What is top shelf 9mm self-defense ammo these days.
- Thread starter rug357
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I'm pretty sure that protocol is left over from the 70s-80s, when you really did need to do that with the 1911s and BHPs of that era. With current Berettas, Glocks, M&Ps, and such, IMO, that's overkill. My version is to dedicate two magazines to carry duty and put 50-100 rounds of your carry ammo through the gun with those magazines. Then blow through however much practice ammo you want to finish the break-in process. Then clean the gun and reload your chosen magazines with carry ammo.
<thread drift>
I'm also a believer in having at least two of the same (or similar) gun, one of which you carry and the other is assigned to practice/training duty. The carry gun gets carried; it might get field-stripped and lubed occasionally. It is fired when you do your periodic ammo refresh, after which it's cleaned and reloaded with fresh carry ammo. I've been following this practice for a while; I now have five "sets" of autoloaders and three of S&W revolvers, and the K frames could be subdivided into two sets (3" and 4").
</thread drift>
As recommended by those that have seen the autopsy reports,
Federal HST
Speer Gold Dot
Hornady Critical Duty
Federal HST
Speer Gold Dot
Hornady Critical Duty
Montanamanx
Member
All I will carry is Honey Badger by Black Hills, solid copper. No hollow point to clog up.
I still stick with Federal 124g HST. If I cannot find it, I go with Gold Dots.
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My go to 9mm SD round is Federal HST 124 grain standard velocity. In my Sig P365's 3.1" barrel, the standard velocity performed slightly better than the +P version. The +P version is slightly faster and therefore opens up slightly more. That in turn slows the velocity down faster and penetrates an inch or two less. Both are fantastic SD rounds and I am splitting hairs - either one will perform outstandingly! While the Speer 124 GDHP also performs well, the HST is a bit better and has a little more expansion and penetration. That said, the gold dot is also a very good round - second (close) best IMO.
Investigate SuperVel ammunition 
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Doug M.
Member
*
Nope. Modern recommendation from Doc Roberts. Gary is the successor to Dr, Fackler and worked with him; he is a repeatedly qualified expert witness and almost certainly the leading expert on would ballistics today.
jimandhank
Member
Speer Gold Dot 124gr +P 9mm or equivalent from a reputable manufacturer for 99% of self defense encounters. The 1% might be the aforementioned 360lb lineman wearing a leather jacket, etc... I guess I'll have to take my chances in that case.
And not to state the obvious, which I'm about to do, to stop the threat let's not forget shot placement whatever the ammo is... which requires significant range time.
And not to state the obvious, which I'm about to do, to stop the threat let's not forget shot placement whatever the ammo is... which requires significant range time.
I greatly respect Doc Roberts. All my ammo choices come from his list of recommendations in 9x19, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, and .38 Special. But to put his recommendation of 500 rounds of carry ammo to proof a carry gun in context, he's a high-end dental surgeon. For him, buying a case of HST or Gold Dot is chump change. For many of us, that's real money. That's why I've decided on a lesser round count. If I still carried a 1911, I'd find the money somewhere, but my PX4s, Glocks, Walthers, and M&Ps are boringly reliable, and all have at least a hundred rounds of HST through them with no failures.
Glenn R. McMannly
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Every bit of it.
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Another vote for HST 124 grain standard pressure. You can get it for about $40 a box of 50 so you can afford to run 100 or so to ensure reliability. My carry guns are Glock 43 and 26. They are absolutely reliable with this round.
Its best to test the ammo you bought yourself. Milk jugs stacked behind each other filled with water or Ballistic gelatin, or stacked water soaked newspapers would give you penetration and expansion results.
None of this is relevant at all if the bullet is not properly placed and the bullet does not have adequate penetration.
As I mentioned before decades ago I used an old technology Remington 124 grain hollow point bullet that was before bonded technology and killed a very big Whitetail Buck with one shot that weighed before field dressing about 185 lbs.
The FBI found out the hard way that the 115 grain bullets used that day did not give sufficient penetration when the target was shot at odd angles. The bullet that failed went through the felons arm first and then traveled through the chest from the side and stopped only 1/10 of an inch from the heart.
The Germans during WWII switched from the 115 grain to the 124 grain post WWI because of insufficient penetration.
Now does this mean you should not use the 115 grain expanding ammo. No, because you might also get over penetration when using a heavier bullet when a shot hits the target from the front which all proves that there are so many variables in a gun fight no one type of bullet design or brand or bullet weight would cover all the scenarios.
If you are not involved in police work the chances of your getting in a gunfight are about as remote as being struck by lightning. And a bit of a statistic that most people do not want to hear is that the stats have shown that the most people who were killed in a robbery were those that tried to resist by shooting it out with the robber. Money or objects lost in a robbery can be replaced , your life cannot. Resisting may be the Hollywood Macho way but reality is very different and it shows that the odds are always against you when the criminal has the drop on you before you even realize what is going down. The criminal will most likely also be wearing a bullet proof vest and chances are you will not be wearing one, especially during the hot summer months where the vest would kill you from the heat before a robber would.
Few people ever get their homes broken into when they are home as most robbers case the joint and wait until they know you are not home. The last thing they want is a gun fight and a homicide.
Law enforcement just busted a robber gang that was so sophisticated they had hidden spy camera's in trees and bushes watching the house to be robbed so they knew when there was no one home and they had sophisticated electronic jamming devices that knocked out burglar alarms.
In many States it's even against the law to shoot someone over property being stolen or even deliberately destroyed out of revenge or lunacy. And even if it is legal no one is immune from lawsuits, even totally bizarre ones because even if you win the suit the money spent on a defense attorney can rise into the millions, far more than the worth of the property that was being stolen. And there is a great chance that in a firefight bystanders will also be killed in a gunfight which can lead to lawsuits against you if the police rule it was your gunfire that was the source of the tragedy.
