Testing SD ammo

[Prodigal]

I get why testing carry SD ammo is important.
What's considered a thorough enough test before being satisfied that it's going to be a good combination with your handgun?

I don't know the prices of quality of SD ammo, but from what I've seen on the forums, it's expensive stuff.
Finding the right one for your gun could be a very expensive exercise.

[Sean Murphy]

Not only that, just finding some good stuff is hard lately. Most times, finding enough to do a good test is hard. Finding enough to test and have enough left over to make the excercise worthwhile is near impossible.

Sean.

[Prodigal]

That's a rather poor state of affairs surrounding quality ammo.
What does the state use for SAPS issue weapons?

[Sean Murphy]

That's a rather poor state of affairs surrounding quality ammo.
What does the state use for SAPS issue weapons?

The state issues military spec FMJ ammo.

Sean.

[Brendank]

The state issues military spec FMJ ammo.

Sean.

Not so sure about that. All the SAPS ammo I've seen is the crappy (underloaded) 115gr PMP FMJ.
Good carry ammo is non-existent at the moment and probably for the foreseeable future. In the past when I've tested SD ammo in my pistols for carry, I normally run about 50-100 JHP's through my pistols, under varying conditions (low-light etc) to ensure they cycle flawlessly and the flash doesn't blind me at night.

I found excessive flash to be a problem on some rounds, such as the 115gr +P+ 9x19 Speer GD.

[shooter]

I had to resort to reloading and a lot of searching for hollowpoint bullets. I'm not paying R400 for 25 rounds of factory ammo. With reloading you can at least run a few rounds through to test reliability.

[Brendank]

I had to resort to reloading and a lot of searching for hollowpoint bullets. I'm not paying R400 for 25 rounds of factory ammo. With reloading you can at least run a few rounds through to test reliability.

Shooter
What did you find for R400? Sounds like Remington Golden Sabers as only they come in boxes of 25.
You eventually landed up with 115gr Sierra's or XTP's?

[shooter]

It was 115grain XTP's at one shop and the other shop had some Silvertips in I think 124grain. I can't remember the prices exactly but it was between R300-R400 at both shops; aka way too much (although the Silvertips were in a box of 50). I ended up with the 115grain Sierra's at 5.4grain MP200, new PMP cases. Works well, need more! :) The particular Silvertips are apparently not very good, so I skipped those.

[Brendank]

It was 115grain XTP's at one shop and the other shop had some Silvertips in I think 124grain. I can't remember the prices exactly but it was between R300-R400 at both shops; aka way too much (although the Silvertips were in a box of 50). I ended up with the 115grain Sierra's at 5.4grain MP200, new PMP cases. Works well, need more! :) The particular Silvertips are apparently not very good, so I skipped those.

I forgot about the Hornady's, but I think they come in 20's.
Silvertips are 115gr in 9x19, not a bad round apart from the fact that penetration is 'potentially' an issue (not going into another light vs heavy penetration debate here). You were lucky to find them, there is NOTHING in the rest of the country, the Silvertips must've been from an old batch.

Any idea what velocity your Sierra's are doing at 5.4gr of MP200?

[shark_za]

Is MP200 good for SD reloads?
Not too much smoke and dirt?