Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 9mm bullet selection for target/steel

I'm getting into target and perhaps steel plate shooting with my 9mm (Glock G34) and was wondering what those that do competition shooting with 9mm would suggest as a starting point. I'm currently loading 115gr Sierra JHP in Starline brass over 4.2g of Tite Group for my wife's pistol. Any advice will be appreciated..

I'm shooting these 115 grain plated bullets.
https://www.brownells.com/reloading/bullets/pistol-bullets/plated-pistol-bullets-prod81660.aspx

I also shot SNS coated bullets as well as Missouri Bullet Co. coated bullets.

You can buy FMJ ammo on sale for $8.99 a box, which is less than you are paying for the bullets you are handloading. For steel plate shooting, they work just as well.

Use whatever is most accurate in your particular pistol.
That will often be different for everyone.

I actually paid $60/1000 shipped for the bullets I linked above but where are you seeing loaded ammo for $8.99/100?

Everywhere.

For starters, you can look at:

ammoseek.com
sgammo.com
targersportsusa.com

The cheapest Wolf steel cased ammo at SG Ammo was .13 a round plus shipping this morning.

ammoseek.com is .13.3 cents a round.

I load Missouri coated in my 9mm. I think it’s called Small Ball. In fact I’ve pretty much gone to coated in every thing I load. Hasbeen

I don’t use my 9mm for anything serious, just plinking....I’ve never bothered reloading for it. Winchester white box 115 fmj serves all my needs very economically

I got a Cabelas/BassPro flyer this week that shows Winchester 124 grain ammo at 8.99 a box.

The Sierra JHP that the op listed is about .20/each.

It's $8.79 per 50.

What I listed at Brownells is .09 cents a piece but as I said, I paid .06 cents a bullet delivered in a volume order. MBC and SNC coated bullets are about .06 cents a piece all the time. Counting a primer and powder I can load for .11-.12 cents a round and have much better ammo than Wolf at .13 cents a round. I load about 400 rounds on my Dillon in an hour without breaking a sweat.

The hardest part is picking up brass off the ground.

I can get Wolf steel for $6.43/box, delivered (12.86 cents/rd). I fired 100 rds of it this past weekend, using 2 different guns. It was no less accurate than anything else I've shot. It's certainly adequate for plate shooting and target practice.

I agree that cranking out 9mm on a Dillon is the cheaper choice--hey, that's what why we bought Dillons, right? At least that's what I told my wife; I don't know what you all told your wives.

But...not everybody has a Dillon, and we all know the agony of single-staging pistol ammo by the hundred. Or, even if you have a Dillon, maybe your loading time is spent on other stuff, and for the money, you'd rather just buy 9mm than spend that extra time setting up the Dillon for it and handloading. That's where I am at. Most of my available "gun time" goes to loading .45 ACP, .45 Colt, .38, and .357. Additionally, I like to spend my "gun time" actually going shooting. Using that time to stand around, playing the blue slot machine to save a penny per round isn't worth it to me--but I'm not a high volume shooter either. I probably shoot +/- 150 rounds of 9mm per month. But, even if you shoot 1000 rds/month, handloading these days only saves you $10. My plan is to keep stocking up now on reloading supplies and when the next shortage hits and factory 9mm is $18/box, then I'll load it.

Everybody just has to their own cost/benefit analysis and see where they land.

My best wishes to us all!

I know not everyone enjoys handloading and time plays a big part. If buying ammo works then that's great.

I just want to know where I missed the sale where I can buy loaded ammo as cheap as I'm buying my bullets as doubletap stated.

Reloading "range" quality 9mm only makes sense if you do not value your time, and already have amortized your investment in reloading equipment.

That said, I bought a Dillon 650 ten-years ago to load my 9mm practice ammunition because, at that time, it was darn hard to find cheap 9mm factory ammunition. I'm not using that machine right now, but if there is another ammo drought I'll likely go back to it.

I think there's a misunderstanding--I think doubletap means $8.99 per 50 (a "box") not per 100. If he did mean per 100, I too want in on that!!

Check out targetsportsusa.com for cheap ammo and free shipping by the case. I paid to be a prime member (gets you an 8% discount on the advertised price, plus free shipping on every order) because I have a few friends that buy a fair amount of factory ammo but not by the case. It's worth it. I've saved enough just on the .22lr ammo I buy there.

Even Local Dirt highlighted my "where can you get loaded ammo for $8.99/100/" and said "everywhere"

They're keeping it a secret from us...

I'm actually loading plated bullets for .09 cents each with a deal I found on primers today and I'll skip watching fake news for an hour to load em.

Just having fun.

.09 per rd is tough to trump.

...I still want in on the factory loaded $9/100 though. Somebody needs to break the silence and share!!

.

Wade,

I've not found any that cheap. When I asked my local supplier to match online prices on S&B, he did.

Best deal I've gotten from him lately is S&B 124 gr FMJ for $.16.5 cents/rd ($165/1000). This is good ammo and is about as close to duplicating my carry ammo as I can get.

I took a hard serious look at my cost to reload this morning. Using Rainier or Berry's bullets the best I could hope to do is 14 cents a round. So I guess it is time to start looking at cheaper bulk loaded ammo for practice and plinking and save the better stuff for league nights.