Skip to content

Grand launch! We are new, and we are ready to serve and deliver How we ship

TAS cylinder markTop Ammo SupplyPrecision, Supply

Ammunition

Handgun Ammo

Handgun ammunition divides cleanly into two jobs that most people buy for at the same time: cheap full-metal-jacket ammunition to practise with in volume, and a much smaller quantity of a defensive load that has been proven to feed in the specific pistol that will carry it. The practice ammunition should be bought on price per round; the defensive ammunition should be bought on evidence and then tested. Everything else (bullet weight, case material, +P or standard pressure) follows from which of those two you are shopping for.

Before you buy

What to know about handgun ammo

What people buy it for

  • Concealed carry and home defense
  • USPSA, IDPA and Steel Challenge competition
  • Duty carry and agency qualification
  • High-volume range practice and training classes
  • Handgun hunting and woods carry in the magnum cartridges

Buy practice ammunition by the case, carry ammunition by the box

Price per round falls sharply between a fifty-round box and a thousand-round case, and modern handgun ammunition stores for many years in a cool, dry place in its original packaging. Defensive ammunition is different: you want enough to prove it functions (a full box through the actual gun and magazines is the minimum honest test) plus what you carry, ideally from the same lot.

+P has a definition, +P+ does not

+P is a SAAMI-standardised higher-pressure loading, and most modern service-size handguns are rated for it while many small, light and older ones are not. "+P+" carries no published standard at all. When a manual is silent on +P, standard pressure is the safe default, and practising with standard pressure is easier on both the gun and the shooter.

Case material decides where you can shoot

Brass is reloadable and universally accepted. Steel and aluminium are cheaper and non-reloadable, and steel case in particular is banned at a great many indoor ranges: sometimes to protect brass reclamation revenue, sometimes because bi-metal jackets are magnetic and damage backstops. Check your range's rules before ordering a case of the cheapest thing on the page.

Every load shoots to a slightly different place

Bullet weight, velocity and even the maker change where a pistol prints at fifteen yards, and fixed sights are regulated around one particular weight. If you switch practice loads to save money, confirm the zero. If you switch carry loads, confirm it twice.

Questions

Common questions

How much practice ammunition should I buy at once?

As much as you will actually shoot within a reasonable horizon: the per-round saving from a case is real, and factory handgun ammunition stored dry and cool lasts far longer than most people's shooting schedules. Every listing here prints the cost per round beside the price precisely so a box-versus-case decision is a glance rather than a calculation.

Do I need hollow points for the range?

No. Hollow points cost several times what FMJ does and offer nothing on paper or steel. Buy inexpensive FMJ for volume, then buy enough of your chosen defensive load to confirm it feeds and to know where it hits. That is the split almost every experienced shooter uses.

Why is handgun ammunition 21+ when rifle ammunition is 18+?

Federal law sets 21 for ammunition other than that for a rifle or shotgun, and a cartridge suitable for use in a handgun is treated as handgun ammunition regardless of what it is fired from. We apply that reading strictly, which means cartridges commonly chambered in both (.22 LR, .223, 5.56, .300 Blackout, 7.62x39, .22 WMR, .17 HMR and .410) are 21+ here as well.

Related departments

Further reading