Comparing Different Types of Ammunition: Which is Best for Your Firearm?

Not all cartridges are created equal, and not just in terms of caliber. Each is designed with different bullets, loads, and materials for a specific purpose, from self-defense to long-range precision shooting. While having a cartridge built for your use case isn’t necessary, it can drastically improve performance.

But there are so many types of ammunition on the market that it can be hard to choose the right one. We wrote this ammo comparison guide to make finding your perfect cartridge easier. Let’s jump in!

What Makes Every Cartridge Different

Before we look at different types of ammo for sale, we need to look at the traits every type has. Here’s what to look for in a modern cartridge:

• Caliber: The diameter of the bullet, which also indicates what caliber gun it’s compatible with.
• Bullet Type and Weight: There are different bullet designs optimized for speed, distance, damage, and more.
• Load: The amount of powder inside the casing. Heavier weights mean higher pressure explosions, which translates to faster bullets.
• Case Material: Different materials have different weights, seal tightness, reloadability, and price.
• Primer: Primers can be corrosive or non-corrosive, which impacts your barrel’s durability.

While there are a few other types of ammunition for older firearms that have more traits to look for (for example, whether it’s rimfire ammo or centerfire ammo), these are the major differences you’ll see in modern ammo comparisons.

Calibers

The most well-known difference between cartridges is caliber. This is the bullet's diameter and the firearm barrel's inside diameter. Larger caliber cartridges typically feature heavier weights and more powerful loads than smaller calibers.

Your firearm can typically only fire one caliber of bullet. While some share the same diameter size, such as .223 Remington and 5.56 NATO, they may come packed with higher loads that could cause damage to a firearm that isn’t chambered for it. Research your gun’s caliber and any potential complications with using a type of ammunition in a different caliber before buying more ammo.

Bullet Weights

You can generally separate bullets into two weight categories for an ammo comparison: light and heavy. Both are measured in “grain”, though the exact weight range bullets are manufactured differs based on caliber. For example, 147 gr is heavy for a 9mm Luger bullet, while 250 gr would be considered light for a .450 Bushmaster bullet.

Lightweight bullets: These bullets are optimized for speed, distance, and precision. However, they sacrifice impact velocity and penetration, as well as stability in windy conditions. This makes them great for competitive long-range target shooting, but not good for securing ethical kills while hunting.

Heavy bullets: Heavy rounds hit harder. Unfortunately, you give up range. This type of ammunition is best for self-defense and hunting, where you need bigger expansion and better penetrating power.

Bullet Types

The type of bullet is the most important part of an ammo comparison, as it has the most impact on its performance and application. Self-defense and hunting require bullets with the most expansion possible, while competitive and long-range shooting demands aerodynamic bullet tips.

• Round Nose: A short, rounded tip. A good balanced round, but easily beaten by more specialized bullet designs.
• Hollow-Point: Like their name implies, the tip is concave. This makes the bullet expand far more than round nose bullets, doing more damage at the expense of less penetrating power. Hollow-point bullets are the go-to for self-defense shooting.
• Boat Tail: The long, tapered tip of this type of ammunition helps stabilize the bullet in the air, making it ideal for long-range competitions and hunting.
• Soft Point:These bullets are alternatives for places with restrictions on hollow-point rounds.
• Open Tip (OTB): Open tip bullets have a small indentation on the front. This is much smaller than hollow-point bullets, as it’s meant to reduce bullet drop instead of expanding on impact. They’re also known as match bullets because of their popularity with competitive shooters.
• Full Metal Jacket (FMJ): This type of ammunition has a hard exterior with a soft metal interior, usually lead. The lead is exposed at the base. This design allows for better expansion, which translates to more damage to whatever you hit. They’re great for self-defense and training.
• Total Metal Jacket (TMJ): Like FMJ, but the exterior encases the entire bullet.
• Cast: These soft lead-alloy bullets are cheap and shoot fine at medium distances. While they aren’t effective enough for self-defense, precise enough for competitions, or legal in many states for hunting, they’re great for target shooting and practicing.
• Plated: A happy medium between FMJ and cast bullets. This type of ammunition has a lead core electroplated with a thin layer of copper, providing the performance of an FMJ with a lower price tag.

Primer

While there’s an entire science to primers, we’ll just stick with looking at corrosiveness options for this ammo comparison.

• Corrosive: Some rounds use primers containing potassium chlorate. When a round is fired, it leaves salts in the chamber and barrel that would corrode the metal. These rounds are cheaper, but require cleaning out the barrel and chamber with hot water ASAP after shooting.
• Non-Corrosive: Non-corrosive rounds do not contain any corroding agents. They are more expensive, but you don’t have to worry about pitting if you ever forget to clean out a gun that you used corrosive types of ammunition with.

Shop Ammo and Beyond at Sportsman’s Outdoor Superstore

At Sportsman’s Outdoor Superstore, we’re proud to offer a wide variety of modern and vintage ammunition. Whether you’re looking for rifle ammo for your AR-15 rifle or one of our revolvers for sale, you can restock on just about any type of ammunition at our gun store. Or, if you’re in the market for a new firearm, explore our collection of competitively priced, guaranteed in-stock guns for sale. Get everything you need for hunting, target shooting, and self-defense at Sportsman’s Outdoor Superstore!