SIG -Hammerli P240 ammo ????

[daotoys1]

I just picked up a new SIG-Hammerli p240 pistol and I understand that the 38 caliber barrels can get damaged if the incorrect ammo is used in that caliber .

Im interested in what ammo I can buy that is safe to use in the 38 caliber SIG-Hammerli target pistol. I do not know how to make my own ammo so I will be buying the ammo from a manufacturer(s).

Any input and/or recommendations will be greatly appreciated. Im especially hoping that some SIG-Hammerli P240 owners/shooters will share there experiences with me and help me with this issue.

Thanks in advance for any help.

DAO

[BenEnglishTX]

I just picked up a new SIG-Hammerli p240 pistol...

Congratulations.

...I understand that the 38 caliber barrels can get damaged if the incorrect ammo is used in that caliber .

Im interested in what ammo I can buy that is safe to use in the 38 caliber SIG-Hammerli target pistol. I do not know how to make my own ammo so I will be buying the ammo from a manufacturer(s).

Any input and/or recommendations will be greatly appreciated. Im especially hoping that some SIG-Hammerli P240 owners/shooters will share there experiences with me and help me with this issue.

I'm not a 240 owner, so I can't make any positive recommendations. However, I have a great deal of recent experience with .38 LHBWC ammo in revolvers so I believe I can make some negative ones. (There's another thread on the board that I started on the issue that's frankly embarrassing to me. After returning to shooting after a long layoff and relying on my memory of this ammo as being very accurate I was shocked to find that it was all terribly inaccurate nowadays. It appeared to me that the bullets were keyholing even at short range. Board members pointed out, some more gently than others, that I was using such cheap targets that this slow-speed ammo was causing massive tearing of the targets instead of clean bullet holes. This created the illusion of problems where none actually existed. I bought some good targets and found that 38 wadcutter ammo is generally just as wonderful as I remember from my youth.)

First, you should already know your firearm requires wadcutter ammunition seated flush with the case mouth. That eliminates the overwhelming majority of .38 ammo on the market. Less choice = less confusion. Note, when I say "wadcutter", I'm referring to 148-grain lead hollow-base bullets. There are solid wadcutters on the market (frequently referred to as "double-ended wadcutters") that I'll let other people talk about. I don't think they are appropriate for your pistol but I don't know for sure.

Second, if you're tempted to experiment with the least expensive 148-grain hollow base wadcutter ammo you can find, you'll encounter Bitterroot Valley ammunition. Bypass it. It's widely advertised as 148gr HBWC but it is not. It's actually a flat-nose, ultra-short rounded ogive bullet that extends beyond the case mouth. It's my understanding that it won't cycle through any .38 wadcutter autopistol (240, 52, Colt, Clark Custom) at all.

Third, still on the low-cost side of things, I tend to recommend against commercial reloads. In revolvers they are a staple and good enough for practice but I see enough variation on target and feel enough in my hand to recommend against such ammo for an autopistol. Note all the different headstamps in the box of Precision ammunition. The commercial .38 WC reloads you'll find at gun shows in the U.S. are notoriously sloppy because most of them are from very small manufacturers, often one-person shops that are just trying to make a few bucks off all that reloading equipment they've bought over the years. Quality control ranges from excellent to non-existent. Forget them. If you really want to try remanufactured ammo, I suggest you go with Black Hills. They make both new and remanufactured ammo and have about the best reputation for the recycled stuff.

That still leaves you at least a half-dozen easily available choices. I feel fairly sure that someone more authoritative than me will come along and simply recommend you buy a box of each and see what your gun likes best. All pistols seem to have their favorites and those favorites almost never can be predicted beforehand.

The six boxes pictured are brands that you can easily find and order online. Clockwise from the upper-right, they are: Federal, Remington, Winchester, Sellier & Bellot, Fiocchi, and Black Hills. I'm willing to bet if you bought a box of each, you could narrow down your choice to two different brands almost immediately and make a final choice after not a whole lot of range testing.

One last thing - In nearly all my revolvers, the most accurate ammo is the yellow-box Western SuperX stuff, but since it hasn't been made in decades it's kind of hard to recommend. :-)

Hope this helps.

Ben in TX