Category Archives: Ammunition

Ammunition

What is +P and +P+ Pistol Ammo

Okay, let’s dive into the world of arcane ammunition industry acronyms. If you are into pistols at all, I bet you have seem ammo rated, or claimed to be, “+P” or even “+P+” and maybe you’ve encountered pistols that claim to handle the same. What does that really mean? That’s a good question and let’s review the two in the world of pistol calibers.

In the US, there is a standards group for ammunition loads called the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute (SAMMI). This group was formed in 1926 with the goal of safety and compatibility. Having standards allows gun manufacturers and ammo producers to have a “meeting of the minds” about what is required for a given caliber such as 9x19mm (9mm Luger or “Parabellum” — I’ll just write “9mm going forward). Without a standard, there could be safety issues as a given firearm may be not be able to handle the pressure of a given load and fail (explode). In short, standards allow us to switch between brands of ammo with a degree of safety and consistency.

Notice how I said a degree of consistency – it’s far from perfect and many factors affect whether a given firearm will function reliably and accurately with a given round from a specific manufacturer. For example, I had a .44 Magnum Desert Eagle Mark V way back when. It could shoot just about any ammo but there was this one brand, I don’t recall who, that had an odd looking crimp in the middle of the case. My Desert Eagle absolutely could not extract that stuff. It was a brand name ammo and I am sure it worked fine in revolvers but definitely not for me in my specific pistol. In short, you always want to confirm what ammunition your firearm “likes” and include your various magazines in that testing as well.

+P Means Higher Pressure

What “+P” refers to are standard over-pressure loads and there are actually very few of them. By over-pressure, I mean over standard pressure — +P rounds are loaded to what is called “peak pressure” and since there are a number of factors that affect peak, you can see variations in +P loads.

One consideration take into account is a degree of safety. If we make a broad generalization, if a firearm in reasonably good condition fires one, it should be okay. For example, a 9mm pistol in good shape should be able to handle 9mm+P. With that said, I need to make a safety comment:

+P Safety Considerations
1. Only use +P ammo in a firearm that the manufacturer states can handle it either in the manual or on their website.
2. If a firearm manufacturer tells you not to then don’t.
3. Never run +P ammo in an older firearm
4. Due to the higher operating pressure, bear in mind that you will likely accelerate the wear and tear on your firearm by using this ammo.
5. It’s going to recoil more and may adversely affect recoil-sensitive people or take you longer to get back on target after firing.

Why have +P?

The standardized +P rounds are all common defensive rounds – 9mm Luger, .38 Special, .38 Super Auto, and .45 ACP. The intent was to produce higher velocities and energy levels as a result of boosting the pressure. The following table was generated from the 2015 specification for pistol calibers Z299.3:

CartridgeStandard PSI+P PSIIncrease
9mm Luger (9×19)35,00038,500+10.0%
.38 Special17,50020,000+14.3%
.38 Super Auto26,50036,500+37.7%
.45 ACP21,00023,000+ 9.5%
Source: SAAMI Z299.3 Centerfire Pistol & Revolver

All things being equal, by boosting the pressure, then the velocity and energy of the round go up. In short, a +P pressure load hits harder with the same bullet. That’s something that you often want in a defensive caliber but there are limits lest you have over penetration, etc. It’s also important to always point out that energy levels are not a substitute for accurate shot placement.

These are IMI 124 grain die cut 9mm +P hollow points. IMI dipped the tips in black paint so they are easy to identify as +P – not all firms do that. What ammo makers should do, and IMI did, was to ensure the headstamp on the case clearly identifies the load as +P.

What if a caliber is not on the list?

If a caliber is not listed above, then you have entered the world of marketing where “+P” sells more ammo. If a manufacturer decides to use some internal rule of thumb to increase the base pressure then that is totally of their own accord. You have no idea what it is and neither do the folks who build pistols chambered for that round. For example, consider .380 ACP +P rounds you sometimes see for sale. My Ruger LCP Max points out in a number of places in the manual not to run +P ammo in their pistol because they can’t guarantee performance or safety since there isn’t a standard for Ruger to build and test against.

Note that groups who make non-standard +P ammo are quick to point out that they stay under what the “proof” loads are that are standards based and are intended to test the safety of a firearm design. Well folks, cumulative stress is cumulative stress – it builds up over time. You go running a real hot round in a real world pistol or pistol caliber carbine with a lot of real world use and it’s impossible to predict the results.

