G56

First and most important, do NOT buy reloaded ammo at gun shows, most of it is done by unlicensed reloaders who have poor to non existent quality control and no liability insurance in case their defective ammo blows up a gun and injures someone.

Beyond that, I won't touch the vast majority of "commercial" reloads.

Ultramax is the commercial reload you are most likely to encounter, I avoid it like the plague and recommend you do the same.

American Ammunition, aka Amerc, pure junk

The best cheap ammo is the generic ammo from the major ammo makers.
Winchester "white box" ammo
Blazer brass
American Eagle
UMC
Some of the Russian ammo is OK, Wolf as an example, it works fine in most guns.

M1 Garand on gun show reload


Another gun show reload

SKBowker

Thanks, that is the type of information I was looking for. I will probably be purchasing a few more firearms in the next few months and don't want to ruin any of them.

FireInCairo

My M&P .40c didn't like Tulammo, but I've heard others have used it with success. I was getting FTF's with it. Winchester white box (which is only a couple bucks more) has run fine.

JimD

Thank you for the info, very helpful to a new shooter like me.
Thanks

XxMerlinxX

As for steel cased, the cheapest .45 I've seen is Tula from CheaperThanDirt.com, it's $13.09 per 50 making it .26 cents per round. I'd buy just one box first from wherever, to make sure that it feeds and fires ok in your weapon, before buying in bulk. If you want brass cased, they also have Aguila for $16.51, making it .33 cents a round. Aguila is just as good as any other bargain priced ammo like Remington UMC or Winchester White Box.

JoshInGA

Just picked up my FS M&P 9mm today, and fired 250 rounds of Remington white box, and 100 rounds of Federal Champion. These are the cheapy rounds you can find at any walmart, and Ive never had problems with either of them (fired 3000+ rounds in various other guns). Gonna head out tomorrow and test out speer gold dots, but Im anticipating smooth operation per the reputation of the M&P to eat up anything you throw at it.

ske1eter

The Blazer Brass is junk. Myself and two other buddies took a bunch of Blazer .45 ACP to a training class and had nothing but trouble. Of course, the instructor said it was the guns (1911's, he was a "hater".) but it was obvious that the crimp on the rounds were very bad. Plus the bullets were a different depths so if some were too deep, the edge of the brass would catch on the feed ramp and cause a failure. Never again.

ddawg

Haven't tried but a few types of ammo through my M&P45, and all worked as expected. My practice ammo is my reloads. Always shoot at least a magazine of my carry load, 230 grain HST+p. First 100 rounds through the pistol were some 230 gr. Hydra Shoks I was using up.

My only problem has been 3 bent magazine springs.

Bill in Tx

I'm working my way through 1k rounds of .40 Estate Ammo, which I believe is made by Federal or ATK I think. It seems to be ok so far. Also, bought 1k rounds of Aguilla 9mm made in Mexico at a plant built by Remington.

markkoepnick

I do gunsmithing on m&p's at gunshows & I had a fellow last week that was having problems with aguilla 9mm in his compact. About 4 or 5 rounds with EVERY mag would "nosedive" into the barrel ramp & jam. I suggested to him that the top round being fed may be hanging up on the "ring" that aguilla crimps on their 9mm ammo (they may do it on all their ammo as well) on the round under it. I suggested trying different ammo without this crimp line & see what happens. He called me back last Monday & said NO JAMS at all with different ammo, continual jams with the aguilla brand. I shoot aguilla in my full size 9 with out problems, so, this may be a problem with the compacts. I have read other posts about feed problems with the .40cal compacts, that full size 40's don't seem to have.

RockBottom

Isn't Federal and ATK the same company? Or am I misunderstanding that?

Bill in Tx

I believe that is correct. ATK is the parent company for Federal. I had to look it up after I posted. My mistake. I apologize.

jwh321

I can tell you that although it worked perfectly in my 9c, Blazer Brass left it looking like the inside of a diesel exhaust pipe. Took forever to clean all of the black sooty stuff out of every nook and cranny in the gun.

R32500HP

This caliber may be off subject here, but has anyone used PPU (Prvi Partizan .223/5.56 M193 55grn) Ammo for practice with thier M&P 15?

FloridaGuy

I have put 3000+ round of Blazer Brass down range in my 9mm full size and compact and my .40cal full size. I have not had one issue with a single round. I have also sent 1000+ CCI Mini Mags down range from my M&P .22 without any issues.

I have also shot several hundred rounds of Federal Chanmpion ammo from Walmart. This ammo is very dirty and I had several that would not chamber properly.

Going to the range tomorrow to try some UMC - Remington ammo from Walmart. I will post the results here tomorrow when I return.

hoodwinked2012

Personally I stay away from Tula,Wolf,and reloads. I use Speer Lawman,Federal,and Winchester for practice ammo. For carry I use Speer Gold Dot , Remington Golden Saber,Winchester Ranger SXT, and Hornandy Critical Duty or TAP. Mainly it is Speer Gold Dots all the way!

Forbes/Hutton

Regardless of whether it's factory or reloaded and of brand, check the rounds.

A quick look to make sure the bullets are seated properly and primers are as well. If the ammo is going into a gun for self defense do it monthly or more often.

Even the best name factories have made mistakes and the gun won't care if the bad round cost you $.25 or $1.50 the result will, at least, displease you.

Martimus

I tend to shoot a lot of Magtech and Speer Lawman when at the range. Both perform well for me. Years ago I purchased a lot of gun show reloads. Actually never had a problem with them. Nowadays, however, I try to stick with well known brands of factory ammo.

MaddMax

G56 is dead on the money. NEVER trust ANYONE'S reloads except your own. And stick to factory ammo of name brands. I don't care for Remington, but I do like their brass for reloading my own.