9mm ammo for personal defense & carry

[SrA Scott]

I've got a whole lot of conflicting info about what grain, what velocity, and what manufacturer makes the all-around, most effective cartridge for 9mm.

I plan to try all sorts of ammo out, but ultimately I'll need a personal defesne round with some real POW behind it for CCW purposes. To date a 230 gr .45 ACP has been my personal choice for self-defense and carry, but now I have a 9 as well and need an ammo I can have complete confidence in (shot placement proficiency being my responsibility, of course).

I hear that the Border Patrol uses a 115 gr +P+ JHP made my Federal, but can't confirm. I've heard that Winchester makes a stellar 9mm JHP of some kind for LE, but that it's not commonly found available for commercial sale.

I have some Cor-Bon HP, some Federal Hydra-Shok HP, and a few other FMJ types to try out in my Glock 26 when I take it out for its inaugural shooting (never had a Glock before -- this should be fun!).

The benefit or your experiences are greatly appreciated...

Scott

[kennethm3]

The Border Patrol uses a 155 grain .40S&W jacketed hollowpoint made by either Federal or Remington.
For 9mm look at something in the 125 grain range pushing about 12-1400 feet per second. There are tons of good 9mm defense loads out there. Good luck.

[corporal716]

Carry what ever your department issues/ authorizes for on duty uses (even if they do not have a policy for off duty). It looks better in court. The department and training always comes in to play even when off duty. If something goes down off duty and you are not within their guidelines they will wash their hands of it and hang you out to dry.

[sigy]

I agree with corporal716. I use the same stuff they issue me. Just for info, in our Glocks we carry Speer Gold Dot .40 165 gr. GDHP, in the MP-5's we use Speer Gold Dot 9mm 115 gr. GDHP.

Sigy:destroy:

[modareguy]

From reading sra scott's profile, he is not a LEO, rather is a civilian with a CCW. So carrying the department weapon and/or ammo would be out of the question....

[SigGuy552]

Federal hydroshoks seem to work the best for me. My buddy told me that the ball ammo he was using was going right through people before he got himself a case of hydroshoks. He said it took at most 2 rounds to take the guys down. He's in afghanistan and is not US military. He's doing some kind of civilian work there.

Hey Sigy...your from Santa Cruz huh? I'm UCSC alumni and just graduated 2002. My image of SC was always beautiful beaches full of tourists free of crime. Boy was I wrong....beachflats, chestnut ave, Ocean st, damn SC has alot of problems. You with the city or county?

[sigy]

SigGuy552, Yup I'm in Santa Cruz. I work for the County thank god. The city has by far too many political restraints. All those areas you listed are the city's, but we've been known to go in there a play a little. Overall, the entire county is fairly nice. We have our problem areas but I still love it here. I work in Felton, Ben Lomond, and Boulder Creek, so I just have the trees, animals, and mountain people to be concerned with.

Sigy:destroy:

[jaybird]

SigGuy552,
heheh, Is your buddy Dirty Harry or something? He's got to be the talk of the PD with all his Officer Involved shootings... :cool:

[batakgt]

Check out Speer Gold Dot JHP 124 gr +P

Good round, with good expansion and penetration...check out
ammolab.com for ballistics tests.

[SigGuy552]

I don't think afghanistan really has PD's...they have chiefs or something like that. Apparently every area has a local boss. He's basically the police. My friend got a contract job doing protection for construction details to and from kabul.

Ben Lomond, Felton, Boulder Creek....sounds like meth lab heaven to me. When I was in college, I had a buddy who was broke and couldn't live near the campus so he stayed by felton area. One day on my way to his place, I see this small buff white guy with a shaved head and his shirt off. Not a big deal until I noticed the giant eagle holding a wreathed swastika. I flashed him and his boys a look and they all start cussing and yelling. I drove on but it took everything I had to resist turning around(I had a benelli in the trunk with 00 buck). Let me know if you ever get really bored and decide to go play in Santa Cruz. I know where all the crack houses are....they were my neighbors! :D

[SigGuy552]

Oh yeah...speaking of officer involved shootings...my buddy took this itts combat handgun course taught by a LAPD guy named scotty I think. He's been in 11 shootings or something around that amount. :eek:

[sigy]

Originally posted by SigGuy552
Oh yeah...speaking of officer involved shootings...my buddy took this itts combat handgun course taught by a LAPD guy named scotty I think. He's been in 11 shootings or something around that amount. :eek:

Would that be Scott Reitz? Great instructor. I used to work at the range he instructs at and had a chance to take a couple classes. Best training I've ever had. I'm going back sometime this year.

Sigy:destroy:

[SigGuy552]

Yup thats him. Great guy I heard. Too bad he only teaches LE. I was gonna take their sniper course but they want previous experience. Basically taking one of their beginners classes so they can make more dough. I going to McMillian's school and taking their combat sniper course. They instructed SEAL team 2 and many other SWAT teams their sniper tactics. Maybe they'll hire me on a dept as a sniper :alien: hahaha...I can dream right? :huh?:

[Jstncse]

Take a look at the Winchester Ranger T. (The new black talons). As you mentioned they are hard to come buy, but check around you'll find some. I really like the performance of this round.

[Renegade]

Remington Golden Sabers 124 gr +P.

Chrono'd at 1135 fps out of G17.

[dmclark]

Take a look at the Miami FBI Shooting Incident, circa 1986. (?) There are many write-ups and you should get the story on the Net. Bottom line is the FBI did extensive 9mm studies, when the round was a 115 gr. JHP.

They found the perp was hit multiple times from the side and rounds failed to penetrate the rib cage into the vitals. The bottom line was the move to 147 gr. JHP for greater penetration.

This round failure led to the rapid deployment of the 10mm for the Bureau. Take a look at the story and issues involved. Good LE reading. DM

[J-Mann]

Take a look at the Triton Quikshok round. They are nasty and do lots of damage. Very expensive and hard to find. They are made by tritonammunition.


J-Mann