Fiocchi 9mm Accuracy

In the days before I went the RDO route, I was an ammo whore, I bought whatever what inexpensive, but I found that there could be some zero differences with the dot, so I’m a little more bougie with my ammo choices. I’ve got my favorites, but I hadn’t seen Fiocchi since early 2020. Bought a couple cases of it for good money in December, and pulled it out to run several hundred rounds before heading to the Rangemaster instructor course this week. While I shoot 25 yards on the reg, it’d been a while since shooting groups on B8’s. My scores have been consistently higher with other loads. My question being has anyone else noticed a degraded accuracy with Fioccchi FMJ, or do my poor scores just coincide with me having a glitch in the matrix to shooting decent groups? Mind you, it’s not so bad that I have any concerns that it will not perform to the level I need to pass.

For whatever it’s worth, I chronoed it yesterday, and it was running 1216 from my LTT Centurion and 1166 from a P365. HST 124+p was 1214 from my 92, comparatively.

If you're consistently scoring lower than other ammo out of the same gun, then it's likely just a slight disagreement in the ammo/gun combo. You may find other guns shoot it very well.

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Originally Posted by jeep45238

If you're consistently scoring lower than other ammo out of the same gun, then it's likely just a slight disagreement in the ammo/gun combo. You may find other guns shoot it very well.

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I had not thought of that specifically. I figured it to be either me, most likely perceiving something off, me just sucking, or there being changes in the ammo. In the 600ish I shot, the handful of rounds shot beyond 15 yards in Missouri last week, there was zero discernible difference from what was expected.

I test a lot ammo in all my guns. I have shot a couple of Fiocchi 115 gr fmj and 147 gr fmj loads. Best accuracy I’ve seen is 1.75” at 20 yards out of a couple different guns. IMHO nothing to write home about accuracy wise, but adequate for close range practice. Seems quite reliable.

My experience has indicated that it's difficult to find 9mm ammo that is consistently accurate over a range of firearms. Being the most widespread service round world wide, there are many ammo and gun manufacturers involved. This leads to a wide range of variables in bore size, often by multiple thousands of an inch, variances in case thickness(which changes capacity and burn rates), etc. One type of ammo, be it factory or handload, that shoots the lights out in one gun may not be worth a damn in another. I haven't found any that aren't at least good enough for Government work. But, if you’re chasing group size it can be frustrating.

If you're chasing accuracy the 9mm can be a real rabbit hole.

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Originally Posted by Trooper224

My experience has indicated that it's difficult to find 9mm ammo that is consistently accurate over a range of firearms. Being the most widespread service round world wide, there are many ammo and gun manufacturers involved. This leads to a wide range of variables in bore size, often by multiple thousands of an inch, variances in case thickness(which changes capacity and burn rates), etc. One type of ammo, be it factory or handload, that shoots the lights out in one gun may not be worth a damn in another. I haven't found any that aren't at least good enough for Government work. But, if you’re chasing group size it can be frustrating.

If you're chasing accuracy the 9mm can be a real rabbit hole.

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Agreed. It is almost as bad as the .22 LR rabbit hole. What I have found is that a high velocity 115 grain JHP load shoots pretty well in most guns. I have 3 loads that have proven accurate in my guns:

4.5 grains Bullseye
6.1 grains WSF
6.0 grains Power Pistol

Bullets I’ve used include Zero, Nosler, Montana Gold and Hornady HAP. Primers used are Winchester SP.

A friend got some 115 gr Fiocchi and found that it would not function all his pistols.
I brought out the Xero and found that it had a spread in velocity of over 100 fps. It did not average very fast and a big drop from that meant no-go.

So far, out of the two 9mm Tisas 1911s I've been shooting:

Magtech 115 grain 9mm is trash. It's POI is significantly higher at 25 yards than others. It is relatively hot, so the action cycles postively, but that's the only positive.

Fiocchi 115 grain is middle of the road. It's lighter, so ejection can be a bit sluggish, but accuracy was decent. (Accuracy statements refer to twenty-five yards performance).

PMC Bronze 115 grain is acceptable but leaves an lot of brass particles in the action, which is odd.

S&B 115 grain is also good enough if unremarkable.

Federal 115 grain has shown to be the leader in accuracy and function, with good accuracy and vigorous ejection.

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Originally Posted by Trooper224

So far, out of the two 9mm Tisas 1911s I've been shooting:

Magtech 115 grain 9mm is trash. It's POI is significantly higher at 25 yards than others. It is relatively hot, so the action cycles postively, but that's the only positive.

Fiocchi 115 grain is middle of the road. It's lighter, so ejection can be a bit sluggish, but accuracy was decent. (Accuracy statements refer to twenty-five yards performance).

PMC Bronze 115 grain is acceptable but leaves an lot of brass particles in the action, which is odd.

S&B 115 grain is also good enough if unremarkable.

Federal 115 grain has shown to be the leader in accuracy and function, with good accuracy and vigorous ejection.

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I started getting more selective with ammo when I transitioned to dot. I’ve got a couple cases of Magtech, and my 92 gets along just fine with it, but I was going to run the Fiocchi because I hadn’t had any in several years. Figured I could sort it out shooting it mostly exclusively the month leading up to Tom’s course. I’ve gone through phases of chasing 25 yard precision, but if I don’t for a while, I struggle hard. Hence, when I rezero my dot, I am often sufficiently satisfied with 8/10 rounds in the black, especially target loads. I’d also been shooting some Federal Champion, and it had to have just been me shooting the Fiocchi ammo at the wrong point in my range traps.

When we started shooting drills for score that weekend, I had absolutely zero issues with it at 25 yards. Rangemaster bullseye drill shot at 298/300 (all 5 of my 25 yard shots landed the 10 ring), and earned the first coin of the day with the second drill (don’t ask me which one, I’ve forgotten) with a 198/200. Final qualification shot 99/100, so I couldn’t find any fault.

Though, you mentioned something else I’ve started to pay much more attention to. I don’t want the powder puff loads. PMC runs great and has great accuracy, but it’s loaded super light (barely 1100 fps). Fiocchi was running hot (~1200-1230fps from my 4.3” Centurion).