9mm pistol practice ammo

[calling4life]

I've got a Bul Ultralight and I got a DSC drop-in barrel with their twin top port comp for it.

I've got a weird issue, tested it and found that the Sig Elite 124gr hollow points are accurate and shoot great, the Hornady 124gr critical duty are accurate and shoot great.

However, I cannot for the life of me find a normal fmj practice round that shoots similar POA/POI.

And one of the odd things with this new barrel combo is how far away one type of ammo may shoot from the next, it has an adjustable rear sight with 3 dashes, one on far left, one in middle, one on far right.

at 25 yards the Hornady critical duty needs to be in the center mark, so, perfect you might say. The Sig Elite needs to be all the way over on the far left hash mark.

And that's actually the most common, the Hornady Critical Duty rounds are really the only ones that shoot with the rear sight centered, most others shoot 12+ inches to the right so the rear sight needs to be moved all the way over to the left. The 115s I just tried were also about 14" low.

Thing is, I'm running about 2 1/2" sized groups at 25yds with both the Hornady critical duty and Sig Elite rounds, this is freehand as I would normally shoot but about 1 second a shot, this is great accuracy for me. I also shot some 3" or so sized groups with a couple of the practice rounds tested.

I've tried multiple 147s, 124s, and a 115 to the tune of about $200 in a bunch of different brands. Just ordered another $180 in 115s, 124s, and 147s to try.


But I'm kind of at a loss because as of yet nothing is close enough to those two great shooting defense rounds, HSTs didn't shoot as well as they did, nothing has, quite frankly, so I'd really love to use one of them.


I'm just wondering if someone has found a similar issue and maybe has some advice, both are 124gr rounds but I've been trying 115s through 147s to try and find a match, ordered some hot 1300fps 115s to try in this next batch too.

Last thing I want is to have to resort to shooting the defense rounds for practice, as I just don't have the money for that.

 

[John?]

@calling4life

Lots going on here that could be frustrating for you. Drop in barrels aren’t know for high precision. That certainly contributes to high variance between loads. If you like that barrel then you’ll have to live with limitations. A properly “hard fit” barrel will have less variance but will still show preference for some loads over others.

JHPs always shoot more consistently than FMJ or cast. The bases are more consistent. (Yes there are other variables with premium ammunition too, but good ammo starts with a good projectile.) If you handload, it is hard to beat the Hornady XTP or HAP, the Zero brand JHP, or Sierra JHP. None are cheap but they work well out to 50 yards for me.

i don’t shoot much factory pistol ammo for practice. PMC and Federal have usually been consistent in 9mm for me.

Hope this helps some.

 

[alamo5000]

Do you reload or are you looking for factory options only?

 

[ut755ln]

I've got a Bul Ultralight and I got a DSC drop-in barrel with their twin top port comp for it.

I've got a weird issue, tested it and found that the Sig Elite 124gr hollow points are accurate and shoot great, the Hornady 124gr critical duty are accurate and shoot great.

However, I cannot for the life of me find a normal fmj practice round that shoots similar POA/POI.

And one of the odd things with this new barrel combo is how far away one type of ammo may shoot from the next, it has an adjustable rear sight with 3 dashes, one on far left, one in middle, one on far right.

at 25 yards the Hornady critical duty needs to be in the center mark, so, perfect you might say. The Sig Elite needs to be all the way over on the far left hash mark.

And that's actually the most common, the Hornady Critical Duty rounds are really the only ones that shoot with the rear sight centered, most others shoot 12+ inches to the right so the rear sight needs to be moved all the way over to the left. The 115s I just tried were also about 14" low.

Thing is, I'm running about 2 1/2" sized groups at 25yds with both the Hornady critical duty and Sig Elite rounds, this is freehand as I would normally shoot but about 1 second a shot, this is great accuracy for me. I also shot some 3" or so sized groups with a couple of the practice rounds tested.

I've tried multiple 147s, 124s, and a 115 to the tune of about $200 in a bunch of different brands. Just ordered another $180 in 115s, 124s, and 147s to try.


But I'm kind of at a loss because as of yet nothing is close enough to those two great shooting defense rounds, HSTs didn't shoot as well as they did, nothing has, quite frankly, so I'd really love to use one of them.


