I am looking to buy true self-defense ammo for the first time.

I have a Shield 9 I plan to feed Hornady Critical defense.
I have a M&P 9 Full Size I plan to feed Hornady Critical Duty.

I would like to purchase perhaps 100 or 200 rounds of each.

Where can I find the best price on these?

Use the search engine ammoseek.com. In terms of websites, sgammo.com is among the lowest and has a flat rate for shipping.

Shipping/handling costs are all over the map. So make sure to use the shipping to your location cost estimator on all of the sites. The lowest list price may not be the lowest shipped to your location. Also what is cheapest for 1000 rounds may not be the cheapest for 200 rounds.

Go to ammo seek and search under hornady 9mm, click link below.:

9mm luger ammo handgun Hornady

They are a good ammunition search engine.

SGAmmo normally has it at a decent price. You might look into the Federal HST ammo as well since it's a proven performer in both of the guns you listed.

SG ammo is the best imo.

And stick with with the critical defense. The critical duty is not made for short barrel guns and doesn't expand reliably. See the lucky gunner lab on SD ammo. I prefer the gold dots. But again. According to lucky gunner tests. The 165 gold dots are also not good out of short barrel guns. The 180 and the 180 short barrel version look very good. There are others too. I like critical defense a lot but I can get other ammo that performs as well at a cheaper price. A great thing at SG ammo is they sell much of the SD Ammon in50 round boxes. That's means u get to actually shoot some of it and you need to do that.

One other note on the gold dots is that Speer designed their lawmen fmjs to mimick the ballistics of the corosponding gold dots. Lawmen is excellent training ammo to go along with the golds dots for self defense

Good luck

Oh, I thought Critical Duty would be ok in my M&P Full Size (4.25 inch barrel, I think).

Thank you everyone for the leads.

I have to admit, I am still thoroughly confused on what to get. Trying to balance proven technology with grain with charge (+P or not) with price is a seemingly daunting task, and i have remained indecisive for months.


With that in mind, is there anything wrong with feeding my Shield & Full Size M&P this, so I can call it a day?:
Federal 9mm HST Tactical P9HST1 124 gr JHP 50 per box

It is a very good price, and someone above suggested Federal HST as a proven round. And yes, I do plan to test in both my pistols.

The HST 124g standard pressure is an excellent choice for either and both of your guns! Great penetration and expansion. In short and longer barrels. You really can't go wrong with any configuration of HST. second choice would be Gold Dot. Followed by Winchester Ranger and PDX1. And last would be Critical Defense. The Duty is more for barrier penetration for LEO and doesn't expand as well as Defense.

Not sure about that one, one of Federals 124 HP does real well .61 expansion and another of their 124 not so good .43
http://www.luckygunner.com/labs/self...tic-tests/#9mm

Thanks for the confidence. I just ordered 7 boxes. I appreciate it. Now I can cross this off the list!

I purchased P9HST1 which is the 50 pack version of P9HST1S, and P9HST1S is rated with the .61 avg diameter hole on lucky gunner.

The other one isn't an HST. It's a Hydra Shok. Old technology and very different than the HST line.

yes, i think it should be fine in a FS gun. And i was referencing the 40 cal stuff, not the 9, so it may be a little different across the board. Check that luckygunner lab as that's what i based those statements on. Either way, critical duty is designed for superior barrier penetration.. If you need to shoot thru a wall, plywood, or glass, it would be the best, but maybe not for personal defense in a carry gun. It's a LE round for sure. Whatever round you decide to carry, just make sure you shoot a box or two. Not only for training, but to check reliability too. Good luck.

oh, here is a link to the lab test
http://www.luckygunner.com/labs/self...llistic-tests/

i should read better before posting. I see you've already got most of the info i just posted.