By Kevin Mazza
Freedom Munitions is an American ammunition manufacturer with locations in Texas and Idaho. They manufacture both new and remanufactured ammunition, the only difference being the cartridge case. Remanufactured ammo uses once-fired cases that have been inspected, tested, cleaned and full length resized. New ammunition features, you guessed it, new cases . . .
Why remanufactured ammo?
There can be a significant cost savings with remanufactured ammo. Cartridge brass is the most expensive component of ammunition and reusing it can save a good chunk of money. Freedom Munitions only uses once-fired brass. Their remanufactured ammo is loaded on the exact same equipment that their new ammo is loaded on. The process is the same once the fired brass is prepped.
Freedom offers .40 S&W ammo in various bullet weights and designs. I chose the 180 FMJ for this test. The 180 grain FMJ is copper jacketed and pushed to 950 fps. It retails for about $13 per box of 50 rounds. For comparison new Freedom Munitions .40 S&W ammo runs $15/box of 50. If you shop for the major brands of .40 S&W ammo like PMC, S&B, Speer or Fiocchi, you’ll pay $17 – $18/box of 50.
Like most manufacturers, Freedom uses major manufacturer components. Primers, powders and cases are all from big brand manufacturers like Speer, Alliant, Winchester, Federal, etc.
You can see in this photo that Freedom Munitions used mixed cases…Speer, Federal, Blazer, R-P and FC.
Ammunition Tolerance Test
One quality evaluation I like to do is weigh the ammo and determine the weight variance. This can give you an idea of the manufacturing tolerances of the ammunition. If you use high quality components, the weight variance should be very low. If the reloading equipment is high quality, the powder weights should be very close in each cartridge. A low variance in weight should be an indicator of quality. Let’s see how this box of Freedom Munitions 40 S&W pans out on the digital scale.
Average Weight – 256.395 grains
Lowest Weight – 250.80 grains
Highest Weight – 261.20 grains
Max Variance – 10.4 grains
Avg Variance – 4.805 grains
This data is on par with most major manufacturers ammunition like Speer, Federal and Hornady. An average weight variance of less than five grains is good considering there are four separate components in a cartridge and each one has some variance of its own. Bullets alone can often vary 2-3 grains in weight.
At the Range
Now let’s see how it performs at the range. I used my Hi Point 4095 TS carbine to demonstrate accuracy and reliability of the ammo, shooting at combat type ranges and not 100 yards. The .40 S&W was designed for handguns and handgun ranges which are 10 -15 yards max.
The Freedom Munitions .40 S&W ammo loads easily. The brass is shiny and slides in the magazine like glass. The Hi Point 4095 magazine holds 10 rounds so I emptied one magazine into a target from 15 yards. I shot everything offhand and at a somewhat rapid rate of fire.
All 10 rounds fired without a hitch and all ten went into a 2.25” group. This ammo is much more accurate than that, but a benchrest would be needed to really test its potential. But this ammo isn’t designed for benchrest target shooting or long ranges. The .40 S&W is a self defense/CQB round. So putting 10 rounds into a 2 1/4” circle in 10 seconds would be satisfactorily in the “kill zone” of a human target.
I then fired the rest of the box into another target to see if any malfunctions would appear. The remaining 40 rounds went into a 4” circle without a hitch of any kind. The Freedom Munitions ammo fed perfectly and ejected several feet away. The fired brass cases were very clean and looked like they could be sized and reloaded without cleaning.
Conclusion
The Freedom Munitions 40 S&W ammunition was 100% reliable and accurate in both my Hi Point 4095TS carbine and my GLOCK 22. I have shot hundreds of rounds of Freedom munitions without any malfunctions in either of my guns.
The packaging and appearance is first class. It performs extremely well in my guns and the price is very good. I couldn’t ask for more from any target ammunition, new or remanufactured.
Rating (out of five stars):
Overall: * * * * *
The Freedom remanufactured rounds are good, reliable, affordable target rounds that are great for training purposes. You can spend more, but why would you?
