Ammo preference(StarBM)

[DerpSchnitzel]

So last Friday, my county's state range reopened, and I had a chance to finally go shooting on Memorial Day. I shot almost all of my ammo, and now I'm having some trouble finding more, at least of a specific brand. And maybe I don't need that brand, but I'm new to owning guns, so I don't know... but here's what I do know. I've been using Magtech 9x19 115 grain FMJ. It's what the FFL had at the time of the transfer, plus he said it ran well in Star BMs in his experience. I'd fairly recently(before this whole shutdown thing) bought a box of Remington UMC FMJ also. Now when I fired the magtech, I burned thru the 2 boxes I had with zero issues. I previously had some extraction issues, but that seems to have gone away after replacing the extractor and recoil springs. However, when I shot the Remington, I had at least 4 or 5 failures to feed.

I can't imagine 100 rounds made it dirty enough to cause feeding issues, but then it's an older gun, and as I said earlier, I'm still new to owning guns, so I really don't know. My guess is the BM just doesn't like Remington UMC. But now that I'm looking to buy some more ammo, I can't seem to find Magtech anywhere. So now I don't know what the heck to buy. Can anyone, preferably with experience specifically with the Star BM recommend another ammo it likes that I can find right now and isn't super expensive? Or is there anyone local who wants to reload some for me? Did I just get a bad box of UMC?

I know there's a local shop that has federal for like $12 a box, so I'll probably try that unless there's a specific reason I shouldn't. ...Or being an old steel military/police service pistol, would it like cheap steel cased ammo, or would I be wasting my time with that stuff?

[Hodgie]

From my experience Remington ammo tends to suck. I had all sorts of issues with UMC .45 ACP in several Guns that would feed everything else including Tula steel cased.

Magtech is decent range ammo and unless your pistol is that picky it should run just fine on Federal American Eagle, S&B, or Blazer brass.

As far as steel cased ammo goes it can vary but out of the dozens of handguns I’ve owned only one ever had a consistent issue with it. It’s pretty much all I shoot at the range. For matches I will use S&B 124 gr brass in my Glock 17 or TP9SFX.

Late note:
Be careful with trusting other people’s reloads. No doubt some guys make excellent loads but mistakes can easily happen and a squib or double charge can have some real shitty consequences.

[DerpSchnitzel]

From my experience Remington ammo tends to suck. I had all sorts of issues with UMC .45 ACP in several Guns that would feed everything else including Tula steel cased.

Magtech is decent range ammo and unless your pistol is that picky it should run just fine on Federal American Eagle, S&B, or Blazer brass.

As far as steel cased ammo goes it can vary but out of the dozens of handguns I*ve owned only one ever had a consistent issue with it. It*s pretty much all I shoot at the range. For matches I will use S&B 124 gr brass in my Glock 17 or TP9SFX.

Late note:
Be careful with trusting other people*s reloads. No doubt some guys make excellent loads but mistakes can easily happen and a squib or double charge can have some real shitty consequences.

Okay, so it's not just me having problems with Remington, that's good to know at least.

As far as I know the pistol isn't too picky, but reports are pretty mixed. It seems to pretty consistently dislike most hollow points, and it seems to prefer hotter loads. Some people can't get it to cycle properly with 115 grain at all.

[Hodgie]

Okay, so it's not just me having problems with Remington, that's good to know at least.

As far as I know the pistol isn't too picky, but reports are pretty mixed. It seems to pretty consistently dislike most hollow points, and it seems to prefer hotter loads. Some people can't get it to cycle properly with 115 grain at all.

Steel cased tends to run on the weaker side so I would stay away for the Star. You should be okay with the Federal American Eagle if you can get it locally.

I personally have had bad luck with a Remington and Winchers White box ammo so I stay away if I can.

[internet troll]

I can*t answer about your gun. But I would start watching sites like https://gun.deals/category/ammo and ammoseek.com as ammo gets cheaper. It*s on the higher side right now because of the coronavirus. There is a chance it may start going down over the summer. If it reaches $180-190 Per thousand rounds or lower for brass cased ammo delivered I would stock up with what you can afford and the long term in mind.

As we get closer to the election prices may start going up again. If Trumps opponent does win it will go up and probably be impossible to find for a long time. Stock up when you can. If Trump wins you can get more at a cheaper price after the election. If he loses and you did not stock up you will regret it.

[raxar]

I know my Bowel Movement won't cycle with anything but hot ammo.

[RockIsland]

I'm partial to European ammo for the cost/quality coefficient. S&B and Geco are my go to range ammo. Remington range /UMC ammo isn't the best quality stuff. Unfortunately, pickins are slim right now.

It shouldn't have any issues feeding FMJ rounds. You could try polishing the feed ramp a bit. Also make sure the slide release isn't contacting the rounds as they try to feed. Could also be a magazine issue. Have you tried other mags?

I dont have a BM but I have a Super B, and it pretty much eats anything.

[DerpSchnitzel]

I know my Bowel Movement won't cycle with anything but hot ammo.

Outta curiosity, what year is it?




heh... most of what I'm finding in stock at decent prices is steel cased 115 grain. Local shops want friggin' $20 for a box of 50. Apparently it was $30 previously. I hope Tula doesn't completely suck.

[DerpSchnitzel]

It shouldn't have any issues feeding FMJ rounds. You could try polishing the feed ramp a bit. Also make sure the slide release isn't contacting the rounds as they try to feed. Could also be a magazine issue. Have you tried other mags?

I dont have a BM but I have a Super B, and it pretty much eats anything.

I have 2 factory magazines and 2 promag ones made for the gun(there's a sig 226 promag mod people were doing a couple years back, but they started making some for the BM at some point apparently cuz that's what these are).

I believe the feeding issues did occur with the promags, but I wasn't really keeping track of that at the time yet either. I have a box of umc 124 grain still, I'll see what happens next time I get to the range, but I need more ammo first. I don't wanna be caught dry.

[RockIsland]

I have 2 factory magazines and 2 promag ones made for the gun(there's a sig 226 promag mod people were doing a couple years back, but they started making some for the BM at some point apparently cuz that's what these are).

I believe the feeding issues did occur with the promags, but I wasn't really keeping track of that at the time yet either. I have a box of umc 124 grain still, I'll see what happens next time I get to the range, but I need more ammo first. I don't wanna be caught dry.

ProMags are notorious for causing issues. The only ones I've ever seen work reliably are the two that came with my Star M43. Even still, I probably wouldn't carry it with a ProMag. They have a well deserved shitty reputation.