Freedom Munitions 10mm Any good?

[jamil]

Freedom Munitions has 10mm fmj in stock at around $.36 or so per round. That's a pretty good deal considering underwood is ~$.60/rd. I have some underwood but at that price I don't shoot it much.

My my only experience with Freedom Munitions is the 9mm. And that was fairly week. Useable just for plinking. So how is the 10mm? How has it worked for you? Okay for plinking or just not worth it at any price? I'd like to shoot 10mm more and this would do. But if it doesn't cycle well I'd probably skip this deal.

 

[CB45]

Freedom munitions 180gr 10mm advertised velocity: 1120fps
https://www.freedommunitions.com/category-s/1825.htm


Underwood advertised 180gr 10mm velocity:1350fps
https://www.underwoodammo.com/10mm-auto-180-grain-full-metal-jacket-box-of-50/

 

[jamil]

I've seen the advertised specs. For plinking I can live with 1120fps. The 9mm advertised velocity is 1120fps, which I think is doubtful. I just wondered if anyone had experience with their 10mm.

 

[Tula47]

I've seen the advertised specs. For plinking I can live with 1120fps. The 9mm advertised velocity is 1120fps, which I think is doubtful. I just wondered if anyone had experience with their 10mm.

Which are you looking at? I've fired some of their hollow point stuff and it was nothing to jump and down about but it went bang.

 

[Principal Skinr]

I use their 10mm RNFP at the range all the time, and it is gtg. Never an issue.

Underwood ammo is great, and I use their extreme penetrator loads, which send a 140g bullet at 1450fps, for hog hunts or bear country. (From a 4.6" Glock 20 barrel.) For fun shooting, though, look at the price difference. That's why I use Freedom Munitions for fun. 19.56/box vs. 30.99. Ouch! (50 rounds)

Occasionally, FM offers 5% or free shipping, which makes the deal even better. Better yet, wait for their 5% deal and you get free shipping on your first order. That can't be beat for 10mm. Not by anyplace I've seen.

 

[Snipercop]

I have used their 10mm rounds as well as several other calibers prior to reloading them myself. Never had an issue with any of them. Great customer service and first order was free shipping if I recall.

 

[jamil]

Which are you looking at? I've fired some of their hollow point stuff and it was nothing to jump and down about but it went bang.

I just want plinking ammo. For what they charge for their XTP hornady I'd rather buy more Underwood. So I'm looking at the 180gr RNFP. Damn good price for 10mm. But, 501 ft lb muzzle energy is pretty anemic. I mostly shoot SIG Elite and Armscorp for plinking. The SIG is pretty good, the Armscorp is just okay. As you say, it goes bang.

The Armscorp isn't that much better than FM's advertised velocity. Since I don't typically find the Armscorp for much less than $0.50/rd, for that price I might as well stick with the SIG Elite. But the FM price is appealing. I think I'll go ahead and order 250 rds just to see how it is. For $90.55 + shipping, I won't be out that much if it really sucks.

 

[Sling10mm]

I would be curious to know how you like it. A friend really likes their 9mm range stuff. I just generally reload 10mm, but $.18/round is pretty good considering new Starline brass (mt preferred) is $.16.2 each bought in bulk. I have a decent stock of it, and would like to get more, but a good source of affordable range ammo would cool.

 

[jamil]

I would be curious to know how you like it. A friend really likes their 9mm range stuff. I just generally reload 10mm, but $.18/round is pretty good considering new Starline brass (mt preferred) is $.16.2 each bought in bulk. I have a decent stock of it, and would like to get more, but a good source of affordable range ammo would cool.

I ordered the 250 rds. I expect it to perform about like the armscorp ammo.

Several months ago I purchased the 9mm and wasn't all that impressed. It was just "okay". For their 9mm price I can get usually find sales on Herter's for a bit less, and I thought it performed a little better.

Heh, wound up buying a half case of FM 9mm so I could bump up the total to get $7.50 flat rate shipping, lol.

I'll post back after I get to try it out. As I recall FM shipping isn't very fast.

 

[Sling10mm]

Duh, don't know where I got $.18/round, but even $.36/round is pretty attractive. Understand about the 9mm performance being underwhelming, and even if it performed at the advertised 1120 fps, which isn't great, it would still be good plinking fodder.

