Personal Protection Ammo- Help

[festus]

I have 4 magazines loaded with the same remmington .45ACP JHPs you mentioned. Any JHP in .45 in my opinion way better tha .45 ball or 9mm anything. I have shot milkjugs full of water and soaked phone books with them and they do a lot of damage. They also do quite a number on gel blocks. I feel perfectly comfortable with those as a carry round because I have tested and recovered slugs and these work as good as anything else I have shot. I feel that sometimes you are just paying for a name. I finally got rid of my Hornady TAP in .45
It was hard on the gun due to the +P rating. Make sure whatever you carry, you have shot at least 200 rounds through the gun and you are comfortable with the performance level.

Work on shot placement and if you are all that worried about it...ask your local sheriff what they issue and carry that. It works, has been tested and will fly in court.

[Glockster20]

From what I understand, and please correct this if it's wrong, a hollow point bullet for home defense is better than anything else in a pistol for the simple fact that when it breaks up or falls apart inside the perp then that bullet is less than likely to "shoot through" and hit a family member. It's kind of the opposite theory of using a shotgun for home defense self protection whereby the scatter hits anything and everything in the general direction it's aimed.

As far as buying any type of ammo for any type of firearm, it's dependent on both the ammo and the firearm. Certain manufacturers and certain jacket types jamb my .45, other jam in the 3ought6. Buy some, try some, get what works for what you have.

You are correct gdcleanfun. JHP ammo will mushroom so the energy will dissipate when it hits flesh, bone or a wall. Ball/FMJ ammo will penetrate and sometimes continue through the target. So in general it's safer to use JHP's!

Red Hat is right about the hollow point ammo. It was designed to stop and dump its energy inside the target. FMJ or TMJ ammo can penetrate beyond the target and cause property damage liability or cause injury or death to an innocent bystander. This is precisely why HP's are used in law enforcement. Besides, do you want the wound profile of an ice pick or a large crush and stretch cavity caused by the hollow point dumping its energy inside the tartget, thus taking out the threat? Do the math... In ending choose whatever works well in your weapon and make sure it is a documented stopper.

[maybejim]

If you read the tests, there does seem to be a difference in the hollow points particularly when shooting through clothes. A lot of the older designs (I believe similar to the cheaper-more reasonably priced designs available now) tended to clog and act more like hardball when shot through clothing.

You are right about having shot it through the gun and the idea of using what the local police use is not a bad idea. However the police are often handicapped by what is PC not what is best. NYC for years insisted on hardball.

[Scarecrow]

I use federal HST in my 9mm, .40, and .45. they are cheap enough to practice with from time to time. just over 20 dollars for a box of 50. lots of police departments have been going to the federal HST. I came across this test putting the HST's up against other popular loads.. and the results speak for themselves. the HST's have such a huge expansion... that is an awesome transfer of energy into the target. check them out at the link. I think they are still only sold online. but a very good price for some high quality sd rounds.

Bullet results after firing

and I buy them here

Search Results : Ammunition To Go

[willyNH]

With some ammunition, you might be paying for the name. I have selected Speer's Gold Dot's after "testing" a lot of other brands/types of JHP ammo. I always pop a couple of bullets in gallon jugs of water, and a couple of those pictures are in my albums. I also enjoy working out some real life testing on woodchucks during the summer months. Try taking a woodchuck at 50 yards with a Glock 26. It isn't the easiest thing.

I want terminal performance. I am comfortable that the Gold Dots provide that. They haven't failed to function properly either in 9mm+P through a Glock 26 or in 38+P through a Taurus 85 Titanium. They are also on the inexpensive end of brand ammo. I usually pay ~$20/50 rounds.

[Glockster20]

With some ammunition, you might be paying for the name. I have selected Speer's Gold Dot's after "testing" a lot of other brands/types of JHP ammo. I always pop a couple of bullets in gallon jugs of water, and a couple of those pictures are attached. I also enjoy working out some real life testing on woodchucks during the summer months. Try taking a woodchuck at 50 yards with a Glock 26. It isn't the easiest thing.


