Ammo Inc. 9mm 124 gr JHP. Yay or Nay?

[1911Fanatic]

Big no go for me
Tried a box of their 308 sounds shot very soft and must of been over charged the report and recoil felt like a belted magnum, very inconsistent ammo , I know it just wasn't me saw a YouTube video showing a rifle that had blown apart from their ammo

Wow, that's the great things about forums like this. We can talk about our real life experiences with this stuff.

 

[TTSX]

Wow, that's the great things about forums like this. We can talk about our real life experiences with this stuff.

Or just make things up as we go .

 

[DizzyJ]

I am going to compare it to Hornaday's American Gunner 9mm which has the same bullets. The Hornaday is over twice the price. It;s interesting. I've bought some Underwood's that have the same bullets that are 22 to 29 bucks reg price that have good test results available to find, and I've got those for as little as 12 bucks a box on sale.

There's more to self defense ammo than just seeing if the bullets are good and pushed to a velocity which will cause the bullet to expand. A LOT more.

 

[1911Fanatic]

There's more to self defense ammo than just seeing if the bullets are good and pushed to a velocity which will cause the bullet to expand. A LOT more.

Yes there is. I found some glaring inconsistencies when I examined all 120 rounds.

 

[1911Fanatic]

Well, I measured all 120 rounds, and guess what? I won't be buying their ammo ever again. The overall lengths were:
48 rounds 1.074
40 rounds 1.073
16 rounds 1.071 to 1.072
16 rounds 1.075 to 1.079

This was with my Dillon caliper.

What really concerns me is the shorties. If the powder chargers are the same then the ones with the bullets seated deeper could cause an overly high pressure when fired. Am I correct?

For 32 rounds out of 120 to be that far off is concerning to me. Especially with the ones that are seated deeper. For some to have an OAL of 1.071 to 1.072 when the bulk of them are 1.073 to 1.074 seems dangerous to me. And, the ones that are greater than 1.075 didn't even need to be measured. You could visually see that the bullets weren't seated as deep into the case just by looking at them.

This stuff has been a bust for me. Glad it was only $54 dollars down the toilet.

Not sure if I read that caliper right I believe if it was digital it might have read 1.074, 1.073, etc.

What is the average OAL of a 9mm cartridge? I will have to check.what are the max and minimum OAL's for a 9mm?

 

[1911Fanatic]

Does the maximum or minimum OAL depend on the powder and how much, as well as the bullet? It's been a long time since I've reloaded and I always did what the manual said.

 

[1911Fanatic]

According to the specs, some of these rounds would have been too long to cycle in my firearms.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Well, I measured all 120 rounds, and guess what? I won't be buying their ammo ever again. The overall lengths were:
48 rounds 1.074
40 rounds 1.073
16 rounds 1.071 to 1.072
16 rounds 1.075 to 1.079

This was with my Dillon caliper.

What really concerns me is the shorties. If the powder chargers are the same then the ones with the bullets seated deeper could cause an overly high pressure when fired. Am I correct?

For 32 rounds out of 120 to be that far off is concerning to me. Especially with the ones that are seated deeper. For some to have an OAL of 1.071 to 1.072 when the bulk of them are 1.073 to 1.074 seems dangerous to me. And, the ones that are greater than 1.075 didn't even need to be measured. You could visually see that the bullets weren't seated as deep into the case just by looking at them.

This stuff has been a bust for me. Glad it was only $54 dollars down the toilet.

Not sure if I read that caliper right I believe if it was digital it might have read 1.074, 1.073, etc.

What is the average OAL of a 9mm cartridge? I will have to check.what are the max and minimum OAL's for a 9mm?

Make sure you measure some "high quality" ammunition to compare. You'll be surprised.

 

[orygun]

The overall lengths were:
48 rounds 1.074
40 rounds 1.073
16 rounds 1.071 to 1.072
16 rounds 1.075 to 1.079

If the cartridges examined have round nose, full jacketed bullets, that .008" (from shortest to longest) could easily be due to the shape of the bullet. Bullets are not seated by the tip of the nose and are seated by pressure further down the ogive and that would be impossible to measure without a comparator.
I'm not sayin this is super desirable, but using that type of measurement may not be as undesirable as one would think. Practice ammo and "bet your life"
ammo are two different things.
.008" is about three sheets of notebook thickness.

Make sure you measure some "high quality" ammunition to compare. You'll be surprised.

This was my next thought.

