Guns and ammo
Tam:
In other words, it’s entirely possible that I could have come into this test with a case-and-a-half of warm Fiocchi or Remington ammo and a few hundred rounds of 115gr and 124gr JHP, and the gun would have fired 2,000 rounds with maybe one or two malfunctions and I’d be telling you this thing was the best deal since before Springfield started marketing the Croatian Sensation and it still cost $200 from some little importer in Knoxville.
March 31st, 2016 at 8:59 pm
But is a gun that’s this fussy on ammo worth it? I’m not asking to be a smart-ass; I know Tam reads here, and I’m hoping she’ll clarify her point. Is it better to buy this gun and more ammo that it will shoot reliably? Or something that will eat whatever you feed it? Or is it my typical answer: “It depends?”
March 31st, 2016 at 9:13 pm
Basically, that.
As I noted in a discussion on the Bookface today, I’ve put up quite a few of these tests on the blog, as well as a couple that didn’t get written up, and no Glock or Sig or Walther has required me to issue caveats about bullet weight or shape or power factor or whatever…
I will also note that in my experience, the Venn diagram of “the sort of people who want to spend as little as possible on a handgun” and “the sort of people who are willing to put up with having to shop around to find ammunition that is compatible with their gun because some common brands/loads aren’t” doesn’t have a lot of overlap.
March 31st, 2016 at 9:22 pm
Thank you, Tam. I sure miss being able to comment on your blog, but I completely understand the because for why.
March 31st, 2016 at 9:35 pm
I have a Beretta Bobcat .22LR that was and is finicky about what ammo it will fire without failures. It is a fun plinking gun of the very tiny sort (inaccurate and loud and as heavy in my pocket as my Glock 42). I would not expect it to fire if I needed it to do so.
But between the time I first tested a variety of ammo in it, and about 1000 rounds later, the failures occurred with different types and brands of ammo. Go figure.
April 6th, 2016 at 2:50 pm
IIRC 9mm ammo made to spec here in the US is loaded slightly “down” compared to foreign mfg’d 9mm.