Understanding AMMO

[Turtle]

Well lets start by saying I have no idea what good ammo is... I choose a name a recognize and at the best price can find. I figure a stock of any ammo is better than NO ammo.

But I'm curious as to what the different "grains" mean.
As in 115gr vs 124gr? (the 124gr cost more)

I know I have both and the 124 feels slightly heavier.
But is there a power or penetration difference?
Is this a designation of powder? or of basic bullet weight?

If any of you wiser older guys that really know there stuff out there wanna share a bit of basic ammo knowlage... It would be greatly appreciated and pictures help too! Thanks in advance!

 

[42769vette]

the 124 gr is the wieght of the acutal bullet. a heavier bullet usually drops faster, but it has more knockdown power than a light bullet as well as more penetration. (i think it has more penetration)

also i believe the heavier bullet the more recoil it has but you may not notice a diffrence

 

[JByer323]

Heavier bullet is gonna be slower. Lighter bullet is gonna be faster. There are pluses and minuses to both lines of thought, but honesty if you look at ballistics testing, they usually come out darn near the same in gel.

For SD ammo, I like Speer Golt Dots, and I roll my own for them. There are as many opinions on bullets as there are shooters, but if it doesn't meet the FBIs penetration requirements, I'd stay away.

 

[Slow Hand]

As stated, the Grain is teh weight of the bullet. There are 7000 grains in a pound. As you are limited by the amount of presure your gun can handle, you will have faster light weight bullets of heavier slower bullets. Depends on what you want to do with them. For winter carry, some folks use heavier bullets the give better penetration through heavier clothing.

An extreme example, but imagine throwing a golf ball and a bowling ball at someone. the golfball is lighter and can be thrown faster, but the bowling ball has more momentum.
I generally shoot heaver for caliber loads, which is waht most of my guns were originally designed for. 230 for .45acp, 180 for .40 S&W, 147 for 9mm and 158 for .38 Special. Only two variance are the 125's for the .357 and the lightweight Smith J frame. The 125 .357 load is a well proven manstopper and the Airweight is unplesant to shoot with 125's; 158's are downright painful!


Another thing is that you can do some elevation regulation with fixed sights by changing your ammo. At close ranges in a handgun, the heaver/slower the bullet is, the higher it will usually hit. that's opposite of what sounds right, but you are talking close ranges and the fact that the heaver bullet kicks more and is slower, so it's in the barrel longer, it wil be leaving the barrel when it's pointed higher due to recoil. Eaiser than trying to remeber where to aim your pistol if it doesn't hit to the sights.

Hope this helps,
Doug K

 

[cosermann]

Or, if you prefer ounces, there are 437.5 grains in an ounce. This small unit of measurement is used because firearms are precision instruments, and the ammo they use should be made to close tolerances.

All other things being equal (which they seldem are), a heavier bullet in a particular caliber has a greater sectional density and will penetrate better.

In the context of this thread, which seems to be handgun bullets, and the distances over which those are typically used, the tradeoff in trajectory and point of impact is insignificant (ballistically speaking).

Personally, I err on the side of heavy for caliber bullets. In 9mm for example, I don't shoot anything in 115 gr. or lighter. Used 124s for a while. The newer crop of 147 gr. bullets expand well at the slightly lower velocities they're thrown at, so I'm migrating to those.