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TheEqualizer686P

Hello from Medford, NJ

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Hello fellow NJ gun owners. It didn't take me long to find this great forum and I joined immediately.  I'm a new gun owner scheduled to pick up my S+W 686P tomorrow that I purchased for home defense and plinking/target practice at the range and I'm really excited about it!  So far I've purchased a gun safe and a speed loader leaving the ammo as the only outstanding purchase yet to be made (tough choice and still confusing to a newbie).  I'll also be completing a gun safety course in the next few days as I believe in safe and responsible gun ownership.  In my brief time here this site has already supplied a wealth of information and I look forward to the discussions about gun ownership and use in the great garden state.  

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Welcome!
For ammo, if you have the money to buy in bulk, online is your best bet. You'll probably be purchasing a whole case (1000rds, generally) to really save some money. If you only want to purchase a small amount (i don't know how often/much you intend on shooting), then your best bet is to snag some when on sale at dicks sporting goods or from your local gun store.

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Welcome fellow BurlCo member!

I agree with the above, buy the ammo online. You don't have to buy a full case for it to be cheaper.

We are kind of in the south jersey black hole when it comes to ranges. Range14 up at Ft Dix, SJSC out past Berlin, or Delran Jr Marksman are it, I think. They're all 45-1hr away.

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Welcome fellow BurlCo member!

I agree with the above, buy the ammo online. You don't have to buy a full case for it to be cheaper.

We are kind of in the south jersey black hole when it comes to ranges. Range14 up at Ft Dix, SJSC out past Berlin, or Delran Jr Marksman are it, I think. They're all 45-1hr away.

I drive over an hour to get to Range 14 from up north, haha. Not much around here that doesn't cost absolutely insane amounts of money.

Anyhow, yeah, you don't have to buy a full case, but, youll usually save the most doing so. Some deals can be had occasionally on Cabelas and such where you dont have to buy a full case, just enough to hit the free shipping mark. If possible, find people to buy in with you and split a case or something; places like sgammo charge shipping so the cost to ship a 2nd case versus 1 case is only 50% more.

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Welcome!

This forum is a great place to get all the help you need.

I'm a little further south then you, but I like South Jersey Shooting Club in Winslow Township,

If your looking check it out... the onsite local gun store (LGS), Banger's is sponsoring a Sportsman"s Jamboree

The weekend of August 20/21.

Also, for ammo I've had good luck with bulk purchases from SGammo or TargetSportUSA, but you should

also keep an eye out for sales at Dick's (walk in) or Cabella's (walk in or mail order).

Again, Welcome to the forums!

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Welcome to the forum!

 

As for the ammo, it makes sense to keep a magnum 357 hollow point ammo for home defense, 

Training - you need to train, at least sometimes, with the home defense ammo, so you can trust it and know what to expect.  And you can practice with lead or jacketed rounds, both 357 and 38SP.  For a number of reasons, I stopped using 38SP altogether, and use only magnum, jacketed, or soft nosed, etc for the range, and hollow points for home defense.

I'd rather have a 22-caliber revolver for target, maybe SW 617, the ammo is cheaper.

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Welcome to the forum!

 

As for the ammo, it makes sense to keep a magnum 357 hollow point ammo for home defense, 

Training - you need to train, at least sometimes, with the home defense ammo, so you can trust it and know what to expect.  And you can practice with lead or jacketed rounds, both 357 and 38SP.  For a number of reasons, I stopped using 38SP altogether, and use only magnum, jacketed, or soft nosed, etc for the range, and hollow points for home defense.

I'd rather have a 22-caliber revolver for target, maybe SW 617, the ammo is cheaper.

Thanks for the welcome and information everybody.  I was leaning towards purchasing ammo online and you guys confirmed that's the best way to go so that won't be a problem.  I've been doing a lot of reading and research about ammo online and it's not easy to make heads or tails out of it all.  The number of choices for even one type of ammo is a little confusing let alone two (.38 and .357) so it's definitely a process.  Michael2013, while I do not yet have an understanding of the nuances of different ammo, I did read that a hollow point round was best for self defense (max soft tissue damage within the target, less penetration/decreased collateral damage) in the home so thanks for confirming that. I've seen quite a few recommendations for the federal hydra shok or Speer gold dot .357 hollow points -- what do you guys think?  I also read everywhere that most enthusiasts are using .38sp for plinking with a 686p so I'll start with those at the range and then move up to shooting some .357 to get a feel for what I should expect, as you suggested.  I don't know what grain I should get for the .38 and .357 so any help there would be appreciated.  I'm also not sure if I need a jacketed round or not.  A lot of online sources are saying the non-jacketed .38sp rounds leave a residue behind that can affect the way a .357 fits and fires(??)....is that something I need to worry about? What about eventually reloading my own ammo?   Is the equipment needed for that expensive and should I wait to do that until I'm more comfortable with ammo in general? Thanks again.

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First, there are no right or wrong answers....everyone has (and is entitled too) their own opinion.

As far as a hollow point for self defense - all brands have their pluses and minuses - whichever brand you choose (and you already mentioned some good ones) get some to keep with your firearm, but also get some to run through your firearm. With a revolver, it's hard to imagine any hiccups due to Ammo, but better to discover any issues at the range rather when you are depending on the firearm for something more important.

For target practice, personally I like manufactured brass - I keep most of my spent brass, I don't reload at this time, but I may in the future. I like Full Metal Jacket (FMJ), rather than Lead Round Nose(LRN) for reasons you already mentioned - it seems to be much cleaner. I shoot a lot, I look for deals online, Remington, Winchester, Lawman are all good choices, but I have also been happy with lessor knowns like Magtech, Stellier & Bellot, and Armscor.

Shoot some 357 to get used to it and know what you got, but if you shoot a lot, I shoot 38.

(My home defense (HD) ammo is all 357 mag Jacketed Hollow Point (JHP).

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Welcome from Evesham.  I can recommend Cabelas and SGAmmo for purchasing ammo.  There are a few range options in this area; voyager9 already mentioned a few, but there's also Telco Sportsmen's Club in Atco, which isn't too far from you.  

Thanks for the welcome and recommendations. I picked up my firearm today.  I took your advice and just purchased some ammo from SGAmmo.  A lot of their least expensive ammo was out of stock (surprise, surprise) but I did manage to pick up 50 rounds of inexpensive .38sp Aguila 130 grain FMJ ammo for the range and splurged on 40 rounds of .357 Magnum Federal Power Shok 125 Grain JHP for home defense/range shooting all for about ~$71.  Now I'll have to research some indoor ranges near me that were mentioned in this thread and head out there for the first time in the next couple of weeks.    

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