Kevin Mazza is a NRA member, experienced hunter, shooter and reloader and has written hundreds of firearm related articles and reviews. Kevin is the owner and editor of PelletGuns1.com.
I like their 9mm 147gr load. Shoots well through my pistols, and “neutered” SMG.
It’s been the worst .40 cal ammo I’ve ever shot. I’m not sure if I had bad (Mercury free?) primers or just and out of spec lot. Of six 50 rounds boxes, I had a failure rate of about 20%. The primers had good strikes, but the rounds wouldn’t ignite. These failures occurred in both a Smith 4006 made in 2001 and a Glock 23 Gen 4 made around 2013. I haven’t purchased anything from them since then.
Sounds like the experience I had with Magtech .357 a couple years back. 30% ftf rate with good primer strikes.
Looking at a new box, you could see the primers weren’t seated evenly – some were quite low.
Have been through ten’s of thousands of rounds of Freedom, 9mm new & reman in 124 and 147, and 45 230 new & reman.
No longer am I a customer, as I have consistently gotten failure to ignite on the last several batches of 9mm 124gr. I stopped buying their new ammo after I had a case separation in my 9MM AR – apparently the “IWI” stamped brass commonly does this and in all fairness to Freedom their customer service contacted me and was very interested in the issue to hopefully address in the future.
But ammo that does not go “bang” every time – especially through a number of Glocks, an M&P, and a Wilson 9mm CQB – is not worth using at ANY price.
I DO still buy their “Xtreme” plated bullets for reloading, it’s like Indiana Jones every time I open a box as they are the cleanest and brightest bulk bullets I have ever seen.
Send Freedom an email about your problem. I had the brass casing split on one of their reloads. I wrote them and they offered a full refund or an exchange for new manufactured brass rounds.
I am confused as to what your problem was, in my experience with reloading some of the brass cases will split in the tumbler or when you try to resize them, stop complaining about cracked brass.
When it jams in the cylinder and has to be forced out it becomes a problem.
I’ve shot about 700 rounds of .45 (mostly new), 200 rounds of new .223, and 100 rounds of new .38 spl without any problems whatsoever.
I’ve had good luck with Freedom’s new (as opposed to reloaded) stuff in . 45ACP. I found it to be fairly clean firing. Not as clean as Speer Lawman CF, but notably better than some others I’ve tried. No ftf’s or other problems that I recall.
Gone through nearly 1000 rounds of their 9 mm 115 grain new manufacture with no problems in our G17 and 34s. Think it was approx 21c/ round delivered.
Where do they get their cases, how do they know for sure, that they are “once fired”?
They have a brass credit program on their website, you send in brass for a credit towards future purchases. But yeah, how would they know what your sending is once fired brass…??? I’d assume that folks sending in brass is a small % of their reloading operation, no idea where they get the rest.
I have sent well over a thousand rounds of 9mm and 223 of varying weights, bullets, and new/reload down range with no issues from Freedom Munitions…
“Once Fired” is more than likely a marketing term, since how could they know for sure? Besides, if the component is to-spec and passes the tests and measurements, would it matter?
What kind of tests? Do they test each piece of brass for mouth hardness, base hardness. Assuming they use some kind of automatic priming equipment, instead of priming each case by hand, how do they know somebody hasn’t fired off some high pressure loads, and maybe enlarged the primer pocket to the point that a primer could fall out down into your magazine, when the slide just started moving forward. Maybe they have a “go, no go” gage for checking pockets. Do they always use it?
Too many unanswered questions, for me, maybe not for you, friendly reader.
It’s just shortspeak for “at least once fired brass”. See how unwieldy that is?
Once fired = previously fired (however many times). They have a machine which pressure tests and inspects the cartridges before they are loaded. I’ve shot over 10,000 of their 9mm, 40SW, and 223, all remanufactured, with no issues.