 

[jamil]

The ammo order was shipped faster than what I've experienced in the past from Freedom Munitions. So I hit the range this morning to try it out. Short version: Meh. It kinda goes bang.

I had a lot of feed issues with this ammo in my Tripp Cobra 10rd mags, mostly chambering the first round after reload. The slide just didn't want to go into battery when I released the slide with the slide stop. I never had any issues like that with the Tripp mags using other ammo. The FM ammo seemed to feed fine with the factory mag.

While at the range I compared a round of FM to Sig Elite side by side. The Sig ammo feeds and shoots reliably so it makes a good comparison. The Sig ammo is more rounded and just a bit shorter. The FM round is long enough that the tip almost touches the feed ramp. When I release the slide stop the slide seems not to have enough momentum to chamber the round. When I rack the slide, it feeds more reliably. At the range I didn't really take much time to inspect the positional differences between the factory and Tripp mags when inserted. But I'm not really blaming the Trip mags. As I've said, they've been very reliable with all other ammo.

Shooting the FM ammo was fairly reliable. I had a few feed issues, again mostly with the Tripp mags. I only had time to shoot ~100 rounds of the FM ammo. Out of that, after getting the first round chambered after reload, I probably had 3 or 4 miss feeds out of that. One stovepipe.

As for "power". I'll just say it doesn't put a smile on my face like Underwood does. The only ammo I took with me to compare is the Sig Elite. The difference in felt recoil was stark. I ran 3 or 4 mags of the FM through before switching to Sig for comparison. So I kinda got used to the mild recoil of the FM. Then, after shooting the first round of the Sig Elite, I was like, hello. Yeah. Now that's more like it.

I'm not sure I'm going to buy anymore of the FM 10mm. It's cheap, but if I want to just shoot something "lite" I have plenty of cheaper 9mm. Speaking of 9mm, in the same order, to get the $7.50 flat rate shipping I ordered 500rds of 9mm 124gr. I think it was a different grade or something than what I've ordered in the past. It came in a different colored box. Anyway, it performed much better than the 9mm I've bought from them before. I shot about 150 rnds of that with zero issues and I didn't think it was as weak as what I shot from them before. I will order that again.

I only bought 5 boxes of the 10mm, and for that price I *shouldn't* consider it a waste of money. It's kinda okay for plinking as long as I can get the slide into battery for the first round. But I *do* consider it a waste of money because of this: A day or so after placing this order I got an email promotion from Cabella's for Sig Elite 10mm, which is my favorite 10mm plinking ammo, for $23 per box and $5 flat rate shipping! Mother****er!

 

[sweendogie]

I bought some of their 357 mag and 38 special and I didn't have a problem with it. I'm no expert though.

 

[AmmoManAaron]

Jamil, have you shot any PPU 10mm? If so, how does it compare with the FM and Sig Elite ammo?

 

[jamil]

Jamil, have you shot any PPU 10mm? If so, how does it compare with the FM and Sig Elite ammo?

No, but I'd like to find some affordable PPU to try. I've seen it but usually around $30/box of 50. I'm just not going to pay that for plinking ammo.

Comparing muzzle velocities though, the PPU 180 gr is 1083fps/469 ft lbs. Not all that hot. Sig Elite 180 gr FMJ is 1250 fps for 624 ft lbs. In comparison, FM is listed at 1120 fps/501 ft lbs. After shooting the FM, I thought the recoil isn't much different from .45. The FM should be very similar to the Armscorp 10mm (1150 fps). I didn't bring any with me to compare to the FM.

I really like the Sig Elite. It's not loaded as hot as Underwood, but it's cheaper and it's still enough to make me smile when I shoot it. That's why I wanted a 10mm. I wanted a .357 magnum kind of smile in a 1911.

If I can find some PPU I'll give it a try and let you know what I think of it.

 

[jamil]

I bought some of their 357 mag and 38 special and I didn't have a problem with it. I'm no expert though.

Well, like I said, I'm pretty happy with the 9mm 124gr that I just got. I'll have to look at the invoice to see what exactly I ordered. The box looked a lot different from the other FMJ 9mm that I've bought that I wasn't happy with. Maybe it's "match" or something. If it was match ammo, it was pretty cheap.