Reddit mentions of Hoppe's Parent Title

search this question on firearms or ccw. Its been well covered there.

quick answer though:

bulk FMJ for range/target practice. Brand isn't that important. Winchester white box, cci blazer brass, seller and belloit, remington, pmc, Speer lawman, ANY of those brands should be absolutely fine. SOME people like one brand over another in terms of the ammo being "dirtier" (as in, how much carbon residue does it create and thus, how much work will it be cleaning your gun later)

  But general shootability, just pick whichever one of those you find a good price on.

 

Defensive ammo: You want hollow points. They do a better job of stopping the bad guy. They do a better job of NOT overpenetrating, going through the bad guy, and harming other things behind the bad guy.

 

Top recommended hollow point defensive choices are usually: Federal HST, Hornady Critical Defense, Speer Gold Dot. There are others that are probably fine too, but those three are probably the most recommended. Good chance, whatever police dept near you probably uses one of those three.

 

DON'Ts:

Do NOT bother with gimmicky high tech, superlight (50 grain) ammo with names like "RIP" or whatever. Its all hype.

Do NOT buy ammunition AT the shooting range, if you can at all help it. Shooting ranges typically have a crazy price markup on their ammo.
 

DOs:

Do buy your (target) ammo in bulk if you can. 500-100 rounds at a time is where you start to notice the savings.

Do use luckygunner, brickseek, r/gundeals. luckygunner is more of an ammo sales site, while brickseek is an indexer that shows you what current ammo prices are at other retailers.

 

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Non, ammo related things:

Cleaning: You don't need a lot. A good cleaning solvent, a lube, OR an all in one cleaner/lube combo (rem oil, clp, etc). A brush, a few gun q-tips, a bore snake , some rags or cloths (I like blue shop towels actually) and you're good. You can probably get a decent all in one kit off amazon for <$20. Also recommend a good cleaning mat You don't NEED the mat, but its convenient, keeps oil and scratches off your floor/table, and its like $10, why not? You also don't NEED the gun brand specific mat with YOUR gun diagram on it, but ... come on. Isn't it just a little cooler with it? Yeah, yeah it is.

 

As cleaning goes, this isn't military inspection. You don't need to scrub her spotless after every shoot. Just mostly wipe it down, get the noticeable carbon build up off, make sure the slide cycles smoothly, and IF anything internal is supposed to be factory shiny, make it shiny again. (specifically, it the feed ramp looks shiny )

 

Other than that...

Go shoot. A lot. A LOT

And ask questions.

Shooting is just like anything else. Practice a lot and ask for advice is how you get good.