What is the most accurate 9mm ammo?

[stephen426]

Triggers? That will always be a subjective subject. I personally, and I repeat Personally do not want nor care for a short, Crisp light trigger, and I have never rode the reset. And I shoot too many guns to learn one reset. For fast action shooting I do absoutley fine with a longer pull and to not need a trigger that has a "Glass Break". IMO the only time I feel I need a light trigger is for target shooting. Taking my time, getting the right stance and blah blah and slower squeezing the trigger..
What kills me is this is observed with small pocket guns all the time. And small 9mm's.
I suspect that is why so many pocket guns are coming out with such light triggers. People want a super light trigger to target shoot them.
Shoot a longer heavier trigger and I can shoot as well or better. It has become like a fad to get lighter triggers as seen on the internet. Fine, just not for me.

Carl,
I'm pretty sure that you would agree that we are responsible for every round that leaves our guns. A concealed carry gun is not meant as a "target gun" per se, but a nicer trigger can mean the difference between a hit and a miss. While statistically most gun fights occur at very close distances, adding stress and adrenaline to the equation tends to open up groupings considerably. Why not give yourself every advantage you can? The other thing is a longer trigger pull can cause you to pull a shot, which could mean hitting a bystander.

I am part of a "practical shooting" club where we shoot while moving, shoot rapid fire, and shoot at varying distances. I used to carry a Kahr PM9, but the long double action pull affects my ability to shoot well at longer distances. I have put thousands of round through that gun, but I decided to buy a Glock 43 after trying another member's gun. Even then, I wasn't fully satisfied with the trigger and added the Ghost Pro trigger. I am able to make much better hits from longer distances compared to my Kahr PM9 so I am definitely happy with the change.

 

[gnystrom]

74A95 is correct. Lock a gun in a ransom rest and different ammo will produce widely different results. Now unless you are going to shoot your gun always using a ransom rest, it is best to test the ammo that YOU shoot the best in YOUR gun and the OP did ask to see what seemed to produce the best overall results probably hoping for a somewhat common answer.

When I was shooting Bullseye competition, my Hammerli's 22's came with a test target using XYZ (usually Eley). On each of these guns I found I shot better with something else and in some guns plain old CCI high velocity gave ME the best scores. Far better shooters than me after getting great results with a specific ammo would contact the factory to make sure they could purchase a large lot of that specific run number.

In the hands of the vast majority of shooters using mass produced firearms, shooting 9mm ammo which in my opinion is not a terribly accurate cartridge in the first place and since OP was talking about a Sig P210, his may be a good question to take over to a Bullseye forum or contact Sig themselves.

 

[stephen426]

74A95 is correct. Lock a gun in a ransom rest and different ammo will produce widely different results. Now unless you are going to shoot your gun always using a ransom rest, it is best to test the ammo that YOU shoot the best in YOUR gun and the OP did ask to see what seemed to produce the best overall results probably hoping for a somewhat common answer.

Could you please explain what the difference would be between a specific round being fired from a Ransom Rest and the same round fired from the same gun, hand held is? I'm not sure how introducing additional variables, such as sight picture, trigger control, and additional movement could actually yield anything other than wider groups.

I know about bulls eye shooters buying specific lots of ammo that performed well in their guns, but I'm not sure why. If the bullets weight the same and are loaded for the same velocities, is it the powder and the specific atmospheric conditions when it was loaded? I know that different velocities could affect accuracy. If you had a very low spread in velocities, should you expect very high precision?

 

[WVsig]

Could you please explain what the difference would be between a specific round being fired from a Ransom Rest and the same round fired from the same gun, hand held is? I'm not sure how introducing additional variables, such as sight picture, trigger control, and additional movement could actually yield anything other than wider groups.

I know about bulls eye shooters buying specific lots of ammo that performed well in their guns, but I'm not sure why. If the bullets weight the same and are loaded for the same velocities, is it the powder and the specific atmospheric conditions when it was loaded? I know that different velocities could affect accuracy. If you had a very low spread in velocities, should you expect very high precision?

Manufacturers change powders specs etc... all the time to meet demand. That is why if a shooter who found the holy grail for ammo out of their particular gun would want to buy as much ammo from the same lot as they reasonably could.

 

[stephen426]

Manufacturers change powders specs etc... all the time to meet demand. That is why if a shooter who found the holy grail for ammo out of their particular gun would want to buy as much ammo from the same lot as they reasonably could.

I understand that. If the bullet weight remained exactly the same and there was a way to minimize the velocity spread, could we expect a high level of precision? I understand that it is not as easy to create consistent combustion with gun powder as it is with a vapor. Even then, temperature and humidity affect combustion in vehicles.

The strange thing is that the variance is not just on a vertical axis, as would be logical conclusion from variances in velocity. Even then, the variance should not be that pronounced for short distances as the actual bullet drop from travel time would be minimal. I wonder if there would be less variance if the bullets were fired in a vacuum, that way atmospheric variances would be removed as well. This is strictly from an intellectual point of view rather than a practical one.

 

[74A95]

If the bullet weight remained exactly the same and there was a way to minimize the velocity spread, could we expect a high level of precision?

There is no correlation between variance in velocity and group size with a typical handgun at typical handgun distance. Smaller extreme spreads don't result in smaller groups. See the article below:

https://americanhandgunner.com/exclusive-consistent-velocity-accuracy/

 

[stephen426]

Thanks for linking the article. I know the twist rate in the rifling is important for stabilizing different weight bullets. I was expecting consistent velocities to reduce group sizes, but apparently that isn't the case. How does Les Baer guarantee their 1.5" group size? Is specific ammo required? I own one of their Monolith Heavyweights with the minimum group size guarantee but I can't see much difference from the Thunder Ranch Special I have. While I consider myself a decent shot, I do not believe I can shoot well enough to make the other gun stand out. Maybe I need to shoot the same ammo and shoot them one right after another.

