Ammo purchase

Which one’s better?

  • Blazer 115 gr fmj

    Votes: 11 34.4%
  • Sellier & Bellot 115gr fmj

    Votes: 21 65.6%

  • Total voters
    32

DangerDave

Sergeant of the Hide
Full Member
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Jul 9, 2024
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Looking at 9mm bulk ammo on Lucky gunner. Blazer 1000 rounds and Sellier & Bellot 1000 rounds both priced at $250. Shot Balzer before, no issues but S&B has better reviews.
 
I've shot both before and prefer S&B. I reload a lot of range pick up/once fired brass. I can't remember with any certainty, but I did come across some 9mm brass that has smaller than normal flash holes. It may have been Eastern European military stuff and I lean in the direction that it was not S&B, but don't remember for sure. If you don't reload, it isn't an issue.
 
Eh, if you’re just binning the cases at the range, Al cases are fine for practice/plinking ammo. But, if you think you might want to reload, the small difference in price pays for itself vs buying new brass.

That said, Al is apparently a no go in blow back actions.
 
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I've shot at least a 1K rounds through each of 'em without issue. I'd probably lean more towards S&B if for no other reason than I have more experience/luck with them with rifle rounds but with 9mm bulk ammo... all things being equal, I don't think you can go wrong either way.

We all have our preferences of course but I'm picky enough that I'd much rather either 124 or 147gr bullets instead of 115gr than I'd care on whether the manufacturer is S&B or Blazer and the availability of those bullet weight preferences would dictate which one I'd go with for a bulk purchase.


Just my 2 cents.

-LD
 
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That said, Al is apparently a no go in blow back actions.
I have fired many, many boxes of aluminum cased ammo in several different 1911 style pistols, to include a 1911A1 Remington Rand National Match without any issue. A Colt 3.5", 3 Sigs, a Kimber Ultra Carry II, 5 or 6 different Paras from the NiteHawg to the P14.
Maybe it's not great in a M1928A1 or one of the Ingram MAC-10's? But never any issue in any of my semi-auto handguns.
 
Aluminum is all I shoot at matches, not going to leave good brass on the ground. Mostly CCI blazer, in this case either would be fine.
 
I have fired many, many boxes of aluminum cased ammo in several different 1911 style pistols, to include a 1911A1 Remington Rand National Match without any issue. A Colt 3.5", 3 Sigs, a Kimber Ultra Carry II, 5 or 6 different Paras from the NiteHawg to the P14.
Maybe it's not great in a M1928A1 or one of the Ingram MAC-10's? But never any issue in any of my semi-auto handguns.
Idk. I read it on the internet. Must be true…
 
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Looking at 9mm bulk ammo on Lucky gunner. Blazer 1000 rounds and Sellier & Bellot 1000 rounds both priced at $250. Shot Balzer before, no issues but S&B has better reviews.
There is no better. Either one works just fine. They're both bulk ammo. Those two and PMC Bronze are interchangeable for all I care.
 
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Might want to look here too....I am not sure how many rounds but I have shot 5 5gal buckets of this ammo...of all those rounds I've had 1 proud primer, 1 not fire and 1 in backwards. I've not shot the 115s but have shot the 124s, 135s and the 147s are my favorite and I have not found a gun that does not shoot this ammo well.
 
Both work well.
Have shot more than 10 cases of each over the years.

Order and go.

Well,
Order 2 and go

Wait, 3 or 4 if you can.

I have shot plenty of the Blazer alum too, for whatever reason. Worked just fine.
 
Blazer 124 brass is my go to. I use Weidners as it arrives next day most of the time. Ran probably 4000 rounds if it last year with no issues.

Edit. Ran 300 - 400 or so each of Fiochi 115, Winchester 124 target and Blazer 115 brass. With the exception of the Fiochi feeling a bit hotter I can’t tell a dimes difference in any of them.

This is through two Glocks and a Prodigy.
 
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Might want to look here too....I am not sure how many rounds but I have shot 5 5gal buckets of this ammo...of all those rounds I've had 1 proud primer, 1 not fire and 1 in backwards. I've not shot the 115s but have shot the 124s, 135s and the 147s are my favorite and I have not found a gun that does not shoot this ammo well.
Made in Lewiston, ID.
Lewiston is where CCI got its start. They still make LOTS of primers there. Not sure what else but growing up we could get reject 22LR for real cheap. I bet they don't let rejects out the door anymore for liability reasons.
 
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Made in Lewiston, ID.
Lewiston is where CCI got its start. They still make LOTS of primers there. Not sure what else but growing up we could get reject 22LR for real cheap. I bet they don't let rejects out the door anymore for liability reasons.
They have 22LR ammo too...I ordered 500 to try.
 
PMC Bronze 115 gr is scary accurate in my P-10F and Shadow 2

Noted. Looks to be very reasonably priced.

I wasn't one to concern myself too much with center-fire pistol ammo accuracy until shooting winter bullseye league at the local club a few years ago. I grabbed whatever 115gr FMJ I'd been using to ping steel (I think it was Winchester) and immediately hopped on the struggle bus attempting to put holes in the 10-ring. Chased the sight adjustments for a while, double-checked the optics screws, questioned my own competency, and then grabbed a mag from my carry gun and finally understood that I had an ammo problem.
 
Noted. Looks to be very reasonably priced.

I wasn't one to concern myself too much with center-fire pistol ammo accuracy until shooting winter bullseye league at the local club a few years ago. I grabbed whatever 115gr FMJ I'd been using to ping steel (I think it was Winchester) and immediately hopped on the struggle bus attempting to put holes in the 10-ring. Chased the sight adjustments for a while, double-checked the optics screws, questioned my own competency, and then grabbed a mag from my carry gun and finally understood that I had an ammo problem.
Not all ball is created the same
 

Might want to look here too....I am not sure how many rounds but I have shot 5 5gal buckets of this ammo...of all those rounds I've had 1 proud primer, 1 not fire and 1 in backwards. I've not shot the 115s but have shot the 124s, 135s and the 147s are my favorite and I have not found a gun that does not shoot this ammo well.
Personally, I'd steer clear of any LAX ammo. I've seen too many guns blown up at our range using their ammo.
 

Might want to look here too....I am not sure how many rounds but I have shot 5 5gal buckets of this ammo...of all those rounds I've had 1 proud primer, 1 not fire and 1 in backwards. I've not shot the 115s but have shot the 124s, 135s and the 147s are my favorite and I have not found a gun that does not shoot this ammo well.

Personally, I'd steer clear of any LAX ammo. I've seen too many guns blown up at our range using their ammo.
They sorta call out freedom munitions as not good in this vid.
 
They sorta call out freedom munitions as not good in this vid.

Yeah, they're local to us, so we see a lot of LAX ammo. It's a running joke at the range, that if you see a shooter come in with LAX ammo.....you put them off by themselves, just in case there's a kaboom.

And yeah, like mentioned in the video, the COVID era ammo was the worst of the lot. I think they were just running the machines too damned fast.
 
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That was my takeaway from the experience, at least in the bullseye environment with that particular pistol. Drop me into a different scenario with a different pistol, and ammo won't matter as much as my incompetence.
I don't shoot bullseye but there are enough high-risk shots in practical pistol competition that I want all the accuracy I can get.