“Once Fired” is a reloader’s term for “Been Fired Before” – the author is incorrect in his assertion that it has only in fact been fired one time. Most manufacturers and resellers of brass will have a disclaimer differentiating between “one time” and “once upon a time” or something like that.
Pistol brass however is usually lost or discarded long before it is reloaded beyond a safe number of times.
I bought 3000 rounds of 9mm from Freedom last winter. At the range I noted that some rounds seemed short, so I measured all 2500 rounds that I had not shot. I had 350 rounds that were below minimum length, with the shortest only 1.00″ long. Freedom claimed shipping damage and replaced them, My argument is that the crimp was not good and rough handling set the bullets deeper into the cases. I have also heard that Freedom uses plated bullets that cannot withstand a strong crimp. In any case, I am now reloading my own, so I will not need factory ammo except for my self defense rounds.
The 9mm rounds are definitely plated. I have tiny flecks of copper in my suppressors after shooting.
I measured all 2500 rounds
That’s dedication… or something.
I dunno, their 5.56 was pretty awful in my AR. Many popped primers that then resulted in jams. Many FTE and FTFs. After a single magazine (gun gets warm), they would stick in the chamber, the extractor would tear the rim off the case then shove another round in sideways. I’d have to run the cleaning rod down the bore and hammer the case out. This repeated itself for 250 rds or so till I figured it out.
Using a mid-price DPMS AR, Magpul, Tapco, or GI mags, and every factory ammo I could get my hands on I have had no other similar issues (or any whatsoever really). So now I stick with XM193 for plinking ammo.
Your mileage may vary. Obviously FM ammo cant be that bad for everyone or they would go out of business. Just didn’t work for me.
is that my angel Shannon in the picture?
No!,
It’s what Dianne Feinstein wishes she looked like 50 years ago! (much worse now)
I have purchased roughly 500+ rounds of their 9mm 124gr HP and reman’d XTP rounds. I did not have a single issue w/ any of them. I have 100 rounds of the new ammo 147gr XTP as my emergency SD stash.
I’ve bought over 10,000 from them in the past year. .223, .45, .40, and mostly 9mm. The only issue I’ve had was one squib load that lodge in the barrel of my G19.
Great company, great ammo.
I’ve generally had good luck with their 9mm, 40 and .45, both new and reloaded, though I might have 1 FTF in every few boxes. Good enough for non-competitive range fun.
I did once find a non-.223 round in a box of .223 – I can’t remember what it was – it started with a .2 but it wasn’t a .223.
I’ve had good luck with their 223 reloads. Accurate enough for what I’m doing. I did have one lot with power primers but they refunded me the money.
I got several thousand 124gr reman rounds that have been pretty bad accuracy wise. Function has been fine but anything past 10yds and the groups open up to 6″ or more.
It’s fine for plinking ammo and they’re usually the cheapest thing going.
I’ve used a bit of Freedom Munitions .40 in my Glock 23, and 35 for competitions and practice- probably 1000 rounds over the past year. I’ve never had a single failure. Also limited numbers of .223, 9mm and .45 with the same results.
I have had no issues with any of their 55 gr .223 or their 124 gr. XTPs, of which I’ve fired about 500 rounds with no failures of any type. I have 250 rounds of 62 grain .223 that I haven’t shot because they kept on jamming– a problem traced to the length of the throat in my barrel. It’s been reamed, but hasn’t gone back to the range. I have 250 rounds of .38s and 50 rounds of .357 flat nose for a new SAA I bought, and another 250 rounds of 9 mm FMJ, all for practice. 250 rounds of .45 FMJ should arrive next week. That should last until the kids come home to visit and shoot it all up. (I need to get out more.)
I bought a box of 500 158gr RNFP reman for my .38 Special late last year and have gone through about 400 of them without a hiccup. The brass was all stamped “Top Brass” and looked to be in great shape. I’m saving them for reloading my own (someday…) No problem minute-of-bad-guy accuracy thru my 4″ Smith.