This is why I do load my defensive weapon magazines with 9mm+P but practice at the range with regular range loads. I always verify a combination of firearm, magazine and ammo load before I count on it but then I shoot the lighter stuff for practicing to reduce the wear on my pistols.

By the way, this is also why my Ruger LCP Max only had standard .380 ACP loads in it and no hotrodded ammo.

What about +P+?

Ok, now when we talk about “+P+” rounds we have completely left the SAMMI standard. You only run this ammo if you know it was made for your firearm. You should not run it on a whim without first investigating your firearm and the ammo.

When it comes to +P+ and safety you do need to be careful. When used appropriately, it’s just fine. However, if you are thinking “oh, it’s just a few thousand PSI more – that’s not much”, I want you to remember something – a little bit doesn’t matter until it does.

Am I anti +P+? Actually, no, I’m not. I used to encounter +P+ for 9mm sub guns with heavier mechanisms that could handle the higher pressures and heavier recoil. If you run it in a regular 9mm pistol, well, it’s hard to say what it will do – at the very least it is going to prematurely wear the pistol’s components even more than +P will.

In short, only use +P+ ammo if you know what you are doing and have done your research about using it in your particular weapon. Certainly don’t just pick it because your think it will hit harder.

Conclusion

+P and +P+ ammo have their uses and you need to make sure you read up on what your firearm, be it a pistol or pistol caliber carbine, can handle a given load before you use it. Also, one last comment – be sure to thoroughly test a combination of firearm, magazine and round before you rely on it.

References

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Ammunition

Will The Russia-Ukraine Conflict Cause An Small Arms Ammunition Shortage in the US?

The short answer is “no, not across the board” but the longer answer bears some explaining. First off the main small arms ammunition used will be former Warsaw Pact calibers such as 7.62×39, 5.45×39, 7.62×25 Tokarev and so forth. The point is that the calibers in the scope of concern is already small – certainly not across all small arm calibers found in the US.

Russia has a large stockpile of Russian made ammunition and plenty of production facilities to make more. Given that the US government decided not to allow new imports of Russian ammunition some time ago and importers finding other sources, this should not be a big factor in ammunition supplies.

Ukraine’s only small arms ammunition manufacturer is the Luhansk cartridge plant. Luhansk did make ammunition for the export and Century Arms sold it under the “Red Army Standard” brand but Century sources from Romania, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Poland also.

It is possible that there will be more demand for calibers the Ukrainian military uses and both the government of Ukraine and their supports will turn to the International arms market for supplies should this become a protracted conflict. That might impact supplies and prices if demand increases but supply does not.

In the US, there already is some panic buying as people who are scared/nervous decide to buy more ammo but this is on the tail end of several years of significantly high volumes of firearm and ammunition purchases already – any surge in demand will likely be short lived. Same goes with any temporary price hikes.

In closing, I really doubt there will shortages of small arms ammunition in the United States with the only caveat being that if the conflict drags on and demand in the arms market increases, there might be some price increases but only time will tell.

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Online Ammunition Sources

Note, if you haven’t checked lately, ammunition is returning to the online vendors and prices have come down dramatically from their pandemic high. For example, a 1000 rounds of bulk packed CCI 9mm Luger was over $1,000 at one point and now it is available from $299-339 sometimes with free shipping.

Also, if you haven’t heard, PSA is building an ammunition plant as well to open later this year (2022).

Ammunition, Politics - EOs, Regulations, Legal, Shooting in General

Ammo Prices Will Continue To Fall

Okay, I’m a closet economist – I admit it. When I look at the current ammo shortage, you can tell it is predictably coming to an end provided nothing crazy comes out of the Senate, White House and ATFE that is lasting.

Not Our First Panic

For those old enough to remember past panic buying such as with President Obama, the same thing happened. People got worried about not being able to buy firearms or ammo in the future so they started buying everything in sight. When this happens, an interesting and predictable tug of war happens between the demand for ammo and the ability of businesses to sell ammo. Let’s look at it in terms of three time frames – immediate, medium and longer-term.

Short-term – less than 6 months

When a panic hits, there is very little the manufacturers, importers, wholesalers and gun shops can do in the short-term other than sell what they have. What do I mean by short-term? Within about a six month window. They can only produce so much ammo so fast given their labor, component availability and machine capacity. In addition, importers only have so many import orders in the pipeline so the ammo supply starts to dry up. As supply dries up, prices start to go up – you see ammo that was going for $249/1000 rounds start to push almost $1,000/1000 rounds if not more plus it can get pretty hard to find.

