9mm non-FMJ for plates

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jawper

New member
Greetings all,

I'm looking to begin shooting at some local plate matches. They explicitly state that no FMJ is allowed. I shoot 9mm and generally use Blazer 115 gr for practice, so my normal load seems ill-suited for this use. I'm trying to understand what non-FMJ options are out there which will 1) provide the performance necessary to knock down the steel and 2) hopefully be cheap enough to shoot.

I know that I have seen some composite rounds available from Speer and smaller manufacturers which are designed for shooting steel up close. Also, Federal and Winchester both produce jacketed soft point loads (although the Federal round only works out to a power factor of about 115). Finally, I suppose I could go with some cheap hollow point stuff. Having never done this before I'd appreciate any feed back on preferred rounds and sources.

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
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blades67

New member
You don't want to use jacketed ammo when shooting steel because of back splatter. The lead breaks up well but can still hurt some one not wearing eye protection. The copper jacket doesn't break up well and will lacerate skin fairly bad, even partial jackets.

Most folks shooting steel tend to reload or buy reloaded ammo as lrn ammo isn't commonly sold, especially in 9mm.

As PreserveFreedom posted, 3D ammo is pretty good stuff. You might also check out www.ammoman.com and some of the others.
 
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plateshooter

New member
I shoot a lot of plates, and have never ran into a lead only rule. BUT their game, their rules eh? When shooting indoors, I sometimes use a lead load of a 120gr rnl bullet and 4 gr of Red Dot powder. It has worked well on the falling plates and poppers (depending on how they are set). Most of the 9mm handguns I have used lead up rather quickly and if you plan on shooting several hundred rounds in a day, I would plan on doing some deleading somewhere along the way.
 
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jawper

New member
First off, thanks for all the input so far. Please keep it coming. I should have been more clear in my original post. I would like, if at all possible, to avoid shooting lead (exposed lead that is). This is why I'm interested in composite, soft point, and hollow points (if applicable). Does that change anyone's input?

Thanks again.
 
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Beretta Racer

New member
Hi, I shoot indoor plate matches every week and the club also has a no FMJ rule. I was shooting 115 JHP but have recently switched to 124 JHP and it's working out well for me.
 
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Denny Hansen

Staff Emeritus
One reason that shooting is with FMJ bullets is frowned on is because FMJ bullets may leave pock marks in mild steel. Since bullets will ricochet at a 12 degree angle, if the steel plate is unmarked the angle of ricochet is predictable and shooters should be safe if a safe distance is kept from the steel itself.

If the plate has "pock" marks in it (although the 12 degree angle of ricochet still applies) if the bullet strikes in a pock mark the direction of the ricochet is an unknown.

Keeps your plates smooth, even if you occasionally must take a surface grinder to them.
 
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poperszky

New member
Have you considered plated bullets? I use Rainer 147 gr. for our plate shoots, they are not really fmj, and the are completely coated with no exposed lead. Best of both worlds.
 
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