Recommendation for 9mm defense ammo

[jimmiepoison]

I'm on my last mag of Winchester USA 147 grain JHP 9mm and its time to order some new defense ammo. I'm trying to decide if I should go +P and if the cost of Speer, CorBon, etc is worth it over just the white box Winchester which is pretty reasonable, when I can find it. Anyone have a thought on what ammo to carry and where to purchase it at a reasonable price. The ammo shortages seem to be mellowing out a little, but 9mm jhp is still hard to come by. I am breaking in a new Taurus 709 slim and plan on it being my primary carry piece. I have been carrying Springfield XD9 but find it too big to conceal with most of the clothing I wear and the slim single stack of the Taurus is much easier for me to conceal, but may be a little more difficult to be accurate with hot loads. I know everyone has an opinion on what's best, I'm just still trying to figure out mine. :)

[utimmer43]

Buy a box or two of each. Run a mag or two of each brand through your gun and see which one you like the best. You could try testing them against each other by shooting them through gallon jugs of water or stacked phone books. Compare penetration and expansion.

Or you can just flip a coin and buy either Gold Dot or CorBon and be done with it. I doubt you'll be unhappy with either of their performance.

[Glock Fan]

SD ammo selection is a personal choice. Whatever you choose, make sure it functions properly and consistently in your firearm, is some kind of "expanding" round, and is affordable enough for you to be able to put a box or two down range at least a few times per year. Practicing with FMJ "target" ammo is o.k., but you should practice with your SD ammo as well to ensure that it functions properly in your firearm and you're able to hit your target.

From a personal perspective, I'm a fan of Speer Gold Dot 124 grain ammo. It's a round that I'm comfortable with, is readily available and is widely used by local LE (which tells me that it should be adequate to do the job it's intended for). As I said earlier, ammo selection is a personal choice. YOU will be the one who should ultimately decide what you carry for SD.



gf

[theicemanmpls]

For carry in 9mm, I prefer the Federal Hi-Shok 115gr JHP +P+ (9BPLE) .

Here is a guide to help you choose.

Pistol Cartridges (9x19mm Luger)

[jessepeakdotcom]

ok, im warning you this round is not for the faint of heart, LOL dont know why i wanted to say that but i did- ok i have a GLOCK 29 -10 mm and no matter what im shooting, hollow points FMJ, this gun shoots fire. I just purchased 8 boxes of the EXTREME SHOCK rounds- 4 boxes of EPR and 4 of the AIR FREEDOM- all i have to say is - LAWD HAVE MERCY UPON THE BAD GUYS SOUL that i have to use this against- read the stats, and watch some of the youtube vids on these rounds-

[jtg452]

What works best in one of my pistols may be the worst thing to shoot through yours.

I've owned about a dozen 9mm's over the years and every single one liked a different load. That includes 4 Browning Hi Powers that all liked very different loads. Find out what works best (from both a reliability and accuracy stand point) from YOUR gun and run with it. To do that, you need to shoot some different loads and find out what works best.

To start, pick a bullet weight you prefer and start seeing what offerings there are from the ammunition manufacturers like Speer, Hornaday, Winchester, Remington, Federal, ...

At one time or another (including right now), I've used self defense ammunition from all those listed above and a couple companies that aren't. It just depends on what that particular gun likes the best.

[HK4U]

There are a lot of very good choices out there. Hornady TAPS or Critical Defense, to name a couple but a lot of others. Most of them do a pretty good job of expanding so the main thing will be does it function reliably in the gun you carry.

[Bighouse Doc]

I like the Gold Dot 124gr. +P preferred.

I am not sure what the obsession is with the 147 gr bullets.

They were originally designed for suppressed SMG use. THey seem too slow for this cartridge.

-Doc

[Ed Hamberger]

For carry in 9mm, I prefer the Federal Hi-Shok 115gr JHP +P+ (9BPLE) .

Here is a guide to help you choose.

Pistol Cartridges (9x19mm Luger)

I carry a PT709SS and I feed it Federal Hi-Shok JHP +P+ and I haven't had any problems out of my 709. I prefer carrying it to my PT145 for EDC.

[jimmiepoison]

Has anyone had a bad experience with the whitebox Winchester JHP? I have yet to have a failure in my XD9 with this ammo and at about $15 per box, it is soooo much cheaper than most of the other loads. Cheap enough to practice with which seems to be worth something to me. I guess I'm just wondering what I really get by moving to a more expensive bullet. Aam I just gaining more consistent expansion? I can't decide if all of these high end loads are just a bunch of marketing excuses to jack the prices up so we feel better about what we are carrying, or if there is actual legitimate ballistic advantages. Most of the comparisons I can find on the web are expensive ammo vs expensive ammo. I can't find any decent quality brand name, affordable ammo compared against the high quality "defensive" ammo with the same configuration (grain, tip, etc.) The real question to me is how much of the "defense" ammo's superior capability is just marketing and how much is legitimate data that matters. Even if there is a small difference in expansion, will a tiny fraction of an inch really make a difference? If it goes bang, penatrates, and expands then how much will it really matter whether you have $1.00 per round or $.30 per round ammo, except to the people who sold you the ammo. I'm not ready to jump ship on high end ammo yet, I just wonder if we are truly getting that much more for our money. Does anyone have any hard data on this stuff?