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| Suck it, Charles Schumer. |
I bought 1,000 rounds of 9mm from Freedom Munitions. They are both a manufacturer and a reloader; they commercially reload cartridges to factory specification for a cheaper price. And if you're willing to accept cosmetic blemishes on your ammunition (seriously, is this even a consideration? Is bullet. Is not pretty. Is meant to be shot) you can get an even cheaper rate with their Blaster line.
I ordered this on July 22, and it took a week to arrive. With shipping (and 1k rounds 9mm weighs about 30 pounds), it cost me $195.68. For the record, that is about $15 less than what it would cost for a spam can of 900 rounds 9mm to be mailed to me.
And if you save your brass, you can mail it back in and get a rebate on your order.
I can't quite call this a review because I haven't shot this ammunition yet. (But I will. Oh, but I will, and very very soon.) Assuming they shoot well enough -- and they should, as this isn't rocket surgery -- this is an exceptional value for the money.
UPDATE #1: I shot some of these side-by-side with store-bought ammo. I couldn't tell any difference between the two. More information may be found here.
Update #2: As of 1/15/2013, I have shot approximately one-quarter of these bullets. So far, not a single one has failed to perform perfectly. I feel completely justified in giving Freedom Arms the Palette Seal of Approval!
As soon as I get confirmation that an order I placed through Georgia Arms this morning is cancelled, I will be placing an identical one through these folks. Cannot beat that price.
ReplyDelete(And blemishes unnerve some folks, due to the fact that they could be due to internal, microscopic failures in the case that could result in very unpleasant discharges. Myself... *shrug*.
Could be? How likely is that? I am a worrywart, after all....
ReplyDeleteI imagine that they QC each piece before loading for just such a problem, but now you've put the thought into my head.
Good deal. I'd wonder if the shipping costs offset the brass rebate.
ReplyDeleteDiscoloration isn't something to worry about, but primers not being set or any bulges or gouges especially above the extraction groove are something to keep an eye out for.
I don't know. Haven't tried it. If you use it, let me know what you think.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for the reassurance!
An easy QC check on your own is a cartridge gage. This is a metal device that measures if the cartridge is properly sized and will headspace correctly.
ReplyDeleteThe barrel from Oleg can also serve in this role. Remove the barrel and test some of the cartridges. Especially any that look odd. That will show you if any have not been sized right.
You can also check the overall length. Calipers are ideal, but you can compare with other ammo. Anything noticeably shorter or longer is questionable.
Further is weighing. Though that requires a good scale and a bullet puller. And that's a destructive test. But that would tell you if any cartridges are over or under weight and the weights of the various components.
Oh wow. Their price for 45acp is hard to beat.
ReplyDeleteIf I didn't reload I'd be all over that. Even so that's a good value.
The cheaty method is to take two identical (same caliber/bullet mass/etc.) rounds of a known, new-production source that you trust, and lay them out with a random sampling of 10 of the rounds from this place. If all of the dimensions look more or less the same and there are no obvious dents, cracks or other things you can visually pick out, you should be fine.
ReplyDeleteCompanies like this could not suffer the negative publicity from someone's gun going blewie - people have a dim enough view of reloads as it is, "remanufactured" or not.
holy smokes! there's no comparison with my usual component supplier, at least as basic bullets go. bookmarking...
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ReplyDeleteCompanies like this could not suffer the negative publicity from someone's gun going blewie - people have a dim enough view of reloads as it is, "remanufactured" or not.
Pretty much what I thought. Thanks for allaying my fears. :D
I do have a whole lot of .45 brass saved up....
ReplyDeleteI'm honestly flabbergasted at all the gunnies who didn't know about this place. I figured I was late to the party and y'all had been coming here for ages already.
ReplyDeleteYay! I'm helping! :D
The only thing I would stress is that this is *training* ammunition; in addition to having the wrong bullet for self-defense situations (FMJs are not ideal), you may (and I stress "may" - I have not tried this ammo yet, so I am guessing) experience more failures with this ammo. On the other hand, specific-built self-defense ammunition is intentionally engineered to minimize such failures to the lowest point possible. Spend the money you save on this stuff on some good SD ammo, and you will be shiny :).
ReplyDeleteI already have my EDC and home defense carbine loaded with +P Speer Gold Dot. :)
ReplyDeleteAlthough at these prices, I'm tempted to stock up on their JHPs...