Have purchased three batches of 500rnds each in .380ACP over the last couple years, and use them in a Ruger LC380.
1st batch – don’t recall any issues
2nd batch – every 3rd or 4th cartridge would stovepipe (fail to chamber)
3rd batch – don’t know yet
Contacted Freedom about the stovepipes and they offered to replace the remaining rounds from that 2nd batch, postage paid, no questions asked. I was impressed with that and look forward to checking out the replacements.
Personally not a fan. Shoot about 500 rounds of 147grn 9mm reman and had 2 squibs. The 100 rounds of 115grn were fine though. They were both rather dirty as well. I recently shot some.223 reman. They functioned fine and had ok accuracy.
Their prices are not much better than factory loads nowadays, so I personally don’t see a reason to buy freedom munitions anymore. I’ll still shoot what I have left though, which is just a box of .223.
FWIW, here is my experience with Freedom Munitions:
9mm- My Ruger LC9 absolutely hated it. Jammed 10% of the time. Can’t remember if my LCP liked the 380ACP.
223- My M&P15 Sport loved this ammo more than all the others I’ve tested. Averaged 0.7″ 5-shot groups at 50 yds, and was about $0.30/rd. Great!
That is odd that your LC9 had so many problems, both my LC9 and my LC9S have gone through thousands of rounds without a problem. My LCR9mm on the other hand has made this ammo on the bad ammo list for this gun due to major Crimp Jump. I also shoot 9mm through my Blackhawk with no problems, but the 357 is a very light load.
Palmetto has new ammo for cheaper if you look around you can always find better deals.
Tried a case of their 9mm 147gr ammo one time to use with a silencer. Within 2 boxes I kept noticing big fliers and some keyholes. For some reason the bullets weren’t stabilizing. All other ammo brands I had worked fine. Ended up getting a minor endcap rub. Would’ve probably had a real baffle strike if it weren’t a 45acp can! No more remans for me… even if it might cost a little more. Ain’t worth the higher risk with silencers.
I’ve shot a few boxes of the 115 grain 9mm through both a Walther and a Sig, no problems and was quite accurate in the Walther.
I’ve often wondered about FM’s ammo and how it shoots. I’m trying to evaluate 9mm ammo myself, and would welcome any recommendations.
Never used them. For cheap(but highly reliable) ammo I like Herters from Cabelas. Never a misfire in thousands of rounds(380,9,40). You might beat that price.
I had one of their 180g 40S&W go KABOOM in my M&P 40. Broke the extractor and scared the shit out of me. Avoid this garbage, here is a pic of the malfunction http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff265/CaribooLou/6530201d-497d-4361-9b24-4e6a477de316.jpg
I had the same thing happen in my Glock. Not good. I’m done with reloads.
I’m on my 3rd case of 1000 124gr 9mm reman, had one FTF so far. Its pretty accurate in my PPQ and my dad’s Beretta 92, I can hit a 5″ plate consistently at 20 yards so I’ve been quite happy with it. The 5.56 62gr reman and new on the other hand, I’m not that excited about, I’ve shot 250 of each. Its fine for close range quick stuff, goes bang every time, but the groups at 100 yards are almost twice as large as lake city m855 in the same rifle
Just bought 500 rounds of .40 S&W, 165 gr, today. Can’t wait.
Just bought 500 165gr .40 S&W reman today. Can’t wait for it to arrive.
I will only buy their new ammo now. Tried the reman 115 gr fmj 9mm for the range. But one round blew apart leaving the brass sleeve in chamber. Cost me $50 to get it cleared properly.
They replaced the remain 885 rounds with new. Sent back the bad lot.
Their price for 124JHP is still quite economical for range use and suitable for defensive. I also have their 124gr XTP for defensive rounds.
My experience with their 230JHP 45ACP was very good too. 500 rounds in my FNX45 without an FTF or jam.
