I am wanting some opinions on what is the best self/home defense ammo for my S&W full size 9mm?

The "best" will differ from person to person depending on their situtation.

Pick a premium self defense load, make sure first that it functions in your gun and is accurate enough for self defense.

There are many fine loads but I will list the ones that I know have proven themselves on the street. That being said, there may be others that I don't know about.

Winchester Ranger T 127gr +P+
Corbon DPX
Remington Golden Saber 124gr +P or 147gr
Speer Gold Dot 124gr +P
Federal HST 147gr

Speer Gold Dot 124gr +P is what I carry in my 9mm.

What is your opinion of Range ammo? Currently I put 9mm Luger 115 Gr. Metal Case Remington UMC that I buy in the Mega pack. Home Security I have hollow points. But for Range ammo what do you think?

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Sigma 9mm/XD 9

Here is another vote for the Speer gold dot 124grn.+P
It functions very well in both of my 9's

As far as range ammo goes I'm using Federal 115grn. FMJ. several hundred rounds fired with no problems.
I'll also add that I have tried the Remington golden Saber with good results.

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I reckon so

I like Federal 115gr red box for range ammo or WWB value pack 100. I do not like Remington for range or SD. There brass is to soft and I find it not to be accurate at all. There Golden Saber and new Home Defense load are identical. In my opinion for Self Defense I like Corbon DPX and Hornady Critical Defense. They both expand 99.9% of the time. If you want all out devastation then go with Winchester Ranger Talon T.

I saw the Federal ammo for about the same price at Walmart. 10:47 for a box of 50. About the same price if you buy them in bulk is what I've been doing.

Thanks for the info.

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Sigma 9mm/XD 9

I like Mag Tech 115 FMJ gr. for the range and W.W. 147 gr Personal Protection for carry/home defense

This stuff shoots like a dream in my M&P. And the fact it can be had so cheaply.... at any walmart.... is awesome!

^ +1 It's my choice for range ammo, too.

THIS.

From a ballistic standpoint, the 124gr +p is probably the best 9mm round to use. I also believe Speer's version has the best penetration and expansion of the brands. The "heavier is better" arguement doesn't really apply to 9mm that well. 124gr seems to be the sweet spot.

Steve

In all honesty, I wouldn't want to get hit by any of the already mentioned
ammo.......
As for me, my M&P feeds anything I put into it: WWB, Rem-UMC,Blazer Brass,Blazer Alum. cased,Rem JHP's,Federal, even Wolf and Barnaul (Russian) which are dirtier, but, it all functions well.
Speer Gold Dot or Cor-Bon +P works well as sd ammo.

Rock on......

Federal HST 124gr +P
Speer Gold Dot 124gr +P
Winchester PDX1 124gr +P

All great loads and will do the job, if you do yours.

I'm not all that big on the latest greatest and most expensive SD ammo. It was all designed to the FBI test standard, which I fear has too much penetration for personal defense. I shoot the cheapest 115 gr 9mm ball from WalMart and use Winchester White Box Personal Defense for personal defense, because it seems to act just like the Winchester Silver Tips, without the silver color. Old style rapid expansion bullets.
Geoff
Who hopes he never has to find out about the terminal ballistics.

See Dr. Gary Roberts testing results. Roberts is an accepted expert in terminal ballistics.

I'm using Winchester RA9T 147gr in my 9mm pistols and RA45T 230gr in my .45ACP pistols..

-- Chuck

This round comes in both boxes of 50 and 100 value pack. As an IDPA competitor, I have shot about 8000 rounds with two malfunctions and they were my fault. If I dont clean the pistol at about 1000 rounds enough sludge gets under the extractor hook that the extractor turns loose of the fired case and leaves it there and tries to feed a new round in which is a real major stoppage but if i keep the gun clean)i dont take the extractor out,just clean under it from the outside, it never maklfunctions .I have bever had a malfunction in at least 50 matches.i do clean before each match And its accurate!!!Great practice round. I am shooting them in a m and p pro and a m and p 4 inch gun

+1 on the Gold Dot 124s. They are accurate and outperform most other ammo out there. They are also the only offering I know of in a "short barrel" formula, which helps alleviate velocity loss in compacts & sub-compacts.

Winchester Ranger 127 grain +P+ forced to buy myself and only use off duty as Dept issue free stuff 100 rds a month is Federal HST 147 grain...............

Can't add anything to the recommendations on PD ammo, but will say I have had good luck with Fiocchi 115 gr. FMJ ammo for range and practice ammo. It tends to be loaded a little hotter than most of the domestic standard velocity FMJ rounds, by about 50 fps, in my experience.

Has anyone dealt with the 147 grain federal HST and is there any place a non law enforcement person can get it?

We carry this round exclusively Quals and all practice

Yes you can buy it at Tactical Defense Solutions and you do not need to be LEO to purchase.

Tactical Defense Solutions LLC - Specializing in high quality supplies for the critical shooter

Just click on the ammo tab at the left. Right now he does not have any Federal 9mm HST but he always gets new stuff in so if you keep checking you will find what you want.

Federal HST Ammo is really good stuff. Here is a ballistic picture showing the HST and others.





Full test here for 9mm

Pistol Cartridges (9x19mm Luger)

Semper Fi

Hey, Guys -- I see "honorable mention" for Corbon DPX, Remington Golden Saber, Federal HST, and Hornady Critical Defense. The preferred seems to be the Speer Gold Dot. 2 questions:
1. About how many rounds of a defense ammo should I cycle to have strong confidence? (I've put ~1200 FMJ rounds through my full-size 9mm).
2. Did you fire as many (or more) of your recommended ammo as you recommend for #1?

Thanks.

I've shot around 1200 rds of winchester white box (walmart) and federal, maybe 400 of remington hollow points and have yet to have a single failure.

I use Federal 115gr +p+ Hi-Shoc ammo

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Don't look, reload and shoot!

My choice in 9mm "business" ammo is the Federal HST 147gr. Bill

i dont understand the S&w Company
S&W says you can shoot +P ammo in the SDVE but like with any gun, regular use of the +P will wear the gun out faster. Also, they say NOT to use +P+.

I shoot Federal and Blazzer aluminum case on the range(115gr) and carry Hornady XTS 147gr for SD/HD. Didn't see a lot of people mention Hornady but I have not had any problems with it. Is there a problem I don't know about?