Velocities of Some 9x19 124 Grain Training Ammo
I usually use my handloads for practice, but I know that most instructors prefer you to use factory ammo for classes and I've got a class coming up. I decided to get different brands of training ammo to see how they match up with my carry ammo, Federal HST 124 grain +P. The pistol I used was my CZ-75B of '96 vintage with the stock 4.7" barrel, which has about 10k of mostly jacketed ammo through it. The following resulted from firing one five-shot string from each type of ammo. Data are shown as average velocity/standard deviation. I'm aware that one five-shot string is inadequate for precision, but I was looking more for ballpark-level information. Here's what I found:
Federal HST 124 +P: 1179/11
PPU 124 NATO: 1185/20
Independence 124: 1111/10
Federal American Eagle 124: 1074/10
Winchester 124 NATO: 1164/9
MEN 124 NATO: 1148/9
PMC Bronze 124: 1061/3 (not a typo)
Blazer Brass 124: 1053/16
Fiocchi 115: 1172/13
Some notes: I didn't try these for accuracy due to time constraints. The American Eagle had the least felt recoil, the PMC recoiled about like the NATO-spec stuff, and the rest were in between. Felt recoil of the NATO-spec stuff was unsurprisingly indistinguishable from the HST. There were zero failures of any kind with the rounds I shot today. While I wasn't testing for accuracy, I did use a common aiming spot for these, and the rounds impacted within one sixish-inch group at 25 yards with no effort at precision.
Going forward, I'll probably use the Winchester NATO-spec ammo for classes since it's among the cheapest out there, is alway available, shoots well in my 9x19s (I've used it before) and replicates the performance of the HST load. I need to try for accuracy with the MEN and PPU loads to see how they do.
Two loads I wanted to try but weren't available when I ordered are the S&B and Lawman 124 grain offerings.
Thanks for reading!
Additional Ammo through the CZ-75B; Results through My New PX4 Full Size
I managed to glom onto some of the ammo I wasn't able to find last time and run it through the CZ. Again, data are presented as average velocity/standard deviation:
S&B 124 grain: 1121/7
Speer Lawman 124 grain: 1080/9
I just picked up a full-size Beretta PX4, my first new gun in ten years, and ran all the ammo I had over it to see the difference between its 4" barrel and the 4.7" barrel of the CZ. My chronograph may be dying; strings with an asterix indicate a weird velocity in there, 50-100 fps below the others with no difference in felt recoil or report. That yielded lower average velocity and much larger SD.
HST 124 grain +P: 1141/42*
Speer Lawman 124 grain: 1048/10
S&B 124 grain: 1096/2
Fiocchi 115 grain: 1133/17
MEN 124 grain NATO spec: 1118/7
American Eagle 124 grain: 1013/27*
PMC 124 grain: 1014/11
Independence 124 grain: 1050/31*
Winchester 124 grain NATO spec: 1132/6
So, there's about a 25-40 fps loss in the shorter barrel, or about what one would expect. If I were to shoot the PX4 in a match where it had to make power factor, I'd avoid the AE and PMC in this gun, though they'd be fine in the CZ.