Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, they are perfectly safe to shoot in all firearms, due to the unique black cherry coating, which does not burn, break apart, or clog the firearm or accessories. And there is no need to alter your standard cleaning regiment, as if you were shooting standard jacketed ammunition.

Yes. Xtreme Defender functions reliably in the vast majority of Bodyguard 2.0 pistols we have tested and those reported by our customers. If feeding issues occur, our testing indicates they are generally related to the individual firearm's feed geometry or tolerances rather than the ammunition. We recommend having the firearm inspected by Smith & Wesson or a qualified gunsmith if reliability issues persist.

Our current run of 460S&W uses a CCI primer, which is the gold standard for primers due to their reliability and consistency, and we are moving to using Federal in the future. The CCI’s are a bit harder and work well in most standard factory firearms. However, the performance center features a lighter trigger which is achieved by lightning the hammer spring, causing lighter primer strikes. The performance centers and other firearms that may have had trigger work will experience light primer strikes.

If you would like to lower/eliminate light primer strikes, there is a screw on the bottom of the handle and you can increase tension on the spring which will increase hammer weight, however this will affect your trigger weight.

The hard cast line has always been our number one choice by us and our customers for wilderness defense, such as bear, large, and dangerous game.

• Heavy grain allows for better energy transfer and less loss of energy when passing through barriers such as bone, deep penetration
• 21 Brinell hardness, to prevent deformation and for better use against bone
• Flat nose allows it break bone and continue with little to no deviation.

We have discontinued use of them throughout our entire line up due to Speer cutting us off during the hard times such as Covid, elections, ban, and any other times when ammunition and their components are hard to come by. Instead of keeping projectiles for themselves and not shipping out to manufacturers such as us. We do carry other JHP offerings and for barrier blindness our Xtreme Defenders have done well as better alternatives. We have found the Xtreme Defenders repeatedly outperform other projectiles on the market, including the Gold Dots.

No, our 10mm loads are within pressure boundaries for SAAMI specs. We just load our ammunition to the original and true 10mm loading, which many manufacturers have move away from, opting for a lower performing load.

There is no inherent need to upgrade anything in your 10mm firearm to shoot our ammo. We only recommend swapping springs if there is a reason to, such as failures to feed or stovepipes due to recoil. If you decide to install a heavier recoil spring, we recommend 20-22lb springs.

For AR style firearms chambered in 10mm, we recommend 12.5oz or more buffer weight.

If you decide to install a heavier recoil spring, we recommend 20-22lb springs.

One thing we've seen in the past with similar issues involves BCA uppers, BCGs, and bolts. BCA has commonly used Type 1 bolts, which are designed for 7.62x39 and have a .125" bolt face depth, rather than the Type 2 bolts intended for 6.5 Grendel that have a .136" face depth. Because the Type 1 bolt is slightly shallower, it can push the case deeper and harder than necessary during operation. Additional, the 50 Beowulf/12.7x42 are design to use a H3 buffer. And insure your magazine is in good working order, as we have found these magazines experience excessively quick wear compared to other magazines.

Our 10mm ammo is 100% compatible with all 10mm factory barrels on the market today, including the Colt Delta Elite.

Our 10mm ammo is 100% compatible with all 10mm factory barrels on the market today, including the Colt Delta Elite.

Our 10mm ammo is 100% compatible with all 10mm factory barrels on the market today, including the Colt Delta Elite.

Per caliber, the Xtreme Defender will not surpass 18“ of penetration and has the best volume of wound channel, making it the best choice for personal defense in all calibers. Per caliber, the Xtreme Penetrator will always surpass 18“ of penetration, making it a much more appropriate choice for woods use and penetrates the most for the Xtreme series. The Xtreme Hunter is a hybrid of the Defender and Penetrator, utilizing a Defenders nose geometry to provide excellent wounding and deep penetration at the same time.

The 68gr will do just about the same exact job through bare gel or 4 layers of denim as the 90gr, keeping a slightly larger wound channel and penetrating about an inch more than the 90gr.

It's only through thicker barriers like sheet metal, plywood, glass, etc. that we see a reduction in wounding effect and penetration with the 68gr. These heavier barriers affect the 90gr to some degree as well, but it is a little more pronounced with the lighter 68gr just because it's lacking the same momentum as a 90gr.

The 90gr Defender is a staple for performance in the caliber, the 68gr is sort of maximizing certain qualities of the 90gr - Less recoil, higher velocity, at the tradeoff of slightly reduced heavy barrier performance.

For emergency use, you may use any of our .44Spl offerings in a Charter Arms revolver in strict limited quantities. If you want to shoot a steady diet of our ammo, we recommend the 245gr FMJ or 200gr Wadcutter loads.

You may use our +P .380s in a Ruger LCP in limited quantities with the installation of a 13lb recoil spring. We do not recommend +P use without the heavier recoil spring.