And at $163 for 500, it is is not bad for range time either. 🙂
I’ve shot hundreds of their .38 and .357 FMJ reloads with no issues. Burns cleaner than the American Eagle I previously used for range ammo, that stuff smoked like it came from eastern Europe.
The 9mm 115RN runs fine in my son’s Hi Point and Taurus, neither gun likes other “cheap” ammo like Tulammo or Winchester White Box. YMMV applies of course.
i have fired a few thousand rounds from them between 38, 9, and 45. Only problems i had were:
1 round of 45 that would not fire despite the primer definitely being struck
1 round of 9mm that wouldn’t chamber properly
that is an error rate i can live with.
Mel in mind that if you’re in TX (and I’m guessing ID) you lose a lot of your saving vs going elsewhere.
The base online price requires adding sales tax and shipping. If you go to the Houston store, you save on shipping but pay inflated prices.
2000 rounds so far thru my 9mm Walther PPQ. Not one problem and it runs so clean! I buy when they offer free shipping.
Ok, everybody understands the 40 S&W is a pistol round but if your using a rifle to test for accuracy, for petes sake at least try it a 25yds. Using a rifle at 15yds tells me absolutely nothing about the rounds accuracy..
I have used apx 5,000 rounds of FM, both .223 and 9mm. Both new and reloads.
I consider the reloads better and more consistent than the junk sold at gun shows. It goes bang every time. That said it is priced as practice ammo, nothing more. I would expect some variation.
The new stuff is not all that much more expensive and better than any ammo with the word “bear” in the name or made from steel or AL casings.
The brass buyback program is a nice option for 9mm which is not generally worthwhile to reload yourself.
I studied up on them for some time before I ordered any ammo from them. Asked a couple of members at my local range if they had any experience with them. Very few did and those that did seemed very pleased with it. What convinced me to try it was that one of the members at the range has a CZ CheckMate, very expensive pistol, in 9mm and he shoots Freedoms when he’s too lazy to reload. Not one single issue has he had in over 10k rounds and this guy sends a lot of lead down range. So I went ahead and ordered some myself. Almost 3k rounds of their 9mm 147 grain without any issues at all. But then again that has been within the last year so maybe they corrected any manufacturing glitches if there ever was any? I would recommend them.
I’ve only used their new ammo and never had a problem. However, I’ve found two sources where I buy name-brand ammo for the same pricing as Freedom. Try Target USA, they ship free for 1000 round lots.
Huh? Where are you shopping for ammo that you are paying 17-18 per box of name brand ammo?
I haven’t paid that much even for 45acp since middle of 2014. Quick search of the usual places online shows 40S&W at $13-15 per box of name brands like American Eagle, Speer Lawman, PMC Bronze, and Blaser Brass.
By all means though, keep rolling the dice on bargain brand reman ammo in a high pressure round with a track record of known failures (especially the 180grain). With cheap remans all it takes is a double charge or a weak neck crimp allowing excessive bullet setback (real problem with the 40) or a lot of cases that maybe were fired out of gen3 glocks (had the least chamber support which left bulges in cases that weakened the case web) and you’ve got a literal hand grenade.
I haven’t weighed my ammo ever but your extreme spread of almost 11 grains is a bit scary to me, that’s an entire extra charge of powder for most semi auto pistol rounds. Now that’s likely due to tolerances of bullet and brass weight but it would scare me more than a little bit if I saw that.
I’ve shot their 40 S&W and their .38. No complaints with either.
I recently had issues with ammo from this place. Low powder caused a bullet to get stuck in the barrel and the next shot caused the barrel to expand out in the middle. $140 for a new Glock barrel and I ended up sending almost 2,000 rounds back. After several weeks, they still have not replaced the ammo. After buying more that 10,000 rounds of ammo from this place, I’m done with them.
Their shipping has consistently been sub par, now on day eleven of “processing” my in-stock order of 9mm.
