Newbie with mismatched ammo

[Paymeister]

While I thought I knew where my shots hit based on earlier target work, I was quite surprised the other day to find some longer shots hitting substantially below where I was aiming. Was this simply due to normal bullet drop and I had never noticed it before due to short distances to my earlier targets? Or maybe it was due to a different type of ammo than I had used earlier? I'll certainly allow that I may have gotten rusty, but the consistency of the low shots puzzled me.

Due to irregular ammo purchasing I have:

• Most of a box of Federal Hydrashocks;
• Most of a box of a newer Hornady LE JHP;
• Some other Hornady JHP;
• A bag of Speer Gold Dots from the gunshow;
• Some other JHP I can't identify;
• Several boxes of Remington and Winchester economy FMJ;
• A variety of other odd FMJ; and
• A huge quantity of Wolf FMJ promised to me from the guy who sold me the gun, as soon as he finds it.

My carry weapon stays loaded these days with the Hydrashocks, and I have one spare magazine loaded with half Hydrashocks and the remainder Hornadys.

Given the collection of ammo I have, it seems to me that:

• I should shoot the FMJ and all but one of the JHP brands/loads for draw-from-concealment and fairly close target work;
• I shouldn't worry about any ammo differences, because my aim and the short distances involved will far overshadow the ammo effects; and
• I should find one brand of good ammo to carry and work with on longer-range target work, in case I should ever find myself wanting to take a longer shot.

Thoughts?

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Blackeagle]

• I shouldn't worry about any ammo differences, because my aim and the short distances involved will far overshadow the ammo effects; and
• I should find one brand of good ammo to carry and work with on longer-range target work, in case I should ever find myself wanting to take a longer shot.

At short range, don't worry about it.

For self defense, shots long enough for it to matter are unlikely, but if you do practice them, only your carry ammo will have the same ballistics.

[retsupt99]

Between cars in a WalMart parking lot, how many different bullets you have in either magazine isn't going to make any difference.
At 7-10 feet, adrenaline pumping, and split second thinking...just hit the threat. You won't hear the shots or notice any ballistic differences among the array of firepower exiting the barrel.

OMO

Stay armed...hope you'll never have to find out...stay safe!

[nn]

What caliber? How far?

[Paymeister]

9mm, FMJ, Remington (WalMart Inexpensive), at about 15 yards, downhill at perhaps 30 degrees off horizontal. The bullets were hitting the ground about a foot in front of where I was aiming.

I'm half persuaded it was the way I was holding the pistol or what I believed was proper sight alignment was incorrect, but I thought I was doing it the same as at the range. Time for more shooting, I guess. And no 25 yard headshot attempts.