, most handguns will eat anything, PCC rifles are picky sometimes but they'll still chew brass case regardless of grains.

I've successfully ran steel, brass and aluminum case through every 9mm I own, only had issues with aluminum case in rifles, minor extraction issues.
Ill shop around, get the cheapest bulk pack regardless of brand, the only comparison is between cost of cheapest brass vs aluminum, if its within 30-40$ (it normall is) ill opt to pay more for the brass.
 
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