I’ve bought and shot a few hundred rounds of various 9mm loads in my Walther PPS and perhaps the same amount through two .45 ACP 1911s. No problems that I have noticed. I reload for 11 different calibers, but still rely on name brand for self-defense ammo – Corbon, exclusively Fed. Premium 125gr in .357, Underwood, Hornady and Buffalo Bore.
I recently did a video review of this ammo. Overall a good planking option. Not suitable for SD IMHO
https://youtu.be/dYZwsSG4FRM
I just received my order of 500 rds of 135 gr JHP. I ordered it on the 11th and received it on the 19th. I just came back from the range where I fired 100 rds each in my Sig P-938 and Shield 9mm, with no malfunction whatsoever. Great ammo and excellent price. I was going to order some .380, but they are out of JHP. I will, however order some .45 JHP, for sure. This was new ammo I purchased and each casing was stamped with 9mm luger with their initials, FM. Very shinny brass and copper and very well boxed for shipping. I have no complaints!
I’ve ran 1000’s of .40 through my Walther with only one ftf. I’ve ran around 500 rounds of .45 through my m & p without a hikcup. I have had a few jams and failures to fire with the .380 through my bersa. In each case it was the cheapest rounds FM carried. Considering the price and I’m not depending on it for my life, it’s a good ammo at a great price. By the way Federal hst’s have failed to eject out of my glock.
For the statistically-minded:
What the author computed is not the variance, he reported the maximum and average deviations. To get the variance he needs to square each of the deviations from the mean across the samples, then take average of the squares. This average is the variance and the square root of the variance is the standard deviation.
The “average variance” he reports is actually the “mean absolute deviation around the mean.” or MAD, which is a different quantity altogether.
Hope this helps.
Late to this thread but here are a few more data: Early in 2016 I ordered 2000 rds of .40 S&W reloads. Failure rate was about 2% (one bad round on average per box of 50). Two other local shooters tried the same rounds in late 2016 with an even higher failure rate (2-3 rounds per box of 50). Note that this is for the reloads only. I tried four boxes of the new rounds and had no problems. I have since gone through almost 2000 rounds of the new ammunition without any problems.
I have no idea why the poor experience with the reloads. It probably isn’t due to a single bad batch since there was a nine month space between my purchase and the other people I know. I was guessing that it was due to the primers as the reloads were steel colored and the new copper. But the latest purchase of new ammo now has the steel colored primers and they are working fine (I am assuming they are now the same).
the worst place to buy any thing from they use your money an orders get shipped 8 weeks later customer service lies to you bad attitude order form other sites this one is not worth it
Thought I would leave this awesome experience about this company:
Just got done waiting a month for an order that ended up having half of it cancelled for no reason other than an “inventory error”. After receiving a shipping notification for a package that ended up never leaving the facility, I had to follow up with them several times to find out what was going on. At one point they told me the package was sent out. Today I get half my bullets and when I log into the account the other half of the order was cancelled. When I called to ask why, they began telling me my credit card declining (funny, they charged me for the other bullets no problem) then when they allegedly emailed me to notify me about it, their “email was down” and they weren’t aware until now. (thats over 20 days of not knowing your email was broke? really?) I find it hard to believe I was told 3 different times my order was shipped to all of a sudden be provided a smorgasbord of lies, because they can’t just admit they botched my shipment then sold out while I was waiting. So I pretty much got told to go pound dirt, and maybe they will be ready again soon. No effort to fix the problem after a month of run around and hardly an apology. Nope, done with this place.
2 out of 5 stars. The first batch of 300 rounds I bought was .45 ACP 230 new and reman to give it a test run. Opened the box and thought “how pretty”. That first batch did ok. Everything went bang and ammo fired average clean and accuracy was unremarkable. It has been downhill since. I’ve ordered a couple times since then and had several failures to feed and failures to fire. Switch back to American Eagle and Remington for range duty and haven’t looked back. I won’t be ordering anymore until they acknowledge their quality control issue and correct.
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