In the mean time, as the supply gets limited, people tend to panic even more and buy whenever they can afford, sometimes even if they can’t with credit cards, keeping the prices elevated. Making life even more colorful this time around were COVID causing supply chain problems and the stimulus checks.

The stimulus checks have caused a number of issues. First and foremost, a lot of people don’t see the point in working when they can stay home, collect unemployment and get the stimulus checks. This means that firms who are trying to make equipment, supplies and ammo itself plus firms who distribute and sell it are frequently short staffed limiting what they can produce.

Another impact is that quite a few people take the checks and buy more guns and ammo that further adds to the shortage. I’m less worried about this than I am about otherwise able people getting money paid for by taxpayers – nothing is ever free folks – we the people who pay taxes will pay and probably for years to come.

Now the rush of new gun buyers is also a factor – people are scared. How will they defend their families in an era where violent protests and assaults are deemed acceptably while politicians and activists talk about defunding the police? I applaud law abiding citizens buying firearms for self defense, hunting, target shooting, or whatever their desire is. The fact of the matter is that these firearms reflect a sizable investment for most people and losing them due to gun control will not sit well with anyone — especially when you look at the violence that is taking place. Politicians – representatives, senators and governors – know this because they worry about re-election. The gun control zealots and elites don’t care but that is a different story.

An interesting thing that happened this time around was that ammo never completely disappeared. You might not have found it at local gun stores but you could find it online with a lot of searching and paying some astronomically high prices. Gunbroker sellers were typically an option for almost any type of ammo through the whole ordeal. I’m not criticizing- it’s an observation. People will go to extra lengths to make money.

Another observation is that shooters also investigated alternative brands of ammo as well as methods of training. For example, the training systems that were either a bullet-shaped laser that would trigger when the pistol’s firing pin hit it or even complete subsitute pistols.

People moved to reloading very early on and supplies, notably primers, became next to impossible to find. This created a lesson for many new reloaders – start it when things aren’t nuts and stock up because it is not a guaranteed backup plan.

Medium-term – 6 months to one year

Getting back to the ammo shortage, as time goes on manufacturers continue to output all that they can. More and more import orders are placed drawing ammo from all over the planet including known and unknown brands. Some small ammo producers appear as they can make money but may not survive as prices fall.

At the same time, panicked consumers both run out of money to buy ammo and they begin to calm down. Demand contracts.

The first signs that the shortage is coming to the end is that you will notice more and more websites have ammo available for sale and it isn’t disappearing within minutes of going online. Breadth and depth of options slowly increases but the prices are typically still far higher than before the panic.

Next, the vendors (gun stores, wholesalers and websites) begin to realize that they have a ton of money invested in ammo and better get it sold. This when you start to see tons of emails stating “We have ammo!”. The emails and alerts do generate some sales but not enough. Vendors start having to compete again and prices begin to come down. Ammo that was $1,000/1,000 rounds drops to $749/1,000 rounds and continues to drop.

Somewhere in this timeframe, buyers also started trying substitute brands they would not normally go for. For example, some guys who always declared they would never shoot steel cased ammo started buying TulAmmo and Wolf. In most guns, steel case runs just fine – you never know for sure with any combination of firearm and ammo until you test it. In other words, order in a smaller amount for testing before you go and invest in a case(s).

Longer-term – After about a year

The price drop will continue as vendors attempt to sell the ammo to finance the loans they took out to buy it or to free up working capital to invest elsewhere. At the same time, stores and website have more and more ammo available for sale and compeitition based on pricing starts to heat up again further causing prices to drop until some form of equilibrium is reached – in other words some price that is agreeable to buyers and sellers is reached.

Lessons Learned Thus Far

  1. It was predictable. We knew if Trump lost the panic would set in so people hedging their risks started stocking up starting in earnest in the Summer of 2020.
  2. It’s better to stock up before a panic than during a panic. Buying a little here and there and saving it adds up.
  3. Don’t add calibers during a panic. Finding ammo might be surprisingly hard.
  4. Subscribe to as many vendor sales emails as you can. They would regularly send emails when they got shipments in and are now sending even more emails to move what they have: Brownells, Pametto State Armory, Natchez, SGAmmo, Midway USA, Sportsman’s Guide and more.
  5. Most ammo could be found on Gunbroker in a pinch albeit at high prices.
  6. A lot of brands showed up that people knew nothing about but was actually really good so be sure to search around on the web – you might be in for a pleasant surprise. For example: Aguila, Fiocchi, MagTech, PMC, S&B, and ZQI are all good brands that you may not have previously encountered.

