9mm Defensive rds what do you use

Summer: Gold Dot 124gr +P! Dallas, Chicago, Denver, NYC and others must like them enough to use them...

Winter: Federal 147gr +P HST. Check You Tube with TN Outdoors: They were mushrooming to .78

I am a believer in the 'new' 9mm loadings. Much of the .45 vs. 9mm is moot nowadays. The modern loadings of the 9mm have been making evil men permanently good at the cyclic rate.

The Gold Dot in my opinion is one of the top loads. I also hear that the Ranger T is very good as well. It has had some failures. From what I understand, the Gold Dot (in the NYPD loading) has been doing quite well.

18DAI is spot on (as usual): Shot placement IS the key...
 
Hornady Critical Defense in my Shield, 3913, and 469. Speer Gold Dot 124 gr. +P's in my M&P9c and G19. And Winchester 147 gr. HP's in my PM9.
 
If you are really interested in this, go to Youtube and watch the videos by Tnoutdoors9. He has tested most of the rounds mentioned in this thread. I currently carry 147gr. HST, but Speer Gold Dot 124+P is also great. If you have a gun that favors 115gr. , then look into the Gold Dots.

Here is the 147 grain HST that I carry:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=KR&hl=ko&client=mv-google&v=PNRqrJRq4T0&nomobile=1


Here is the Speer Gold Dot 124+P:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdXfDcY-0gU&feature=relmfu


Here is the Speer Gold Dot 115 in Standard Pressure (I am waiting for his 115 +P+ test). I like this standard-pressure round for low recoil in a small barrel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2s82NCLKQI
 
Last edited:
cometpx4 said:
I use modern day 115gr silvertips. The local Cabelas always has a good supply. I disagree with Big Daddy. SA Dove's silvertip was an older design.
I have chronographed a bunch of standard pressure 9mm loads and the silvertip routinely has the most velocity. If you are looking for aheavier bullet then its not the proper choice but for summer carry the 115gr will do the trick.
I have found it to be an extremely accurate round and it works with utter reliability in my glocks, M&P's and Berettas.
Click to expand...

Comet, the Silvertip did what it was supposed to do. Expand. But it didn't penetrate enough. Velocity has nothing to do with it. Weight really has nothing to do with it. It's bullet design that is important. We now know today that outside of shot placement, the single most important aspect of any bullet is penetration. The lack of it was amply demonstrated in Miami. God bless those FBI warriors but they were armed with poor ammo by todays standards. The bullets of today are far superior to the Silvertip. Even a slow 147 grain 9mm that penetrates at least 12 inches which almost all do, is much better than the Silvertip of yesteryear.
 
In my 3913LS, I use Rem UMC 115 grain JHP. It's 100% reliable, shoots exactly to point of aim and I can hit a grapefruit @ 50 yards with it.

It doesn't cost $1.00 a round and I don't feel bad shooting a bunch of it in practice.
 
BigDaddy7972 said:
The first thing you want to do is get rid of those Silver Tips. Keep in mind that in the great Miami FBI shootout, they discovered that one of the problems in that shootout was not the 9mm round but the Silver Tip round itself. It was designed to not penetrate properly because over penetration was a huge concern at that time. As a result the bullets that the bureau used stopped just short of hitting the heart of,IIRC, Platt. The bullet did what it was supposed to do, but that was simply not enough. Any one of the rounds manufactured today by the major manufacturers such as Winchester, Remington, Federal etc are all good performers. I carry the Ranger 147 grain and I can tell you from personal experience that it works just fine.
Click to expand...

I had no idea that was the bullets the FBI used in the Miami shootout.Looks like i will be shooting all that stuff up the next few trips to the range.
thx
 
Back in the day it was the rage. But then as it started becoming used more frequently we realized something was wrong as BG's just were not going down with this round. Then the FBI shootout occurred and an exhaustive investigation determined that it was a shallow penetrator. There are much better bullets out there today. The Silvertip is an ancient round. Why not get a bullet that is a better performer and gives you an edge.
 
I tend to favor 124 gr. GDHP, but will not snub a box of any modern duty grade hollow point.

Basically by some diff. types and weights and see which shoots best out of ur weapon and then by a case or two of the selected brand and you should be set for life.
 
HST or Gold Dot. Both 124+p
Like to get my hands on some HST 147gr. soon.
 
Last edited:
Practice whatever cheapest, normally the wally world box of 100
Real life-Winchester Ranger T 147 grain.
Penmon
 
I normally just pop off 100 win white box for target but I really want to try the Fed 100rd box. Except, my walmart never seems to have it. I saw a walmart with the 50 round box but didn't want just 50 that day and all they had was one box. I see walmart also carries a Fed personal defense low recoil round. I wonder if those are any good. I don't know I'm kind of thinking of the Critical Defense but my CCW instructor said he had lots of misfires in a box...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
4013 at the range
Replies
3
Views
1K
miles71
M
Gunsmithattheguncloset
.38 Spl +P+ What do you think?
Replies
16
Views
3K
cdr
C
P
38/44 Ammo Testing – Factory and Reload
2
Replies
22
Views
8K
Paul5388
Paul5388

Latest posts

Back
Top