I'm just wondering if someone has found a similar issue and maybe has some advice, both are 124gr rounds but I've been trying 115s through 147s to try and find a match, ordered some hot 1300fps 115s to try in this next batch too.

Last thing I want is to have to resort to shooting the defense rounds for practice, as I just don't have the money for that.

Pick an ammo that is 124 grains or heavier, and then zero it with that ammo. Any other ammo of similar velocity and similar weight should work. I have found that there is more variance with 9mm ammo but we are talking about moving the round half an inch at 15 yards out of a handgun, so to me it is no big deal.

If you are seeing movement of 12 inches in 25 yards with round that decrease less that 100 fps at that distance the problem is 1) the site 2) the firearm 3) you.

 

[calling4life]

I don't reload so it would be factory.

And I wouldn't have an issue accepting it was me if the issue wasn't consistent. The sight it also consistent, I can shoot a center group with the 124gr Hornady at 25yds with the rear sight in the middle, then move the rear sight all the way to the left notch and shoot a group with the 124gr Sigs and have them both be centered.

In other words, the sight is repeatable.

Could be the fit of the barrel but it isn't like it is throwing the rounds, the whole group of shots is a foot, even more at times, to the right.


It's odd, but maybe something in the next $200 in practice ammo will do well. The Hornady Critical duty's, I have 124s and 135s, are the only rounds I've found so far that shoot with the rear sight centered, everything else likes the rear sight to be moved left because they shoot to the right to varying degrees.

Don't have this issue with either of my P320s and both have twin top port comps as well. It's an odd one.

Guns shoots crazy flat though, I'd say even more so than my P320s and they are bigger and weigh more.

 

[hlee]

What do you need out of practice ammo? Is moving the adjustable site to the poi of the practice ammo, then back for defense ammo a non-starter?

I don’t have your gun or barrel, but pretty much any 115 gr Fmj from; blazer AL, to Winchester White Box, to Monarch steel, all shoot to the same POA out of all of my pistols. At least, they’re close enough to mix and match for USPSA and steel challenge.

I’m not saying what you are observing isn’t real, as I’ve seen similar in rifles, though 12” at 25 yards is huge. More like 2-3” at 100 yards…

 

[ironman56]

I've had good luck with the Blazer brass case 124gr fmj for practice ,and the Speer 124 jhp gold dot for carry with similar poi . Plus you can usually get a good deal if you buy case volume.

 

[calling4life]

Moving adjustable pistol sights constantly tends to be a bad idea, eventually they'll give out, though I could just have a backup set on hand and do that and deal with having to do as such.

I've got blazer 124s and I've got Speer 124s coming, I ran some Speer 135s and they didn't shoot super great, the critical duty and Sig Elite blah blah 124 hollow points are more accurate then I've been with a pistol thus far accurate.

And I've repeated it multiple times as I've been testing a fair bit. It'll be hard for me to go to a defensive round that's less accurate, though the probability I end up in a defensive battle at 25yds is really null, and sub 10yds the others are fine enough.

I just hate to move from rounds performing so great, they also cycle and get lock back consistently.

This is a 3.25" size 2011 with a twin top port compensator and a single port on each side I milled in. Not an "eat anything" type of gun at this point, she likes rounds with some pep.

I'll need to keep on with the trial and error it seems, if things end the same I may either need to adjust my sights between practice and defensive rounds, or, go with a less accurate defensive round that jives with a practice round.

Just odd how far the spread is between some of these different ammos at 25yds, had me thinking there must be something I'm missing.

 

[John?]

Did you see these problems with the factory barrel or just the drop in aftermarket barrel?

 

[Budrichard]

Practise ammo is usually loaded to lower velocity and therefor will print higher than full power(faster) ammunition.
I sight in full power to POI and shoot prsctise ammunition with a six o'clock hold.
-Richard

 

[Im2bent]

Don't adjust the site, add a second aiming point a foot to the left? That way you don't have to fuck with the site?

 

[Camelfilter]

Were any of the 124's NATO?

If not, you might try some. IIRC NATO 9mm fmj spec is almost like a +P. So should shoot similar velocities to some defensive loadings. Wether or not they would shoot same/similar POA in your gun? No idea...