I want terminal performance. I am comfortable that the Gold Dots provide that. They haven't failed to function properly either in 9mm+P through a Glock 26 or in 38+P through a Taurus 85 Titanium. They are also on the inexpensive end of brand ammo. I usually pay ~$20/50 rounds.

Yeah... taking a woodchuck at 50yrds. with a compact Glock is a tall order.

[netentity]

As for what I carry.

• Federal Classic JHPs. The C9BP (formerly 9BP) has a long history and are quite accurate out of my S&W pistols.
• PMC Starfire
• Remington Golden Sabers.
• Winchester Whitebox (Q4204 is a good compromise between .38 special +P a full power .357 magnum with a 125 gr or larger bullet), Silvertips or SXTs.

Unless you're in PRNJ, you should be carrying hollowpoint ammo in your CCW. If your firearm feeds reliably with your practice ammo after a few hundred rounds, a magazine or two of your personal protection ammunition should suffice.

I agree with gf that Glasers are a joke.

If you have caliber that is no longer mainstream your choices are limited to Hornady XTPs or Winchester Silvertips if you want to use a mainstream ammunition maker. Hornady XTPs being available for most personal protection handgun calibers. The exception being the .327 Federal Magnum which is only available from Federal and Speer.

[Glock Fan]

With some ammunition, you might be paying for the name. I have selected Speer's Gold Dot's after "testing" a lot of other brands/types of JHP ammo. I always pop a couple of bullets in gallon jugs of water, and a couple of those pictures are in my albums. I also enjoy working out some real life testing on woodchucks during the summer months. Try taking a woodchuck at 50 yards with a Glock 26. It isn't the easiest thing.

I want terminal performance. I am comfortable that the Gold Dots provide that. They haven't failed to function properly either in 9mm+P through a Glock 26 or in 38+P through a Taurus 85 Titanium. They are also on the inexpensive end of brand ammo. I usually pay ~$20/50 rounds.

I practice by shooting at mongoose (Rikki Tikki Tavi). I'm usually shooting from no further than 25 yards, but it's still challenging. Watching them flip over when they get nailed by a 124gr 9mm Gold Dot HP or a 165gr .40s&w Gold Dot HP is priceless.



gf

[Terminal Lance]

Dude. For personal protection/carry ammo regardless of brand or caliber or whatever. If you are spending less that 25-30 bucks for 20 rounds. You're shopping on the wrong shelf

[Iteach4U]

I'd like to hear your thoughts. I'm new to this so be gentle. I do appreciate your opinion.

I friend told me to buy a small box of very expensive stuff. He cited reasons like the metal used, sealing, primers, etc.....said the reason was because it will sit in your mag for a LONG time, and you want it to fire, don't want a mis fire or a jam....

OK, this conversation was AFTER I bought a 100rd box of Remington .45 JHPs. Paid $38 for the 100.

I have been firing inexpensive Winchester FMJ ammo (white box, red letters), 100rd value paks. I've probably put a 600 rounds thru both glocks these past few weeks, no jams or misfires.

Here is my thought process. By buying this less expensive Remington JHP ammo, I can cycle it thru my range time, and get a comfort level that it will fire, and because I'm buying 100rds for the cost of 20, I will indeed cycle it. If it fired at the range every time, why wouldn't it fire the same when needed?

What do you use for personal protection?

Any ammunition can give you problems at some point. Manufacturers do have bad rounds get out there from time to time. The Remington hollopoints have been used by many people, some just prefer something a bit better. It's been my experience with the Remington hollowpoint bulk box ammo that the crimp is not tight enough to prevent the bullet from being stuffed deeper into the casing when chambered. That's not saying it's going to happen to everyone, just try to take notice of things like that no matter what your ammo choice is.

So if you have the habit of unchambering from time to time, then loading that same round you'll likely experience that same issue. This happened with 25 out of 100 rounds, some upon the first time they were chambered. Thus I shot it and moved on to something a little farther up the food chain.