Ammo review - USA Ammo 9mm Para. 115gr

Fill in the blank: Shipment of ammo makes dwkfym ________. a) happy b) sad c) angry  

Ammo! I recently got a shipment of ammo for all of my guns.  I only own three and they fire only two types of ammo: 9mm and 5.56mm.  As always, I go very cheap.  I'm a very frugal guy when it comes to consumables, though I am slightly a snob when it comes to guns.  This is evidenced by the fact that I bought an M9, then bought a 92G slide instead of just buying a Taurus PT92 from the get-go.  Whatever, I love my Beretta.  Incidently, if anyone needs a 92FS slide, I have one for sale.

I usually find my deals on Slickguns.com.  I know there are a bunch of websites that price out ammo per round, but they usually don't bother checking shipping costs.  Well, slickguns users do, and that makes the difference for me.  This case of 1000 came out to be just under 18 cents a round.  Why so cheap?  These are once-fired brass reloads.  I guess USAammo purchases brass from ranges, sorts them out, and reloads.

The ammo is 9x19mm Luger/Parabellum, 115gr.

My review.  I fired 250 rounds of this ammo at the range today.  No malfunctions.  Its a bit dirty; my right forearm looked like someone thought it was dinner and sprinkled pepper all over it.  Remember I'm left handed though, so I do get a bit more powder on that arm than anyone else.

The brass don't have many scratches made by the ejector.  In fact, they are very clean brass.  I believe them when they say once-fired.  The brass reads various manufacturers; PMC, Winchester, CCI (blazer), PPU, Federal, S&B and CBC.  What the heck is CBC?  Oh, found one mroe, Midway.  Whats that? (Edit: I found out CBC is magtech)  All name brands, and it probably doesn't matter much anyways since components may be from a fewer number of manufacturers.  Either way, people have reloaded the same brass many dozens of times with no failures, so as long as it is loaded well it should be fine.  The bullet looks fine too.

Recoil is a bit snappy.  Imagine your standard Federal champion 9mm, then imagine your Sellier & Bellot 9mm.  The recoil is in between the two.  Definitely practice ammo, but I will run it at my next IDPA event.

Accuracy is alright.  I am not good enough to tell you how accurate these rounds are out at 25 yards; I'll be lucky if I'm making 6 inch groups there.  But I fired these rounds through my G as well as a lane neighbor's Glock, and i could hit bullseye from both guns at 10 yards.  Good enough for me.

If you want to order this ammo, go on http://www.usaammo.com/.  But before you do that, go to www.slickguns.com and see if there is a 50% shipping discount coupon that is active.

The tray is probably damaged from when I tried to jam the whole box into a bigger box.  No big deal either way.

Gear Review - Israeli Tactical / ITAC/ ASA Defense Magazine Carrier

My first gear review!  This is going to be a very simple, straightforward review.

At my first IDPA event, I made my own double magazine holster with Kydex.  This turned out to be much more difficult than I thought.  The end result was ugly; I'll have a picture of it at the bottom.  It worked fine, but I wasn't satisfied with the construction and I didn't want to rely on it.

Do you ever complain about products made of economically and industrially feasible material, and think "this couldn't have cost more than x amount of dollars to make!" and complain about how expensive you have to pay to get the product?  I do all the time.  Well, this magazine holster I am reviewing certainly does not fall into that category.

CDNN Sports Inc. is a popular online vendor that sells a wide variety of shooting related products, including firearms.  Many of the cheap stuff they sell isn't so great, but this magazine holster met my expectations.  They sell this magazine holder for only 7 dollars at the time I write this.  They have a few models which should accommodate most handguns on the market, including single stack magazines.  It looks like this:

Stock Photo from CDNN Website

Its an Israeli made polymer magazine paddle holster, made by ASA Defense.  I've never heard of the company but it appears to be of military grade.

How do I like it?  Very much.  Tension adjustable with a hex key in the middle.  I adjusted the tension so there is no possibility of it falling out from my movements, but loose enough that I can pull it out very quickly.  The paddle is contoured well, and it is very comfortable to wear.  It also appears to be very durable.  I haven't fallen on it or anything (ow that would hurt), but I can trust that it will not fail during competition.

The paddle slips over your belt or waistband.  There are some extrusions in the outside of the paddle that will hold it securely in place once it is over the belt.  Furthermore, it is cant adjustable in what it looks like 5 degree increments.  I currently run it at the smallest possible forward cant for IDPA.  Unfortunately, it is probably not suitable for actual concealed carry.  But it should be perfect for service and duty use, and most importantly for me, competition use.

I've run it for 1 event and have worn it every practice range sessions.  If you are in the market for a magazine holder, please go check out CDNN's website.

These photos are high-res, so if you want to see it in more details just click on it.