Glock 19: Ammo recommendations

[NickC.]

I'll be purchasing the G19 next week, can anyone recommend
both target/self defense ammo for this gun? can you recommend a slte
where i can do the research myself?

thanks

[rikilii]

I'll be purchasing the G19 next week, can anyone recommend
both target/self defense ammo for this gun? can you recommend a slte
where i can do the research myself?

thanks

There are a lot of threads on this topic. Check the ammo/reloading forum.

For target ammo, get whatever is readily available and cheap, except i would avoid cheep russian steel cased ammo - it won't save you that much anyway and is harder on your gun. I generally try to get as much as I can at Walmart whenever it's available (which is rare in these parts), because it's cheapest (about $10 for a box of 50 Federal FMJ ammo). If that doesn't work out, I just buy whatever they have at my range ($13-15 per box of 50).

For SD ammo, get a good brand name hollow point ammo. Federal HST, Corbon DPX, Hornady Critical Defense, Speer Gold Dot, Remington Golden Saber, and Winchester Ranger are very popular and all comparable in performance (you'll find as many different opinions on here as you will find people). Hollow points are important for at least two reasons: less chance of the round exiting the target (i.e. the bad guy) and hitting someone else, and better stopping power, meaning a better chance of you successfully defending yourself and other innocent people around you without having to empty your magazine. If an anti or (God forbid) a judge asks why you carry HP, give the first reason, even though it's probably less important

My suggestion, and the approach I intend to follow: look around online or at your local shops, pick one of the above that is least expensive and/or readily available to you, buy about 2-300 rounds, run at least 100-200 through your gun to make sure it feeds reliably, and then stick with it.

[mike_yorkPA]

i use the Hornaday critical defense HP and for target anything pretty much anything but usually Remington

http://forum.pafoa.org/general-2/359...round-9mm.html --- self defense
http://forum.pafoa.org/general-2/380...mmo-range.html --- range ammo

or just search best 9mm round

[fastfive0]

I carry hornady critical defense and federal hydrashok's. As for range/plinking seems that walmart 100rd value box of winchester is the best buy. But remember its a glock, you could probably dig up some world war 2 9mm that has been burried on the shores of normandy for 60years and it will probably still shoot fine LOL

[mythaeus]

There are a lot of threads on this topic. Check the ammo/reloading forum.

For target ammo, get whatever is readily available and cheap, except i would avoid cheep russian steel cased ammo - it won't save you that much anyway and is harder on your gun. I generally try to get as much as I can at Walmart whenever it's available (which is rare in these parts), because it's cheapest (about $10 for a box of 50 Federal FMJ ammo). If that doesn't work out, I just buy whatever they have at my range ($13-15 per box of 50).

For SD ammo, get a good brand name hollow point ammo. Federal HST, Corbon DPX, Hornady Critical Defense, Speer Gold Dot, Remington Golden Saber, and Winchester Ranger are very popular and all comparable in performance (you'll find as many different opinions on here as you will find people). Hollow points are important for at least two reasons: less chance of the round exiting the target (i.e. the bad guy) and hitting someone else, and better stopping power, meaning a better chance of you successfully defending yourself and other innocent people around you without having to empty your magazine. If an anti or (God forbid) a judge asks why you carry HP, give the first reason, even though it's probably less important

My suggestion, and the approach I intend to follow: look around online or at your local shops, pick one of the above that is least expensive and/or readily available to you, buy about 2-300 rounds, run at least 100-200 through your gun to make sure it feeds reliably, and then stick with it.

I've shot like a billion rounds of Russian ammo (Wolf, Tula, Brown Bear) through my Glocks and never a problem or felt that they were any harder than other more expensive stuff. I'm still waiting for anyone who can produce any sort of concrete empirical evident that steel case is "harder on your gun". The only potential "harderness" is the extractor. I don't even consider that an issue for my expensive ARs, let alone Glock.

I'm willing to bet that the money you save with shooting steel case Russian by the time any more damage to your gun in comparison to "softer" case ammo is more than enough for you to buy a whole new Glock. Let's assume that it's 2x as hard to your gun and do the calculation. An box of Russian costs on average $2 less per 50 rounds, for each 20 boxes, that's $40 saved. Say your Glock breaks down at 15,000 round of Russian instead of 30,000 rounds of brass. That's $600 saving right there, enough for a new Glock. Since it's really just the extractor that MAY be more affected, you'll need 1/2 of the $20 for a new extractor, or $10, or shooting 5 boxes of Russian instead of 5 boxes of brass.

I agree with you otherwise that the cheapest ammo possible for the range will do for your Glock. Glock eats EVERYTHING! I like to buy 9mm Wolf, Tula, or Brown Bear from aimsurplus.com (currently OOS) for about $9.50/box, usually 20 boxes at a time. As for SD ammo, it comes down to how much you buy into the marketing of cryptic-abbreviated-powr-loaded-super-shok-black-death ammo, you have a huge range of stuff to choose from. The Glock will feed and eat pretty any of them (I haven't heard anyone complain about any type of ammo in a Glock). I prefer any factory JHP that I can get a few boxes for, test at least 1 box, and save the rest. If you must know, Remington Golden Sabre and Federal Hydra-Shok are my choices.

Al

[levib]

I've shot a lot of different makes and types of 9mm with my Glock 17 and haven't had any problems whatsoever. It's one of the big upsides of a Glock (and most modern pistols...)

[biggs88]

As for range ammo, I like any name brand, brass cased, FMJ.

For self defense, I like Winchester PDX1's. But I have been carrying Remington Golden Sabers. I like the way they shoot. I can get quicker follow up shots on the paper with them. So

I would recommend either one for defense.

[bortle]

For plinking fun, whatever is cheapest. For carrying, 147 gr. Hydra-Shoks.

[glockmaster]

First off, congratulations on a great choice of firearm. I really like mine.

For range ammo, I hit up Walmart as often as i can and when its available, I buy the WWB value packs or the 50 count boxes.

I have speer gold dots 124 gr +P in mine right now. I have also used federal hydrashoks. No problems with either of those.

[Atomic Dog]

It's a glock, it will shoot small pebbles with manure and acid and come back for more...



But hydrashocks suck. I fired them into calibrated gelatin from a fullsize 9mm and most didn't expand fully or reliably. Federal HST 147grn +p was one of the best and a fair price, so its my goto round.