The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

For what you don't reload, do you have favorite or loathed brand of lead loaded goodness? How about some of your favorites for
Shotgun ammo...
Rifle...
Handgun...
Do you just buy what's on sale or do you find luck with one particular brand?

Favorite:

Shotgun ammo; Despite what that duck whispered in my ear, I prefer Federal shells.

Rifle: Federal Premium or Hornady, for hunting. TulAmmo for range rounds. But mostly my own loads for both.

Pistol: WWB practice ammo, Hornady TAP/Critical Duty/Critical Defense.

.22's: Whatever I can find at a reasonable price!

Shotgun, whatever I grab in the shot size I'm after.

Rifle, depends on the rifle and caliber. I try all sorts and find what that particular rifle likes. In my Mosin's I shoot surplus, my AK likes Monarch over all the other brands which is good as it's the cheapest. My AR's get a steady diet of reloads but when I do buy new stuff it's the ZQ1 62gr stuff if available.

Pistol, again I reload, but have bought Federal for both the 9mm's and the .38SPL as well as CCI blazer brass for the 9mm

.22's I really prefer CCI mini-mags over everything else that I've shot just for pure consistency and accuracy.

I shoot milsurp rifles pretty much exclusively, I will shoot up any milsurp ammo I can find, pretty much all of it will work with a few exceptions that you are unlikely to see on todays market anyway. I load my own .357's and .38.s, Winchester shotshells, but I find that they all work just fine. .22LR is whatever is available, I shoot all of it, all of it works, some might shoot more dirty than others but that is no matter to me as I clean my weapon when I am done shooting it. Long range and competition shooters will be far more picky than me, I shoot paper at 100 yards with shit eyesight so I will never see the tiny little shot groups a competition shooter expects.

I shoot a lot of surplus and then whatever is priced lower. No brand loyalty.

Bargain bullets......

SA1911a1 wrote:I shoot a lot of surplus and then whatever is priced lower. No brand loyalty.

Exactly, or what ever did not make it into the locker...

Almost all of my store bought ammo comes from Walmart, and is often Winchester, Remington, and Federal. I buy shot shells at Walmart in the 100 Rd cartons most of the time but I only use them for shooting clay pigeons anyway. I think my hunting days are pretty much behind me. My favorite rifle fodder is surplus or handloads. I did just order some unobtanium and it should be here this week. A big carton of surplus .303 British.

I shoot quite a bit of HXP and LC surplus in 30-06. I reload the cases and am just getting ready to do up a batch after I process the brass. I have used H and IMR 4895 with good results in the Garands and the 1903's in the past. Obviously not mixed together. At the matches last year I picked up 8 pounds of AR COMP I might try with the Garands, but I have to do a bit more reading.

I shoot mixed head stamped 5.56 for the AR's and the AK. They eat from the same pile. I bought another top cover for the AK and cut it so the brass isn't dented. I reload using 62 grain bullets from RMR. It is cheap plinking ammo that provides good results. I have used AR COMP recently and really like it in my 5.56 rifles. It meters very well in my progressive press.

Shooting some Pakistani in the FAL. It likes it, but it really likes the SBS I picked up. It also likes the reloads I made up for it using surplus brass and 147 grain bullets with IMR 4064.

Pistols in the 9mm and .45 get mixed head stamped cases people have given me. I will probably never have to purchase actual ammo again. I like Bullseye for the 9mm and the .45 likes Unique. Hard cast 230 grain bullets for the .45 and the 9's will get the same shortly.

I don't like steel cased ammo, but do shoot some surplus.

In 12 ga I use fed or win. CCI or Win for 22lr. The last factory ammo I bought was some PPU 7.62x54r so I could get the feel of the first 91/30 that I bought and then reload it back up.

there is nothing better than the smell of burnt powder in the morning. Except of course the smell of fresh coffee.

For me, handgun ammo that is store bought is usually either Federal or CCI brass. Rife ammo is whatever military surplus was cheapest in bulk.

Hi use this ammo in a Mosin Nagant M44 .

Depends what I am shooting at. I have range ammo and "make it dead" ammo.

7.62x54r: My range ammo is whatever cheap surplus I can find. I'll break out some PPU brass when I want to be fancy or go long. My make it dead ammo is some really cool 1970's production LVE Novosibirsk 203 gr. soft points.

7.62x25: PPU all day long. I use their FMJ for the range and save their Defense Line JHP for making things dead. I'm super glad PPU makes a JHP.

7.62x38r: PPU for the range, surplus for more noise at the range or making things dead.

.22LR: Blazer by the brick for the range because it feeds so nicely. Browning BPR HP for making things dead.

.30-06: Cheap Remington Core-Lokt 180 gr. That's about it. I'm still figuring this one out.

9x19: I get cheap processed brass 115 gr. reloads by the bulk for the range. Winchester PDX1 Defender 147 gr. for making things dead.

12 ga.: Cheap Winchester lead bird shot for the range. I have some Winchester 3" magnum turkey loads and any old random 00 buck shot for making things dead.

Yes.

I will shoot what I can find but I reload just about every cf cartridge I shoot. I like Federal shotshells and just about any .22 but Remington. I have never had any luck with it. CCI Standard velocity is probably my favorite, I have some. Green Tag for a High Standard and Federal Auto match for a 10/22

.54r - I've got a bunch of surplus and non corrosive Russian stuff like Red Army and a little Tula. That said, I load for most of what I shoot in the Russian guns. Use the non corrosive stuff in the PSL.
7mm - Reload this from PPU brass
6.5 Swede - Same but I have a ton of back up.
8mm - I use some surplus but mostly reload this caliber too and use PPU and Norma brass.
7.7 Jap I load for.
5.56 - I have a supply of this from before the most recent ammo problem..
7.62 NATO - I reload most of this from the brass of my initial purchase of a case of Lake City, but was lucky recently to pick up a case of Lake City sniper ammo (marked LC LR-long range) for pretty cheap. Not sure if my M1A Scout will like it but my PSA-10 will
.45 (ACP, Auto rim and .45 colt) I load for these.
.38 special - I don't shoot it that often since I only, now, have one pistol in that caliber. So, I really use what I can find. For now I shoot Federal that I bought some time ago.
9mm - I don't load for this one. But, I have a stash of it available.

BTW for the reloaders here, Hodgden just started selling from their site and have good supplies of H4895 and others available. That was a relief...

.22 LR what ever the fire arm likes, Federal AutoMatch for a 10/22, CCI Green Tag for my S&W Model 41 and my High Standard Supermatic . The rest of them, what ever I have. I won't shoot Remington .22 on a bet.
Shotgun: Trap reloads, hunting Remington 12 gauge slugs or Black Aces. Waterfowl, Kent or Winchester (Steel). If I had my choice, I'd use some older Remington lead bb's. Killed a lot of birds with them.
Rifles: reloads Federal and whatever I can find.
C&R's Surplus and PPU
Bullseye C/F pistol WW match for the match, reloads for practice.
Combat/Defensive pistol Factory for carry, reloads for practice.