Beretta APX 9mm Ammo Recommendations: Best 9mm Ammo for All Occasions

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Looking for the best ammo for the Beretta APX 9mm?

This superb family of pistols has been making waves in recent years, and it’s fair to say that Beretta has a certified hit on their hands with their first polymer-framed, striker-fired pistol. We’ve done some testing to try and find the best 9mm ammo for a Beretta APX.

Our overall pick, if you’re short on time, is Blazer 115gr FMJ, but there are plenty of other options out there that may work better, depending on your needs. Here are our top picks broken down by use case:

Top 3 Ammo Choices for Beretta APX 9mm

  1. Blazer 115gr FMJ
  2. Speer Gold Dot 124 Grain +P JHP
  3. Federal American Eagle 124gr TMJ

We’re going to take a close look at each of these rounds and why we chose them, then we’ll take a look at the APX itself and how to select the perfect bullet type and weight to get the best performance out of it.

Best 9mm Ammo For Beretta APX: Blazer 115gr FMJ - Overall Pick

Specs

  • Bullet Type: Full-Metal Jacket
  • Bullet Weight: 115gr
  • Muzzle Velocity: 1145fps
  • Muzzle Energy: 323 ft-lbs
  • Casing Type: Brass

Pros

  • Affordable
  • Feeds well in most platforms (including the APX and APX A1)
  • Light recoil
  • Cycles reliably

Cons

  • Very light projectile
  • Not suitable for self-defense

Why We Chose It

The vast majority of what we do with our handguns will be target shooting of some variety. Training, plinking, competition, what have you…not running into harm’s way or defending hearth and home from attackers.

For that reason, Blazer Brass 115gr FMJ is our top pick overall.

It’s an affordable option with very mild recoil thanks to the 115gr projectile, but it still cycles and feeds very reliably. This makes it a great option for any kind of sport shooting, from casual plinking to competition.

The cases are well-manufactured and great for reloading, and the primers are reliable and well-seated, even though this is decidedly a budget-minded ammo choice. For a quick range trip or for stocking up on just in case, it’s hard to beat this reliable performer.

Best APX 9mm Ammo For Specific Uses

Speer Gold Dot 124 Grain +P JHP - Self-Defense

Specs

  • Bullet Type: Gold Dot Jacketed Hollow Point
  • Bullet Weight: 124gr
  • Muzzle Velocity: 1220fps
  • Muzzle Energy: 410ft-lbs
  • Casing Type: Nickel-Plated Brass

Pros

  • The best ammo for Beretta APX Carry 9mm
  • Proven Gold Dot bonded hollow points
  • Great muzzle velocity
  • Nickel-plated brass cases for more reliable function

Cons

  • Expensive
  • Not available in bulk

Why We Chose It

Speer Gold Dot Hollow Points are one of the most popular defensive handgun ammo options out there among civilian and LEO shooters alike. These rounds are carefully designed to exhibit controlled expansion when passing through soft tissue and can open up to nearly twice their initial diameter.

They are also designed specifically to spend all of their energy before exiting (if they exist at all), so there is much less risk of over-penetration, which is one of the reasons they are so beloved by law enforcement agencies in major urban centers.

Gold Dots have a proven track record in the field. They are readily available because Speer has to churn out so many of them to meet all of their state and Federal law enforcement contracts, so you’ll rarely be in a position where you can’t find your favorite carry ammo in stock if you run them.

Continue reading Beretta APX 9mm Ammo Recommendations: Best 9mm Ammo for All Occasions on Ammo.com

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Why was this pistol chosen for a write up?

Someone get one for Christmas?

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the Beretta APX was one of the entrants in the US Army pistol trials and eats 124 Nato like smarties

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Really?

Resembles a Hi-Point to me :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

If it were a High Point that would be a good thing :wink:

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well I like mine and it ain’t a hipoint

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This may your feelers :face_with_open_eyes_and_hand_over_mouth: but Hi-point gives a 100% lifetime warranty to the owner whether bought new or used

Beretta gives a limited 1-year warranty :man_shrugging:

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They work, just don’t ever need anything from their customer service cause they suck bad.

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Two tone, threaded barrel and extended mag makes it look much less Hi-Point :grin:

Guess when you’re big enough to play with the Army you don’t need civilian satisfaction, think that was Colt’s business model too.

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Hi points CS is among the best, Beretta may be the worst. they will not answer an e mail and most of the time they won’t answer the phone and when they do they say i will call you back and they never will. they are horrible. i would never buy another Beretta cause of their CS.

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I would take that a step farther and say I wouldn’t buy a 9mm for SD, period. That said, I DO have an Sig 365 Macro and an Enigma holster, about the only “pocket” or “appendix” carry I would consider. I use 124 gr ammo like Sig or Federal.

My personal sense is that a 9mm is barely adequate in stopping a threat in the usual SD scenario. Yes, it’s easier to shoot - that’s what got us the FBI 10mm, then 10mm modified - that morphed into .40 S&W.

These days cops often carry 9mm’s because police chiefs have a budget to adhere to, and 9mm fulfills their obligation on “lethality” AND cost. But to my mind, cops shout be carrying the .375 Sig. It is kind of like a 9mm Magnum; its 125 gr combat load reproduces the .357 Mag 125 SD ballistics.

I tend to be “old school” when it comes to ballistic gel results. In SD you aren’t shooting a ballistic gel; you’re shooting a real, live person. And while accuracy counts (big time), so does hole size. The area of a 9mm round is about 0.1 sq in, while a .45 is about 0.16 sq in. That’s a big difference in area of initial hole; I don’t care what you say about “wound channel”, that size difference is important. The only factor that can kind of modify that result is velocity. And 9mm ain’t all that fast. Shoot .357 Sig and you get 125 gr bullets going about 1450 FPS, a whole boatload faster than any 9mm. In momentum and energy the .357 Sig beats a .45; it’s just hole area that is loses - by about 30% or something a little less.

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Ok, but if I gave you one for SD we’d be good? :wink:

I had a short fascination with the sexy 357 sig, love the bottle neck design as it seems less likely to offer feed issues, ultimately I gave it up for the 10mm

But in truth, and according to our friends at @Ammodotcom penetration tests and overall comparison don’t make the sig a winner vs 9mm

I’d think, for SD, as no one wants to be shot that if you are in fact armed with a 9mm and either need to brandish or fire a bad guy is going to lose interest rather than ask if your packing a sufficient caliber :grin:

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I think that choice is very much a personal one. My cop buddies all agree the .357 Sig in 125 gr combat loading is the nads. Street experience often does not compare with “gel testing”. I understand that shooting gel is about the only real way to try to make some sense of the whole bullet design idea, but one has to firmly remember - no one has EVER been attacked by a block of gel. Real air-breathing humans often show way more resilience to being put down by a wonderful gel-expanding bullet.

The other thing I am personally convinced of is that shooting a .357 Sig is easier on the shooter than shooting 9mm +P or +P+. I ascribe that to the bottleneck cartridge design. But that’s simply my opinion.

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