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I shoot "quality" ammunition. Meaning if it's on the shelf, brass case, and it's a main stream name (and it's not from the old USSR... lol personal history leaves a mark) I shoot it. I know that some of my .22s occasionally don't like some ammo, but other than that they all eat it all just fine. So, it's all obviously "quality" stuff.

Or not. Reading another thread I realized I have zero knowledge about the real quality of the different factory brands. Or the sub-names of different brands.

By quality I mean quality of components, consistency; every round is the same, and safety; they don't blow up, hang, squib, etc.

Duck duck has been no help. Hell, one article on the "best quality" ammo basically has a list that looks like my criteria. "Hur dur I recognize that brand! hur dur..."

So, is there any objective quality knowledge of bog standard FMJ stuff out there? A list, say, of #1 Federal "Champion", #2 CCI "Blazer Brass", #3 Winchester "White Box", and so on. Or are they basically the same in components, consistency and safety? (which now that I've typed this all out I suspect is the case...)
 
I tend to buy any "big name" that is the cheapest at the time. Only import I use is S&B. Other than that the only one I avoid now in sadly Winchester. I have not had a problem with their "white box" line but, I hear too many stories of problems. The other is the steel case stuff of theirs. I was buying it for a while in 9mm as it was cheaper and I did not need any more brass. Then one day I got some REAL problems. I had dumped the boxes into containers and had a few hundred more at home. The problems were so scary that I tossed the stuff I had left at home as I had no way to know if the stuff at the range was the same lot of the stuff I had at home.
 
Main line ammo manufacturers ammo lots will have variances in different lots of ammo. These variables are from powder types available, primer lot characteristics, skill level of technicians overseeing the loading process and quality of other components (IE brass and bullets). I feel there are way to many variables to say this or that brand is bad. I think lot number is the best criteria.

Canister powder, like Hodgdons for hobbyist reloaders, will have burn rates closely adjusted to allow powder weights to match published reloading data. Large ammo manufacturers do not use powders with exact preadjusted burn rates but will adjust their powder loading quantities based on their pressure testing results of powder burn rates. In simple terms, they use large bulk shipments of different powders and adjust powder loads accordingly based on their burn rate testing to match SAAMI specs. There are a few exceptions, like Hornady's original loadings of the 6.5 CM with H4350.

Precision 22 shooters will attest that different lot numbers of identical brands of 22 ammo will shoot very differently. An ammo lot number that shoots well, will be highly sought after by precision 22 target shooters. And as a rule of thumb, some 22 ammo manufacturers have a better reputation of quality control. This higher level of quality control is often reflected in the price. However, I have seen low budget 22 ammo perform as well as high budget ammo. I have also seen low budget and high budget 22 ammo deliver dismal results. The difference goes back to the manufacturing.

I have never understood the dislike of Winchester white box. I have seen and experienced zero issues. However, some of their white box 9mm is loaded to NATO specs. NATO spec is a very warm loading. Be careful when running NATO spec 9mm.

Frontier 5.56, sold in bulk, was normally contracted to be loaded at the LC plant. It was not intended for use in .223 chambered firearms.

Winchester also sold bulk 5.56 contracted from LC when Federal ran the LC plant. Winchester also shipped bulk from their Mississippi operations. If the product had 5.56 on the label, it was a no no in .223 chambers. What is interesting, in the past, we have seen Winchester Sweden originated 5.56/.223 in the market.

Most all domestic brass cased Fiocchi ammo originates from Florida's General Dynamics ammo manufacturing plant. I have found quality to run about from average to very decent.
 
I've never had an issue that I can remember using "brand name" (Winchester, Remington, Hornady, etc) ammo, until last year.

My wife missed a very nice buck when all she got from a trigger pull was "click".
This was from a brand new box of Remington Core-Lokts.
The case on the left. Different story behind the case on the right.
I'm going to be working on the loading bench later this weekend and will knock it apart to see what happened.

A dud and a miss.jpg
 

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