 

[44 AMP]

I was expecting consistent velocities to reduce group sizes, but apparently that isn't the case.

It is, and it isn't. It is uniformity that produces the smallest groups, and consistent velocity is part of that, but not the only part.

And, looking only at velocity variations, it become a question of how much, over how far. A 50fps variance might show a difference from a bench rest rifle at 100yards. A very small difference, but a detectable one. In the benchrest game, a difference of 0.001" might be the difference between winning a match, or not.

The same amount of velocity difference is undetectable when the range is 25yds and the gun isn't a bench rest rifle. Other factors have greater effects in that situation.

To get a difference that can be easily seen, with a handgun at handgun ranges, the difference in velocity has to be much larger.

Still, its easily done. Shoot with the same bullet at 800fps and 1200fps. Mixed randomly in the gun. This much of a difference is usually enough to see, easily. You'll get one "large" group, which is actually two smaller groups, one for each speed group. Different rounds shooting to different points of impact with the same point of aim, at the same distance, due to a drastic difference in velocity.

So, what matters is how great a difference there is in velocity between individual bullets. Small differences, say load A has a 50fps deviation, and load B is "only" 38fps deviation, theory says B should shoot a tighter group. Reality is, it may not. That small amount of detectable difference may not (and usually doesn't) show any detectable difference in group size on the target. A few hundred fps variation is a completely different matter, and DOES result in quite obvious differences on the target.

 

[Brit]

Shot an international type of Competition, in Toronto, at the oldest Club In the City. TRC Toronto Revolver Club, 100 years plus of age.

My Pistol was 3 calibres, 22 LR/ 22 short/ 32 L rimmed revolver rounds.
The .32 bullet weighed 90g swaged. Lead soft very, cut from a lead line of pure lead. 1.4g of 700X I bought in 12 lb kegs, in Buffalo NYS.

In my early 40s, I shot a few slow fire possibles, ten rounds into a 1" group. At 20m. It had only one frame, your hand fit into it. You replaced the .22lr, with the .32 long. Barrel and slide, same trigger, 3lbs.
My dead still hand? Got a little shaky with age! Still, do OK with my Glock 19.

Hard to beat a legally concealed gun, under a shirt though! God Bless the USA.

 

[stephen426]

I am guess I feel somewhat vindicated when I said my Ruger GP100 shot much more accurately with .357 magnum and groups were not that great with .38 special. That thing is a tack driver with .357 mag!

 

[saleen322]

...See the article below:

https://americanhandgunner.com/exclu...city-accuracy/

They load one test load with Power Pistol and the other is a load that does not use Power Pistol. It is not a surprise when the Power Pistol load groups better even if there is a little higher SD. It has consistently been the best powder for 9mm accuracy loads.

 

[kramden]

Try some Aquila 9mm. Comes in 115 and 124gr. Low priced and pretty good quality.

 

[krnitesite]

My experience

I tried various brands of ammo to find what my guns and I liked. After about 3500 rounds here is what I came up with.

FMJ - by the way, I carry 124 grain 9mm, so I practice with the same weight.

Winchester 124 grain NATO, and Speer Lawman 124 gr - both are far
more accurate than most, are reliable, and can be purchased for around
$10 per box.

HP - Fed. HST 124 gr., Speer Gold Dot 124 gr, Hornady Critical Defense 135 gr
plus P. I can get the Federal for about $19 per box of 50 and it works best in my handguns. Speer gold dot is tough to beat in my Scorpion.

 

[expendable]

Accuracy X has been using Atlanta Arms.
I haven't used any of it, but their results are hard to argue with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbWsFItQY9w

 

[stephen426]

I took my Sig P210 Target out to the range again last night. I forgot to bring different ammo to test out and was shooting the regular UMC (yellow box) stuff. While UMC runs a little dirty from my experience, it has always been very reliable and pricing is reasonable. I started at 7 yards where is where I tend to do most of my shooting with my carry gun (which I was shooting first). I know the gun is far more capable than I am, but at that distance, it was dead on and pretty much one ragged hold. Even at 10 and 15 yards, I was getting some very nice groupings. I will try to be sure to bring different types of ammo next trip out to see what difference it makes.

 

[CUBAN REDNECK]

I like Federal HYDRA-SHOK 124 grain. Never had a problem with it and have shot tons of it, literally. Feeds well in all my pistols. Some folks call it old technology, from the 1990's, but it works fine.

 

[Brit]

I carry 147g SXT Winchester Ranger HP ammo. Stamped Law Enforcement Ammunition.

Reasonable recoil, very accurate. But my Glock 17 magazine I carry as a spare Mag. For my Glock 19 4th Gen. pistol.
Has 17 rounds of WW 124g NATO hardball on board. Depending on the target, or where the targets are, ammo that is kind of good at punching through automobile tin, is good to have.
Seems like the SAS have had no trouble using Brit Sub Gun ammo in their pistols if my information is correct.

 

[wild cat mccane]

About every brand and model has been listed.

So the question should be, what isn't an accurate 9mm ammo?

 

[PPGMD]

Winchester White Box or Freedom Munitions 115gr plated RN, or well anything plated typically has horrible accuracy.

 

[pete2]

A machine rest tests accuracy of the gun and ammo. Nothing to do with how well one shoots. The machine rest can tell you what the best ammo is for a particular gun. if you are trying to hit the X-Ring at 50 yards and the gun/ammo combination you are using is only capable of 10 inch groups at 50 yards, you are in trouble. You ain't gonna win a match no matter how good you shoot.