 

[PORSCHE928S4]

I use the stuff at the range and it all goes off which is more than I can say for Aguila 1/2 did not go bang !

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Cheap and self defense rounds is not what I'd be looking for. At all. Tried and true Speer gold dot, federal hst (not the light recoil ones), and hornady critical defense or critical duty is what I would look to. I recently bought g9 external hollowpoint after seeing tons of tests with it. Consistently outperforms everything else from what I've seen. The underwood ones may be similar I don't know as I haven't researched it.

Betting your life on cheap ammo is not wise imo.

 

[1911Fanatic]

Yeah well, I threw some of them out after pulling the bullets. One was actually too long to load from the magazine in one of my nines. It hung up on the feed ramp. The ones that were only 1 ten thousandth off I will try at the range and just shoot em off. They really weren't that expensive. But you never know until you try.

This was a learning experience. I'm gonna stick with Hornaday Critical Defense, American Gunner, Federal HST, Winchester Ranger T series, Underwood, and Cor Bon. This all depends on the caliber and the Barrel lengths.

I have a couple hundred rounds of Gold Dots, but they are old and it's probably time to cycle them out. I'm Also cycling out some Winchester PDX Defender next Range trip for my 45.

I just bought a couple cases of Underwood +P 45 and a case of Cor Bon +P 45 for my 4 inch Kimber. Gotta give em a little extra punch with the shorter barrel. I've seen tests on these from different sources and got them at a really great price.

I also have Hornaday's Custom XTP And Federal HST for my full size Colt 1911. I bought some of the new Remington Bonded JHP's, just;t a couple of boxes to try with the full size. Expansion and over penetration aren't as much of a concern for me with the 5 inch. I have a couple of boxes of Liberty civil defense as well, just in caseI'm expecting body armor. But it's mostly just a novelty.

I have a ton of various good sheet for my nines. Gold Dots, Corbon, Federal HST, the new Remington Bonded that I haven't tried yet, Hornaday's Critical Defense, American Gunner, FEDERAL Punch, and a couple others. All in 115, 124 and standard pressure and +P variants. I have about 5 or 600 rounds of good defensive ammo for the nines, but I have five of them and two are picky eaters.

I have only about 3 or 400 defensive rounds for my 45's, but there's only two of those.

I have one 357 magnum revolver and I use Critical Defense 125 grain for carry in town as it won't over penetrate but still packs a punch. I use full weight 158 grain Fiocchi for use out in the woods as it actually penetrates too deep for city use on 2 legged threats. And I use American Gunner when I'm expecting 2 legged threats out in the woods as it penetrates too deep for in town even with the XTP bullets. I only have about 300 rounds of magnum loads for my Python. I have some Federal 38+P Punch if I decide to use the gun for home defense.

The rest of my ammo is range ammo. A few hundred 38 rounds of FMJ's. 1000 rounds of 9mm Winchester and CCI for the nines, and a few hundred Federal FMJ;s for the 45's.

That's it, that's all the center fire ammo I have. I have enough that I don't need to go out and buy, but if I find good ammo on sale I always buy some.

I will buy Critical Defense whenever i can get it on sale, but it usually isn't. That stuff works without over penetration and has good expansion in every caliber I've seen tested, and in short barrels as well.

 

[1911Fanatic]

Cheap and self defense rounds is not what I'd be looking for. At all. Tried and true Speer gold dot, federal hst (not the light recoil ones), and hornady critical defense or critical duty is what I would look to. I recently bought g9 external hollowpoint after seeing tons of tests with it. Consistently outperforms everything else from what I've seen. The underwood ones may be similar I don't know as I haven't researched it.

Betting your life on cheap ammo is not wise imo.

Licky Gunner has the Underwood loaded versions of those I think for real cheap right now 13 or 15 bucks a box. I can't remember now. They have specials every week that only las a couple of days.

 

[Jade Falcon]

Add Grizzly Cartridges to your list of rounds never to touch. I bought a box of 124gr loads in 9mm for my Glock, and then I read the reviews. Let's be kind and say that they aren't nice.

A reminder to myself of why I spend extra money on reputable, good quality ammo. Life is too short to shoot bubblegumty ammo.

 

[1911Fanatic]

Add Grizzly Cartridges to your list of rounds never to touch. I bought a box of 124gr loads in 9mm for my Glock, and then I read the reviews. Let's be kind and say that they aren't nice.

