I've always carried Gold Dots in my carry guns. Have my Shield loaded with 147gr at the moment. May make a change to 124 or 124+p.

My Shield 9mm is carried with Federal Hyrdra-Shock (135 gr.) which cycles with no problem. I was thinking of a more modern carry-load like the Hornady Critical Defense. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

I seem to be the only one that has 147+P HST. Very hard round to find. This is a hot, heavy for caliber defense load. I have all of the others mentioned, but this stays in my Shield 24x7. The +P makes it more suitable for a short barrel.

Ditto on the comments that state find what you and your gun likes. But while we are weighing in...Hornady Critical Duty 135 gr +p and Winchester Ranger Bonded 124 gr +p JHP. My Shield and FS9 rip through both. I'm tempted to go with the Winchester due to box of 50 for $32 at my LGS as opposed to the Hornady at $26 for a box of 25.

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M&P FS 9mm
M&P Shield 9mm

I carry the new Winchester Ranger Talons 127 gr in +P+....Have dropped two Pit Bulls in the last month and didnt have to fire a second shot on either...RARE for 9mm!

Makes one hell of a mess though!

Good price in the link below if you can catch em in stock!

WINCHESTER RANGER RA9TA

I like the Winchester Ranger-T 147 gr. for my shield. Low recoil is one of the benefits.

Before I got my shield in 9mm, I did a lot of research on SD rounds for it. I was actually pretty surprised to find that in researching ballistics, in particular expansion from short barrels 2.5"-3", the best performing rounds(I believe over 20 different rounds were tested, including many of the ones mentioned so far) were Federal personal defense 115 grain JHP. These come in a light blue box, federal makes a few different variations of this ammo but, these in particular performed the best. They outperformed Federals HST and Hydra shok ammo. I believe a close second was Speer gold dots "short barrel". I am by no means an expert on ammo or ballistics, just my two cents.

Has anyone tried the Double Tap bonded ammo in 9mm? Just wonder how it shoots in the Shield.

Thanks, Storm for the heads up on policehq...just made an order with free postage w $99 purchase...hard to beat!

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Recovering Pacifist

Federal HST 147gr. +p, heavier grain does better out of shorter barrels, +p makes up much of the velocity you lose from the shorter barrel. HST is arguably the meanest bullet on the market.

But they were good dogs, just getting their lives back together.