What 9mm ammunition should I use?

COL Jon Thompson — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 15:25:17 -0400

I am looking for advice on what brand of 9mm ammo I should use. I recently bought a Ruger SR9 pistol for my wife. We took it to the range and started to have failures to extract. Because we did not clean the factory oil from it before shooting, I thought perhaps that was the problem. We cleaned it when we got home and took it out again a couple of weeks later. She started to have the same problem. I then shot and in one magazine, I had 4 failures to extract in a row. I sent it to Ruger and while they said there was nothing wrong, they did replace the barrel, recoil spring, and ejector. They also said that I should try different ammunition. My wife and I were shooting Winchester ball target ammo which has never failed me before in my Ruger P85. What ammo brands do you recommend I try and what other advice do you have for me?

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 5 at 2015 3:26 PM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 15:26:02 -0400

Sig Sauer P226

Response by SGT Michael Glenn made Oct 5 at 2015 3:59 PM

SGT Michael Glenn — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 15:59:11 -0400

Winchester is the cheap WalMart ammo everyone buys. Ive had issues with it as well, I suppose its a matter of buying cheap ammo and getting cheap ammo. Winchester deff isnt what it was when I was a kid, but then again demands have changed a great deal too. Tyr something with more than 55 grain in it??? I use a Sig 250...

Response by SGT William Howell made Oct 5 at 2015 4:31 PM

SGT William Howell — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 16:31:58 -0400

COL Jon Thompson Sir, Most gun manufactures will not tell you if there was an issue. There could have been several things wrong with your gun. Either the throat was too deep in the barrel, the extractor was not engaging or your recoil spring was too strong. That is why all the replacement parts. I would suggest that you take the gun back out and shoot with Winchester ball ammo. I would buy a new box from a differant lot. Make sure they fixed it or you did not get some under powered 9 Mike Mike. Winchester ball 115 gn should work in any gun. You should not have any kind of failure to extract on a modern firearm. If that don't work then you still have an issue that Ruger needs to address. Ruger has one of the best customer services in the business and they will make it right.

The only other thing that may cause an issue is if it is a SR9C the compact one. Some people, mostly women (Not being sexist just factual.), limp wrist the gun. Basically, allowing the arm to absorb most of the recoil. For a auto pistol to work the frame has to move very little so the slide can move back. When the gun is limp wristed the frame and the slide move back at the same speed and short stroke the slide. If you want to make sure that is not the issue. use a two hand grip and lock your elbows before you shoot.

I used to carry Hyrdoshocks as my duty carry, but my choice would be Speer Gold Dots. I saw the bullet from another police department that had been removed from the skull of a bad guy. It retained 97% of the bullet mass even after passing through the skull. It basically just kept rattling inside the bad guy's head till it lost it's momentum. Great round!

I do this for a living so if you have any questions feel free to ask.

Bill

Response by PO3 Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 6 at 2015 7:51 AM

PO3 Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 07:51:55 -0400

... I use American Eagle ... cheap but dirty ...