Conclusion

Where are we right now? As of this writing, we are seeing more ammo on the websites and prices have just started to come down off their highs so we are somewhere in the medium time frame. How fast prices will fall is hard to say due to COVID and anti-second ammendment stance by some politicians. I actually think President Biden has limited options because politicians usually follow their own logic but staying in power and making money are certainly drivers for them. People have a ton of money invested in their firearms and ammunition and aren’t going to give them up lightly.

My guidance to you is to buy what you need but hold off on more panic buying. I don’t have a magic crystal ball mind you but I am holding off big ammo purchases. It’s hard to say what will happen past the next 90 days but you ought to take note that the Biden administration is almost five months into power and has accomplished little on their gun control agenda.

My last comment is a big ask for all of you – stay active. Keep reading what is going on, support your favorite pro-2A special interest groups (I like Firearm Policy Coalition and Gun Owners of America) and be sure to reach out to politicans to make your opinion known on hot topics — the liberals are trying to push tons of absurd gun control proposals and we cant let those happen.

6/27/21 Update: Prices continue to plummet. You can find brass case Federal 115gr FMJ 9mm ammo for $450/1,000 rounds +S&H – this price point was only for imported steel case in early May. Vendors are bundling things like red dots, scopes or magazines with ammo to try and entice buyers. In general, popular calibers (such as 9mm, 5.56 Nato, 7.62 Nato, 7.62×39, and .300 BO) are surging in availability. Some of the traditional rounds such as .30-30 are still challenged. SGAmmo, one of my favorite ammo suppliers, continues to have more and more inventory available. I’m getting a bunch of “Ammunition Available” emails each day from Natchez, Brownells, PSA, etc.

5/1/21 Update: It seems like I am getting several emails a day from vendors saying they have ammo in stock. I saw my first 20% off sale this past week so we will watch the prices start to drop. I’ve already seen steel cased 9mm at $500/1000 well off it’s peak high. The new round of stimulus checks may prop sales up a bit but not enough to fund all the ammo entering the distribution channels.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Ammunition, Self Defense, Shooting in General

Gorilla Ammunition – Quality Ammo From Florida And They Have Rounds In Stock!!

Everyone is trying to find ammo and some prices have gone through the roof when you do find some. An option you may not know about is Gorilla Ammunition located in Vero Beach, FL.

Mrgunsngear visited their factory in 2017 and shared a video showing their ammo, AR-10 and AR-15 rifles.

Kit Badger visited in 2018 and talked to both sides of the house – brass case and their polymer case ammo. His coverage of the polymer ammo was very interesting and he assembled the following video:

Good to Go

So, from everything I have read and watched, their ammo is reliable and accurate – by all accounts I read, very accurate. They aren’t the cheapest but the quality in terms of reliability and accuracy are there and that’s what I want these days.

Now here’s the kicker – they also sell direct and they have ammo in stock as well as waitlisted on their website!! For example, they have their 9mm Silverback self-defense ammo in stock right now. Check them out:

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Ammunition, Pistols, Shooting in General

Yes, Sellier & Bellot (S&B) Makes Good Ammo

Many folks are new to firearms these days or they are experienced and scrambling to find ammo. This means they are encountering brands they may never of heard of and Sellier & Bellot (S&B) is one such example. I get asked regularly if they make good ammo and if I would recommend their pistol or rifle and the answer is a definite YES.

First off, S&B is a Czech company that was founded in 1825. The Czechs produce some excellent small arms, such as the cz.75 pistol, and S&B turns out some great ammo. My point is that they know their stuff.

I have been using S&B ammo for years including 12ga shot shells, 8mm Mauser, .308, 9mm 115 grain and 124 grain full metal jacket (FMJ) plus 10mm 180 grain FMJ rounds. I use it for firearm testing and shooting at the range and have shot thousands of rounds with not one failure that I could attribute to the ammo – bear in mind I am using it often to test and break in guns. For example, the recoil impulse of the 9mm 124 grain ammo is great for breaking in pistol caliber carbines (PCCs) as well as newly built Polymer80 pistols.

I’ll keep this post short, S&B ammo is good to go. Below are some vendors with S&B offerings:

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.