No, .40 Super is a wildcat cartridge based on the .45 Winchester Magnum case, necked down to .40 caliber. .40 Super conversions are only possible with certain .45ACP handguns.

Our standard pressure ammunition is safe. I would not use it with our +P or +P+ ammunition. This is due to aftermarket Sig P365 barrels all being produced by one manufacturer. No matter who sells it, or what’s on the side of the barrel. All non-factory Sig P365 barrel blanks were made by one company. This company did not have the most robust design or materials and lacked chamber support. Due to this, use of any non-standard pressure 9mm (+P and +P+), could damage your firearm and potentially cause bodily harm. This is not just exclusive to our ammo. We have worked with this manufacturer, and they are moving to produce a more durable barrel that can handle higher pressure rounds. And have recently started shipping, unfortunately, we do not have a way of knowing which barrels the new ones are built to the more durable standard. You may need to reach out to your barrel manufacturer to verify if your particular barrel may be from the newer batch.

Our items #723, #743, & #328, have a C.O.A.L over 1.600” and cannot be inserted into the magazine, all other 44 Magnum offerings will work. Some lever actions may also have issues feeding cartridges with C.O.A.L of over 1.600”

We try to keep as much product in stock as possible, and if they do go out of stock, we do our best to get them back in stock as soon as possible. Currently, we cannot provide an estimate on when a product will be back in stock. Please visit the product page and sign up for e-mail notification to be updated when a product is back in stock.

Additionally, you may explore our online retail partners such as Midway US, Bud's Gun shop, or various others. As well as supporting your local mom and pop brick and mortar gun store. As they will be able to order our ammunition from the distributors, such as Zanders, Sports South, and CSSI. We fulfill orders directly to our dealers and distributors before it hits our web site.

Majority of our Blemish ammunition may have either minor cosmetic imperfections caused by the manufacturing processes or an average velocity slightly less than the published velocity for the particular load. These imperfections do not create functional issues, but may result in slight performance variations from our standard ammunition. The cosmetic imperfections may include: discoloration of the case or projectile, small divot or scratch on the case, projectile or primer, deformation of the projectiles tip or missing polymer tip. Brass may not be nickel plated and the color of coated bullets may not match the product picture.

Very rarely, we will have blemished ammunition that is outside this realm. For example, some our “JHP” may feature a different projectile than listed, or an overly hard primer lot which may result in a light primer strike every few hundred rounds. To name a few examples. We note the reason for each lot that we list as blemish at the top of the description of each blemish product listing.

Many customers enjoy these blemishes as a way to try the ammunition before they invest in a larger quantity, or to use as practice ammunition in lieu of practicing with what they carry and paying full price.

All sales on blemish ammunition are final and no returns will be allowed.

No, our black cherry coating and our tight manufacturing processes eliminates the need for a gas checks. Due to removing this sub-component and task, allows us to pass the savings onto our customers.

For the best overall performance, the heavier 220gr bullet is generally superior to the 200gr. However, if your firearm is ammunition-sensitive, prefers lighter loads, or is equipped with a lighter factory recoil spring, we recommend the 200gr for improved feeding reliability.

We usually ship within 1-2 business days, and we are only allowed to ship ground. UPS estimates ground shipping to be 2-10 business days. This is highly dependent on where you are located. In addition, times may be extended due to holidays, sales, weather, or other factors.

No, we are only allowed to ship ammunition via Ground, and are unable to order any other shipping options.

We cannot provide dealer information, as our dealer network is very limited. Many dealers that stock our products order them from distribution and we cannot track this. But we are working on building a dealer locator in the future.

We are in most of the major distributors such as Zanders, CCSI, and Sport South. Which you may request your local FFL to order our products from.

And we also have some dealers that have a major online and store presence such as Sportsman’s Warehouse, Turners Outdoor, Optics Planet, Target Sports, and Midway USA.

For Alaska, we have dealers such as Sportsman's Warehouse and Alaska Ammo.

Our hard cast projectiles have a 21 brinell hardness.

Both are excellent choices, but the best option depends on the performance characteristics you're looking for.

If your priority is maximum penetration with a clean wound channel that helps preserve the most meat, we recommend the Hard Cast. If you're willing to trade some penetration depth for additional wound cavity performance, the Xtreme Penetrator is the better choice.

We strive to respond to all customer inquiries as quickly as possible. However, during periods of high demand, response times may be longer than usual.

If you have not received a response from us, please check your Junk or Spam folder, as our emails may have been filtered by your email provider. We also recommend reviewing your email settings to ensure messages from Underwood Ammo are not being blocked or marked as spam.

This also applies to automated emails from our online store, including order confirmations, shipping notifications, and tracking updates. If you still have not received any communication after checking these settings and allowing sufficient time for delivery, please contact us again and we will be happy to assist you.