Also police arriving in the middle of your shootout with a robber on the street will have no idea who is the good guy and who is the bad guy. On more than one occasion the so called hero gets gunned down by the police arriving on the scene.
Intervening with your gun when you come upon strangers that are in an altercation can often backfire on you as well. One truck driver hearing a woman's screams pulled a gun on her supposed assailant who turned out to be an undercover cop arresting a prostitute. The Truck driver had no license to carry a gun in that state and he and the prostitute went to jail.
Fights between husband and wife with a stranger intervening and shooting the husband almost always results in the wife siding with her husband and if the husband was wounded or killed a big lawsuit against the local hero is almost certain assuming he also is not charged with homicide.
As far as which weapon is the most deadly for home defense? During the American invasion and war in the Philippine Islands from 1899 to 1913 when U.S. soldiers were asked what was the most effective weapon in combat they picked the shotgun, not the pistol, not the revolver and not the military rifle. Jan Libourel, retried gun writer who did extensive research on the American/Philippine war found that the U.S. Soldiers complained bitterly about "all" the handguns used including the mythical 1911 pistol as well as even their military rifles, and they preferred the power of the short barreled shotgun. So for home defense the shotgun is the way to go.
Out on the street no matter what you use that is practical and concealable, especially in hot weather will be no match for the Robbers armed with assault rifles and bulletproof vests and the element of surprise, especially armed gangs.
Massad Ayoob's good advice was that when on vacation where you will probably not even be allowed to carry a gun would be to carry a spare wallet filled with a small amount of cash to be handed over to a robber and to avoid that to begin with always be aware of your surroundings.
None of this is relevant at all if the bullet is not properly placed and the bullet does not have adequate penetration.
As I mentioned before decades ago I used an old technology Remington 124 grain hollow point bullet that was before bonded technology and killed a very big Whitetail Buck with one shot that weighed before field dressing about 185 lbs.
The FBI found out the hard way that the 115 grain bullets used that day did not give sufficient penetration when the target was shot at odd angles. The bullet that failed went through the felons arm first and then traveled through the chest from the side and stopped only 1/10 of an inch from the heart.
The Germans during WWII switched from the 115 grain to the 124 grain post WWI because of insufficient penetration.
Now does this mean you should not use the 115 grain expanding ammo. No, because you might also get over penetration when using a heavier bullet when a shot hits the target from the front which all proves that there are so many variables in a gun fight no one type of bullet design or brand or bullet weight would cover all the scenarios.
If you are not involved in police work the chances of your getting in a gunfight are about as remote as being struck by lightning. And a bit of a statistic that most people do not want to hear is that the stats have shown that the most people who were killed in a robbery were those that tried to resist by shooting it out with the robber. Money or objects lost in a robbery can be replaced , your life cannot. Resisting may be the Hollywood Macho way but reality is very different and it shows that the odds are always against you when the criminal has the drop on you before you even realize what is going down. The criminal will most likely also be wearing a bullet proof vest and chances are you will not be wearing one, especially during the hot summer months where the vest would kill you from the heat before a robber would.
Few people ever get their homes broken into when they are home as most robbers case the joint and wait until they know you are not home. The last thing they want is a gun fight and a homicide.
Law enforcement just busted a robber gang that was so sophisticated they had hidden spy camera's in trees and bushes watching the house to be robbed so they knew when there was no one home and they had sophisticated electronic jamming devices that knocked out burglar alarms.
In many States it's even against the law to shoot someone over property being stolen or even deliberately destroyed out of revenge or lunacy. And even if it is legal no one is immune from lawsuits, even totally bizarre ones because even if you win the suit the money spent on a defense attorney can rise into the millions, far more than the worth of the property that was being stolen. And there is a great chance that in a firefight bystanders will also be killed in a gunfight which can lead to lawsuits against you if the police rule it was your gunfire that was the source of the tragedy.
Also police arriving in the middle of your shootout with a robber on the street will have no idea who is the good guy and who is the bad guy. On more than one occasion the so called hero gets gunned down by the police arriving on the scene.
Intervening with your gun when you come upon strangers that are in an altercation can often backfire on you as well. One truck driver hearing a woman's screams pulled a gun on her supposed assailant who turned out to be an undercover cop arresting a prostitute. The Truck driver had no license to carry a gun in that state and he and the prostitute went to jail.
Fights between husband and wife with a stranger intervening and shooting the husband almost always results in the wife siding with her husband and if the husband was wounded or killed a big lawsuit against the local hero is almost certain assuming he also is not charged with homicide.
As far as which weapon is the most deadly for home defense? During the American invasion and war in the Philippine Islands from 1899 to 1913 when U.S. soldiers were asked what was the most effective weapon in combat they picked the shotgun, not the pistol, not the revolver and not the military rifle. Jan Libourel, retried gun writer who did extensive research on the American/Philippine war found that the U.S. Soldiers complained bitterly about "all" the handguns used including the mythical 1911 pistol as well as even their military rifles, and they preferred the power of the short barreled shotgun. So for home defense the shotgun is the way to go.
Out on the street no matter what you use that is practical and concealable, especially in hot weather will be no match for the Robbers armed with assault rifles and bulletproof vests and the element of surprise, especially armed gangs.
Massad Ayoob's good advice was that when on vacation where you will probably not even be allowed to carry a gun would be to carry a spare wallet filled with a small amount of cash to be handed over to a robber and to avoid that to begin with always be aware of your surroundings.
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