Choice of Personal Defense Ammo and where you buy it

[radioflyer]

After doing some limited research, I'm looking for personal defense ammo for my SigPro 9mm. So far i'm looking at Speer Gold Dot 124gr and Federal HST 147gr if i can find any.

What do you guys use and where do you buy it?

 

[JohnnyReb]

Critical Defense

I carry Hornady Critical Defense 9mm 115 gr FTX, and find it at Academy.

 

[newshooter1970]

+1 for Hornady Critical Defense 115gr. Academy or Carters Country. Thankfully I do not need it often.

 

[newshooter1970]

I have heard about Cor-Bon for defense round, but have not yet tried it.

 

[JohnnyReb]

This is a good read. [url]http://www.chuckhawks.com/ammo_by_anonymous.htm[/URL]

 

[Vellcrow]

I used to carry 124gr +P Remington Golden Sabers (1180 fps), but I recently switched to 124gr +P Winchester PDX-1 (1200 fps and a bonded round).

 

[Big country]

I carry the Hydra Shocks in my .40 and I like them I hear more and more good things about speer gold dot's every day. I know nothing about the critical defence except that it is suppose to be awesome. Hornady TAP Is a good one I think. But I know the .40 and .45, the 9mm is not my forte.

 

[radioflyer]

I used to carry 124gr +P Remington Golden Sabers (1180 fps), but I recently switched to 124gr +P Winchester PDX-1 (1200 fps and a bonded round).

what is a "bonded" round?

 

[Big country]

I not 100% on this more like 99% but that is when the copper jacket is Bonded with the lead core. If the two are "bonded" together the jacket is less likely to strip off of the lead core allowing the bullet to hold it's shape and retain more of it's original weight. That is the short answer anyway.

 

[navyguy]

I partial to Federal HST. They are harder to find then hen's teeth though. Second choice is Federal Hydro Shok which is much more available. Also like Gold dots.

I always go with the heaviest bullet available. 147 for 9mm and 180 for .40.

 

[tex45acp]

230gr. Federal Hydrashok is my favorite in 45acp and I buy it anywhere I can find it these days.

 

[texas_teacher]

McBride's has a nice assortment of personal defense rounds for all sorts of calibers... That's where I've picked up my Federal Hydrashocks for a pretty good price...

 

[TxEMTP69]

+1 for Hornady Critical Defense 115gr. Academy or Carters Country. Thankfully I do not need it often.

+2 for the Critical Defense, I have it for 9mm and .380. I have found it at Academy and Cabelas

 

[SIG_Fiend]

Here's my personal list of rounds I prefer:

-Corbon DPX
-Federal HST (impossible to find)
-Winchester Ranger T or SXT
-Speer Gold Dot
-Winchester PDX1 Bonded

I use Corbon DPX the most because Cabela's usually has some in stock, and it is one of the most consistent expanding rounds I've seen in all the ballistics tests I've studied. The Federal HST seems to be about equally as good and a tie for number one, though considering it is an issued round for lots of LE departments (or so I hear) it is pretty hard to get a hold of.

For some reason, as old as Speer gold dots are, they still seem to perform very well in all the ballistics tests I've seen. I would feel perfectly fine relying on gold dots as they are about as tried and true as it gets considering the long term usage by tons of LE departments.

If a gun has tons of trouble feeding most JHP's, I highly recommend using Corbon Pow'RBall's as they have a perfect round FMJ profile and feed perfectly in everything I've ever tried them in. Not as ballistically good as a true JHP, but definitely better than an FMJ.

I haven't been particularly impressed with the Hornady Critical Defense. I've seen a few tests done (check M4C.net) that produced lackluster results.

 

[Big country]

I still remember what robocop10mm said about the speer gold dot's and I researched a little bit and I would have no problem relying on them. When y'all say HST do you mean hydra shock tactical? Because that is exactly what I carry in my .40 all the time.

 

[navyguy]

HST I believe stands for Hydra Shok Two. It does not have the little post inside of the hollow point like the Hydra Shok. It has serrations down the copper jacket to allow for quick even expansion. I think the Hydra Shok is still a pretty good round, but it is said to sometimes clock up when penetrating heavy clothing and not expand as well as it should. The HST does a much better job at such penetration and expansion.

 

[Big country]

HST I believe stands for Hydra Shok Two. It does not have the little post inside of the hollow point like the Hydra Shok. It has serrations down the copper jacket to allow for quick even expansion. I think the Hydra Shok is still a pretty good round, but it is said to sometimes clock up when penetrating heavy clothing and not expand as well as it should. The HST does a much better job at such penetration and expansion.

Cool, I was just wondering. I have the Regular Hydra Shock in all my mags. The Hydra Shock is sometimes referred to as a "winter round" because of the clogging effect on heavy winter clothing. I'm unsure as to how it does on light clothing but I hear it does what it is supposed to on light clothes. I like them because they fly good and accurate out of my gun and they have a long history of effectiveness with Law enforcement agencies around the country. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

 

[dee]

The .45 has Federal expanding FMJ's the .38 super has Winchester Silvertips and the wifes .380 has critical defense.

 

[Texas42]

I think they are all pretty good.

i got one gun loaded with hornady 115 critical

I got another gun loaded with the 124 grain +p winchester PDX bonded (I kind of like it, though I think +P is over rated in a full sized gun)

I got some hydrashoks in my 380, though that is the only stuff I can find.

I would get something different than hydrashok, if I could. the round is something like twenty years old. There has been a lot of newer stuff out there.

I did load up some Hornady XTP's ($17/100) and I just ordered a hundred speer gold dots($21/100). Both look good to me, though I've only gotten to fire the XTP's.

I'm still a little edgy about loading my own defensive ammo, but at least I can practise with some stuff that is the same as the store bought stuff at about a third the cost.

PS ammotogo has some pretty good deals on LEO HD ammo (comes in the 50 rnd boxes at the same price)

 

[Big country]

I would never reload personal protection ammo personally.
As far as the hydra shocks being old and out dated, they are old and out dated but they are not obsolete. Texas42 said it best when he said "I think they are all pretty good" The most important thing is that you find a good reliable hollow point round that will feed properly and will hit what you point it at. Shoot a few mags worth of your carry rounds to get used to them and know that they will preform, and go BANG every time the trigger is pulled. While a bad guy is shooting at you is not a good time to learn that your gun wont feed the hollow points you loaded.