Defensive ammo recommendations.

[charlie999]

Hornady Critical Defense for me.

[L84CABO]

Federal HST 45ACP. Proven round and is reliable in my 1911.

[18Dmedic]

My choice is dependent on the mission/use.

For more penetration or if there is a need to shoot through materiel, barricades, or soft cover/concealment, I choose bonded SD rounds. If not, I choose non-bonded.

Sometimes, I'll load a few of each. I use the escalation of force theory in my firearm loading methodology. It's basically a concept I've been using to limit my liability in a criminal court case. I would use a less lethal round first, and escalate from there. So...rubber/less lethal-->FMJ ball-->bonded sd-->non-bonded ammo.

This is just my honest opinion and is what I use in a civilian SD setting.

[Firerescuebatt07]

Hornady Critical Defense and Duty, Federal Premium HP

[Trenchfoot]

Ranger T's in my pistols, Gold Dots in my revolvers.

[davbog44]

Obviously first and foremost, it has to be reliable in your gun.

My philosophy has always been simple. I'm not smart enough, and opinions vary so widely across the spectrum of "experts" that I choose to stick with what armed professionals, like LE use. For the most part, that's Gold Dot, Federal HST or Winchester Ranger T (PDX-1 in civilian packaging.) I do load DPX in one pistol I carry, an HK P2000 SK in .40S&W.

[Agustav]

Winchester Ranger T, because that's what my local PD uses (less legal issue so I heard).

Runs reliably in all my handguns (9mm, 40S&W, & 45ACP). YMMV

[Sam]

My choice is dependent on the mission/use.

For more penetration or if there is a need to shoot through materiel, barricades, or soft cover/concealment, I choose bonded SD rounds. If not, I choose non-bonded.

Sometimes, I'll load a few of each. I use the escalation of force theory in my firearm loading methodology. It's basically a concept I've been using to limit my liability in a criminal court case. I would use a less lethal round first, and escalate from there. So...rubber/less lethal-->FMJ ball-->bonded sd-->non-bonded ammo.

This is just my honest opinion and is what I use in a civilian SD setting.

If my firearm is fired that means there's an imminent threat of severe bodily injury or death to me or a loved one. If that's the case I need the threat stopped NOW. Not in a few seconds or in a few seconds, now. I don't have time to shoot anyone with rubber rounds or FMJ and see if they work. Rubber bullets are for police dealing with a riot and FMJ is used at the range.
I need the threat stopped immediately. Premium self defense rounds give me the best chance of ending the fight sooner rather than later.

[Eljay]

Would you recommend shooting about 50 rounds through the gun is a good enough test?

With the price and availability of ammo these days choices are a bit limited.

People usually throw around figures like 100-300. That being said if I had 100 rounds I'd keep two magazines for the bad guys and run the rest through immediately, and try to get more once I could afford it. It's important to practice with your defensive ammo as well so if you want to plan on getting 100 rounds every six months or something that wouldn't be too terrible. Just keep getting the same stuff or you'll be back to function testing instead of practice.

[falar]

9mm Federal HST 147 gr +p
9mm Federal HST 124 gr +p (this only is used in my P7 since at one time they had a problem with 147gr loads)
.45 ACP Federal HST 230 gr in both standard pressure and +p

[cc426]

I like federal hst in the heaviest weight available for a given caliber in standard pressures. It has typically shown best expansion. I like weight over velocity.

However the one i Recommend is the one that will feed reliably 100% of the time

[p7m8jg]

Just buy whatever's handy at Wally world.

Nothing expands reliably in the bodies I've seen made into canoes. All differing types of HPs. Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't, even in the same corpse inserted on the same occasion from the same firearm.

Then again, at times the FMJ .25 auto has done an admirable job too. So enjoy the research but, in the end, it's all a crap shoot in my experience.

[That1Guy1988]

My opinion may not count since I'm a newbie, but for home defense, my local gun shop owner set me up with a box of Dynamic Research Technologies ammo. He said it's the best there is right now. Maybe some of you more experience gunners can give some insight on this ammo? I have it for my m&p40

[kurac]

I just try to use what the local police, sheriff or FBI uses, I think if I were to end up in court, the government would make less of an issue out of what ammo was used since they might be using the same ammo.

[Trenchfoot]

My opinion may not count since I'm a newbie, but for home defense, my local gun shop owner set me up with a box of Dynamic Research Technologies ammo. He said it's the best there is right now. Maybe some of you more experience gunners can give some insight on this ammo? I have it for my m&p40

I'm not saying it's bad ammo, but I'd be hard pressed to call something the best when it doesn't have a long track record of effectiveness. Will it work? Probably. My guess is that your dealer pushed it because it was probably either more expensive than other stuff in stock, or he had a bunch he was trying to get rid of.

Tnoutdoors9 has a good vid about exotic ammo, among his other excellent ammo testing vids. I believe he did one on the DRT rounds...I'll look.



**Edit: Found it. The DRT is probably one of the better performing "exotic" loads, but this is just a test in bare gel with no bones. I would have concerns that a rib or sternum shot would cause the round to fragment too early and lose a lot of penetration. I'm not a ballistics expert though, so I'm sure if my concerns are unfounded, someone will let me know.