30 luger ammo

[jeb111]

What commercial brand of 30 Luger ammo is recommended? I haven't used much in the way of commercial made ammo and so little of it seems to be available that when I do find some I don't want to end up getting ammunition that doesn't work well in Lugers.
Jim

[gunnertwo]

Anything of new production will work, trouble is finding it. I use ammoseek.com , kinda a Google for ammo. Tho they won't track you. :-)

G2

[Mac Cat]

MidwayUSA.com is my go-to. They will send you notices for ammo not in stock.
Fiocchi was what I found most often.
Academy.com has good prices, but stocks are unpredictable.
Cabela's will also let you know when they get stuff back in stock.

[G.T.]

Hi jeb111, the standard, best, totally default ammo for the .30 Luger is/was/has been, Winchester Western 93 gr. ball for as long as I can remember... Remington was/is too short, and Fiocchi was, most of the time, too weak! (not all, but most, depends on box color, lot number?) Then PPU showed up and is, by my estimation, the new best, lead sled dog in the .30 Luger field for the Luger P.08... It works well in all my .30 Lugers and also in repair testing.. It is normally priced right too? The WW was going for $60.00 for a box of 50, the PPU was about $20.00 for the same 50 count.. I don't know what it is now, but I'm betting still cheaper than the WW... Best to you, til....lat'r....GT...

BTW, my, my, ain't I just the little chatter box today! ....

[gunnertwo]

GT & Russ, good info, thanks. The store I work for had ten boxes that sat for six months. All gone now, we had $40 for 50 rds. If any comes in again I'll make a post.

G2

[jeb111]

G.T. what box color of Fiocchi works best ? I've found white boxes and black ones. I haven't found anyone with PPU in stock.
Thanks
Jim

[G.T.]

Hi Jim, none of the Fiocchi ammo I had ever worked well in the .30 Lugers I tested! Which meant I had to use WW to have any chance at reliable function without jams? I only reported it to work in some Lugers, using certain lots of a certain colored box type, because it was reported here on the forum. I have also read reports on .30 commercial Lugers that run on any ammo fed to it!!!
My personal experience with Fiocchi was always the same, failure to feed with the breechblock picking the cartridge up in the extractor groove, and the bullet nose up into the extractor notch! A classic underpower ammo, or oversprung Luger. One could acquire another .30 mainspring, and reduce it by one coil and see if that might cure the issue.. I think a Luger could be tuned to use the Fiocchi brand with a little effort. But rounds like the Remington ammo which are too short, have problems all their own... PPU .30 Luger ammo can be found online, I looked last night and one source advertized it at around $26.00 a box of 50. Lot better than the $60.00 I was paying for WW... best to all, til....lat'r....GT...

[Doubs]

I wonder why Fiocchi loads their 30 Luger so lightly? I suspect that it may be because 9mm, being a military & police cartridge, is illegal in Italy. The popular alternative was/is the 30 Luger for which many different pistols have been chambered. It's likely that none of them beyond the Luger require a stiff load. With so few Lugers in use, the weaker load isn't a problem there. That's my theory but, of course, there may be other reasons I haven't considered.

Not to make light of the 30 Luger ammo availability problem, reloading is an option but has it's own set of problems. Suitable bullets for one.

[DonVoigt]

Originally Posted by jeb111

G.T. what box color of Fiocchi works best ? I've found white boxes and black ones. I haven't found anyone with PPU in stock.
Thanks
Jim

There are also grey boxes.

Which ones work are hit or miss for the lot and your particular luger.

I'd wait till I could buy PPU.

[jeb111]

Thanks everyone, I'll keep my eyes open. There are a couple of gunshows coming up. I do reload but primers have become an issue as are some bullets I like. I'm not out of ammo just like to keep stocked up. I noticed the Fiocchi ammo was advertised at 1200fps which I thought was high enough to cycle a Luger properly.
Jim

[Kiwi]

Echoing G.T. PPU works well

Echoing Doubs - reloading is good when you have a bullet supply
Brownell's got PPU 85gr .3065 for about $17/100
I tried them - they worked well so I got 1,000

Currently Brownell's does not show them but that is probably because PPU does a run
then makes something else
Be patient and when they show up again get a bunch

[rhuff]

I am one of the fortunate ones, in that, my alphabet Luger is quite happy with Fiocchi 30 Luger ammo.....especially the grey box with the maroon lettering. My other handguns in 30 Luger caliber also have no problems with it.

As I am a handloader, I am able to load rounds that function in all of my 30 Luger handguns which saves me a lot of money, as I enjoy shooting that caliber.

I have never tried the PPU ammo, but sounds like something I should do when it becomes available.

[LU1900]

Be careful with PPU bullets , I use only them but sometime those for the 30 mauser are in the pack

[Mac Cat]

I just found some PPU .30 cal luger ammo.
He doesn't have a lot of it and it's at a premium price ($75/box), but it's available.

Maryland Munitions
Click here: www.mmiammo.com
3150 Baltimore Blvd
Finksburg, MD 21048
(443) 522-2364

[Major Tom]

Simpsons LTD in Galesburg, IL has 300 .30 luger rounds for $280.00. 4 boxes of Fiocchi white box 1425 fps 88 grain bullets, 1 box of Fiocchi looks like a purple box 88 grain bullets 1425 fps, 1 box PPU blue box 85 grain bullets and 2 boxes 25 rounds each.

[Mac Cat]

Old box of Winchester 30 cal luger on GB today.
$65.99 first bid 4 days left
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/971864947

Midway has Fiocchi brand
https://www.midwayusa.com/30-luger/br?cid=10148

[unspellable]

Every thing I've tried has worked, never had a failure.
Winchester 30 Luger slows down drastically if I fire it over a chronograph. They claim 1230 fps from a 4.5 inch barrel, DWM's original spec. I could not get a single round up to that velocity with a 6 inch barrel. Ejection is very weak out of my Ruger P89 although it never failed.
The original Glisenti was chambered for 30 Luger, I'd nominate that for the weakest gun around, but it would be extremely rare.

[DonVoigt]

"Every thing I've tried has worked, never had a failure."

In a luger pistol or your P89 or something else?

I have found multiple failures with multiple .30 lugers from NOS Winchester, Peters, Remington, and most any brand of .30 luger cartridges.

The overall length is critical, as is the "power" or velocity; the Old Model Parabellum will be more forgiving of weak ammo due to its leaf springs, as opposed to the New Model '06 or other using the coil mainspring.

[unspellable]

Various Lugers, a Ruger P89, a High Power, never a failure. Not very many rounds through the High Power which has a 9mm recoil spring in it. The few I've put through it were Fiocchi.
To add insult to injury, I used to hand load semi-wadcutters and full wadcutters for the single Luger I had at the time. Never a hiccup.
I've always said the critical length issue was with the 9mm due to the tapered case.
It's very common to find incorrect recoil springs in shooter grade Lugers. Prior to WWII there was a fad for cutting magazine springs in the 30 Luger. BAD idea.

The bullet catching on the extractor cutout mentioned above I've had with lead conicals in the 9mm.