A reminder to myself of why I spend extra money on reputable, good quality ammo. Life is too short to shoot bubblegumty ammo.

Yes indeed. Mostly I only buy the really high quality stuff. This stuff was an experiment. An experiment that never got off the ground. I will probably e mail Rick and let him know he's got bigger problems than just what bullets and powders they're running. 32 rounds out of 120 that the OAL's and bullet seating depths vary by a range of up to 10 thousandths, that's like 25% of the sample size. And they're all from the same lot.

I hate to see an American company sink itself like this, but guess they are earning it. And after the trouble they got in with misreporting their financials earlier this year, and their stock debacle. There's a video on YT about that and a couple of other ammo manufacturers that are facing financial difficulty. One of them was a conglomerate that owns Federal.

I don't know whether to investigate further and pull the bullets and weigh the powder charges. I mean it would be interesting to know, but aim not gonna waste my time. At least none of the primers were put in backwards.

I also don't know whether to communicate my findings back to the factory or not. I mean what are they gonna do? Replace my ammo? That's be ok if they wanted to buy me some Hornaday. At least with the Hornaday all the cartridges measure the same in the same box. I will list some OAL's for my premium rounds tomorrow.

 

[Jade Falcon]

Yes indeed. Mostly I only buy the really high quality stuff. This stuff was an experiment. An experiment that never got off the ground. I will probably e mail Rick and let him know he's got bigger problems than just what bullets and powders they're running. 32 rounds out of 120 that the OAL's and bullet seating depths vary by a range of up to 10 thousandths, that's like 25% of the sample size. And they're all from the same lot.

I hate to see an American company sink itself like this, but guess they are earning it. And after the trouble they got in with misreporting their financials earlier this year, and their stock debacle. There's a video on YT about that and a couple of other ammo manufacturers that are facing financial difficulty. One of them was a conglomerate that owns Federal.

I don't know whether to investigate further and pull the bullets and weigh the powder charges. I mean it would be interesting to know, but aim not gonna waste my time. At least none of the primers were put in backwards.

I also don't know whether to communicate my findings back to the factory or not. I mean what are they gonna do? Replace my ammo? That's be ok if they wanted to buy me some Hornaday. At least with the Hornaday all the cartridges measure the same in the same box. I will list some OAL's for my premium rounds tomorrow.

I didn't know about Federal's parent company having a downturn. That's concerning. I do know that a Czech company owns pretty much all US ammo manufacturers, which doesn't fill me with a lot of hope.

If you get a chance, do a study on Federal HST and Gold Dot. I'd love to know the results. I have three 9mm guns that I use for self-defense, but only one currently is loaded, and loaded with that Hornady Critical Defense BS (it's what I could find at the time). Federal and Speer are the only two brands I'm looking at in 9mm for self-defense, specifically the 124gr. +P loading.

 

[1911Fanatic]

I didn't know about Federal's parent company having a downturn. That's concerning. I do know that a Czech company owns pretty much all US ammo manufacturers, which doesn't fill me with a lot of hope.

If you get a chance, do a study on Federal HST and Gold Dot. I'd love to know the results. I have three 9mm guns that I use for self-defense, but only one currently is loaded, and loaded with that Hornady Critical Defense BS (it's what I could find at the time). Federal and Speer are the only two brands I'm looking at in 9mm for self-defense, specifically the 124gr. +P loading.

There are already many tests out there to see on the HST both standard and plus P. It does well across all calibers and even expands when shot from short barrels. The penetration is usually deeper with the short ones, but not ridiculously so.

Most of the tests I've seen have been with the clear, synthetic gel. They tend to not penetrate as deep and open up faster in Knox FBI gel. Because the gel blocks are so expensive, I wouldn't use them tontestvsomrthingblikevHST, Gold Dot or Critical defense unless I was testing for a certain odd barrel length like my 2 1/2 inch Python. Or comparing standard vs plus P for a specific gun.

 

[Duneblaster]

The kids these days... We don't want your multi-arranged ammo...

 

[Certaindeaf]

View: https://youtu.be/g1eswGrkMU8?feature=shared

 

[po18guy]

If it feeds and fires reliably, it is basically as good as any other round. It will make a .355" hole. Will it go through-and-through? Quite possibly. We do not always have sufficient time to evaluate the backstop in a defense situation, so bullet exit is a concern.
As Aldous Huxley ended his dystopian novel Brave New World...."You pays your money and you takes your choice"