It is often said, “it isn’t what you know, rather who you know”. Such was the case when it came to working with Ammo Inc. and their line-up of ammunition products. I had seen a few product announcements over the last year but hadn’t found a place with any (left) on the shelf. Thankfully, Ammo Inc. hired Chevalier Advertising for their PR work. I just happened to know a guy there who was able to get me hands-on range time with a few ammunition products I’d not worked with yet. The three handgun rounds I was able to procure are the OPS (One Precise Shot) 9mm 85 gr. hollow-point frangible (HPF) round, the /Stelth/ 9mm 147 gr total metal coating (TMC) subsonic round, and the Streak 9mm non-incendiary tracer. The Streak is unique enough to garner its own article, so lets cover the OPS and the /Stelth/.
As mentioned above the OPS is an 85 gr projectile when in 9mm flavor, with an advertised muzzle velocity of 1320 feet per second (FPS). This frangible hollow point has over 400 ft/lbs of energy at the muzzle. When shot though a Glock 19 and run through a chronograph, a 10 round string came back with an average velocity of 1326 FPS. Standard deviation (SD) came back at 11 FPS, with an Extreme Spread of 30 FPS. For factory loaded ammunition that isn’t marketed as Match, this is consistent ammunition.
After sending a handful of rounds downrange to get warmed up, I ran a pair of double taps at 8 yards with the aforementioned Glock 19. For defensive shooting, that’s gonna work.
I then loaded up my Glock 17 (suppressed, with micro red dot sight) and shot a couple of 5-round groups at 6 yards.
That’s more accurate than most of the 9mm ammo I’ve run… ever. Plus with such a (relatively) high muzzle velocity for a 9mm round, pegging softball sized rocks at 30-50 yards wasn’t much trouble, with very little holdover needed. “Speed kills” indeed! Reliability was 100%
-Next up was the /Stelth/ 147 gr TMC subsonic round, designed for use with a suppressor. With an advertised muzzle velocity (from a 4″ barrel) of 905 FPS and muzzle energy of 269 ft/lbs, one could expect a slight bit more velocity from the slightly longer 5″ barrel I was using. Chronographed while being shot through the suppressed Glock 17, the /Stelth/ averaged 926 FPS, with a SD of 11 FPS and an ES of 24 FPS. That will do the trick.
Next up were a couple 5-round groups at 6 yards.
Those meet my standard for accuracy. Reliability started out a little tough, as it did in the last brand of subsonic ammo I shot through this gun. Once I got through the first mag, that all changed and it started running like a top. With two totally different brands of subsonic ammo having trouble in the same gun, I’m leaning toward the /Stelth/ not being the culprit, but rather some of the changes I’ve made to the gun. The slide has been significantly lightened, and this suppressor is a .45 caliber can which decreases the backpressure these subsonic rounds are designed to make use of to tilt it. Interestingly enough, without the suppressor both of my Glocks ate the /Stelth/ rounds just fine.
Ammo Inc. has made some nice rounds here in my opinion. At the register, /Stelth/ rounds (in 9mm) run $.56/round and the OPS run $1.50/round. If keeping the noise down (for pest control, privacy, surreptitious activity) is a priority, the /Stelth/ round is a great option. While I have zero complaints with the OPS regarding accuracy or reliability, $1.50 is a steeper commitment, though a defensive round that performs well in terminal ballistics testing is worth its weight in gold. On your way out, take a look at the video below by some fellow Loadoutroom contributors testing the OPS round in gel!
