With all due respect to Rastoff, if you look at actual testing of ammo, it does make a difference what you use.
No disrespect taken. I didn't say there wasn't a difference. I said the question is pointless. Let's look at it closer...
The original question was, "what's the best defense Ammo to use in my 9mm?" "Best" is always subjective. I can cite many situations where people were killed by a FMJ round. I can cite many situations where people were NOT killed by a JHP. Does that mean the JHP is not as good as the FMJ? Absolutely not! The only correct answer is we don't have enough data to draw a conclusion.
Ballistics gel is a good analog, but it's not a person. We're not defending ourselves from gel. We hear these phrases all the time:
- Brand X has always been good for me.
- I've always felt safe with brand Y.
- Brand Z is well regarded.
- The super frangilistic hooper point is used by the police so, that must be good.
- The military uses hardball so, that must work, right?
Out of all those that say such things, how many have actually used whatever to stop a human? I'll bet none.
There is only one thing at the top of the list when it comes to a defensive gun: functional reliability. Absolutely everything else is a debatable quality. If the gun doesn't work, it's not a gun anymore, is it? If that new wonder round causes your gun to fail to cycle, then it's not worth spit.
Correlate that with the original question and it goes like this:
What's the best ammo for my X gun?
The ammo that most reliably functions in that gun.
So you have to test. Now the question becomes, how many rounds do I need to fire in order to verify the functionality of it in my gun? This is a widely accepted number and easily discovered.
Since nothing is ever 100% reliable, we must accept something less than 100%. Statistically that number is the 95% confidence level. To reach that level it is generally accepted that it takes 30 iterations of a process. This means 30 shots. However, since each position of a magazine represents new variables, each position must be tested. For a 10 round magazine, that's 30x10 or 300 rounds. If you have more than one magazine, multiply by the number of magazines.
Most people don't fire 600 rounds in their lifetime. Let alone do 600 rounds of testing with the super expensive special defensive uber expanding hollow point rounds. No, most people fire one magazine worth and declare that their gun cycles reliably and is 100% functional with said super round. Are you OK with that? Are you willing to trust your life to that? If you are, fine. I'm not.
Remember, we're not talking about what's good or good enough, we're talking about what's best. The best is what's going to work best in YOUR gun. Every round on the market will stop the threat if placed in the proper place. No round on the market will stop the threat if it doesn't fire or isn't placed where it will do serious damage.
To sum up, the BEST round is one that:
- Will function reliably in your gun.
- Hits the intended target. (This requires training and practice.)
Everything else is internet discussion fodder. Is a JHP better than an FMJ? Probably, but only if it's placed in the right place.
