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147 grain ammo

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coachray

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The last time I was in my local Cabela's I was looking for 9mm 147 grain fmj ammo. Every brand they had was truncated(FN). Does anyone know if this is the industry standard for all manufacturers? I've never bought much 147gr ammo. Any input is appreciated. Thank you.
 
I think most is JHP. You probably have the hardball 9mm form of the 130 grain FMJ for .38 Specials. Mainly practice ammo.

I prefer the Federal 124 grain HST or the Speer Gold Dot Plus P in 9mm as a defense load. Never looked for 147 grain 9mm ammo.
 
Jeff Cooper was a big fan of truncated cone .45 ACP prior to the engineers being able to design good hollow points. The flat point chops and tears through flesh. It is a common shape in heavy for caliber hard cast hunting ammunition. It normally feeds as well as round nose bullets.
 
For self-defense, I'm a huge fan of heave for caliber bullets. I don't pay attention to kinetic energy tables. I'm a momentum dude. I want a bullet that will penetrate deeply, hopefully through-and-through. The way I have it figured, two holes are better than one.

I never believe a hollow point handgun bullet will mushroom like advertisement photos. There are just too darn many variables that tinker with expectations. If a bullet expands, I'll take it as long as it expands en route to making a second hole.

Hence, I think you're on the right track with your 147 grain bullet design. I've carried a .45 ACP with vanilla 230 grain ball and never felt slighted.
 
Some 147gr practice ammo is RN but most of it is flat point. If you carry 147 gr ammo it makes sense to shoot 147gr practice ammo (if you can afford it) as the recoil impulse will be the same, and 147s shoot differently than 124s and are much less snappy that 115s.
 
I buy 147g where the price is right, as it suppresses better (subsonic). All has been FN or JHP. All the 147s seem to feed well in whatever I run them through.

All that said, I shoot 124g FMJ for range ammo in the Shield.
 
My Federal 147gr HST is a tapered HP.
The Speer 147gr FMJ is a tapered FN.
Xtreme has a tapered RN and a tapered HP, design.

Lots of designs out there. You just need to search a little to find what you need.
 
Correction- Got some Winchester Personal Protection 147 grain SXT in my runt Kahr.
I also like the idea of heavy slower bullet.
Short barrel will most likely limit velocity anyway.
 
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coachray said:
The last time I was in my local Cabela's I was looking for 9mm 147 grain fmj ammo. Every brand they had was truncated(FN). Does anyone know if this is the industry standard for all manufacturers? I've never bought much 147gr ammo. Any input is appreciated. Thank you.
Click to expand...

About 99% of factory loaded 147's use a flat point profile bullet. The only load I could find is the Fiocchi Shooting Dynamics 147FMJ that has a RN profile.
 
I ordered 500 of the 147 grain 9mm FMJ bullets that Midway sells. I wanted to load them up for cheap practice ammo. I was surprised when they were round nose. Fine with me. They feed like water through a funnel.

Hornady was the manufacturer.
 

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Last edited:
coachray said:
The last time I was in my local Cabela's I was looking for 9mm 147 grain fmj ammo. Every brand they had was truncated(FN). Does anyone know if this is the industry standard for all manufacturers? I've never bought much 147gr ammo. Any input is appreciated. Thank you.
Click to expand...

If what you are asking is whether 9mm range ammo in 147 grain is Ball ammo like the other weights, my experience is that it is Jacketed Truncated Cone (JTC), while the defense ammo is Jacketed Hollow Point (JHP).
 
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