Best personal defense Ammo for shield 9mm?

[Neldon]

My Shield 9 is unusually picky about ammo, so to insure that whatever SD ammo I carried would load, fire, and eject, I subjected several highly regarded rounds to reliability tests. My goal was to find a round that would fire at least 100 consecutive times without a failure.

The clear winner was Hornady Critical Duty 135g +P. It (so far) has fired 174 rounds without a single failure of any kind. It is the only SD round I've tried that has had zero failures.

In second is Speer Gold Dot 124g +P. After three FTEs which occurred early in my Shield's history, the Gold Dots have since fired 147 times with no failures.

Virtually tied for second is Remington Golden Saber 147g. The Goldern Sabers had one early FTE, then fired 227 times before a second FTE. They are also the most accurate of the top three rounds.

What about the vaunted HSTs? I tried Federal HST 124g +P rounds, and in a word, they were wretched. They had three failures to feed in 31 rounds. They would hang up on the bottom of my feed ramp. They were clearly not suitable for my Shield, so I quit testing them, and donated the remainder to my SIG P320. I could not find HST 147g rounds at the time, so I haven't tested them.

Thanks for the info and affirmation. 135 gr Critical Defense is my choice, my only question is about over-penetration and expansion.
The flex-lock keeps the bullet together when penetrating heavy objects and clothing, but does it also prevent expansion in other lighter scenarios?

 

[Bleek Gilliam]

I like the CorBon DPX for my Shield

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[yep380]

Thanks much for the link.
Curious that there was no Hornady ammo included. Looking for opinion and results on 9mm 135 Critical Duty + P.

It's in the list: http://www.luckygunner.com/labs/self-defense-ammo-ballistic-tests/#9mm

400 Bad Request

 

[gqllc007]

Federal HST 124 Standard pressure is what you seek....Neldon you already heard that from me before LOL

 

[Bleek Gilliam]

Never understood all the love for Critical Defense. There's a reason it's not the choice for any agency I can think of. There's also a reason it's readily available at most big box stores and such. There's also a reason why they had to come out with Critical Duty. The Defense version is targeted at civilian market and not made to meet FBI testing protocols unlike the Duty version which is harder to find and designed to meet FBI standards. Hornady Critical Defense is an awesome example of the power of marketing. Look at how many people have adopted it as their choice over street proven options when it has very little if any reliable real world results.

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[dan323]

I use Sig Sauer V-crown 124 grain 9mm in my shield. It runs good. And I got it at Cabela's for $15.00 a box of 20.
9MM, 124GR, Elite V-Crown, JHP

 

[Neldon]

Federal HST 124 Standard pressure is what you seek....Neldon you already heard that from me before LOL

Hey there Gunquest.
Double LOL
Thought that sounded like your info. Good to hear from you.
Yes sir. My memory failed me and got the 135 +P instead. Switching to Federal today, then burn the Hornady this afternoon.

 

[MP1SG]

Unfortunataley the Critical duty/defense does not have any "Street Cred" There have not been a lot of actual street shootings (to my knowledge) Rounds like the HST, Gold Dot, Golden Saber, SXT have actual Street shootings results. NYPD seem to be very happy with their Gold Dot 124 +P rounds .
I'd stick with rounds that have been proven street results, The Critical duty/defense do well on ballistic gel as does the DPX, But I'll stick with the HST 124+P when I carry a 9mm.

 

[AZHTfreak]

Federal HST (P#P9HST1,2,3or4)

As I'm sure previous posters to this thread have opined, and I'm late to the thread, just buy ANY flavor of Federal's HST (in the 50rd LE box - NOT the effing OVERPRICED 20rd retail box). I'm new to this forum & my 1st single stack, a Shield #10086. I've carried Federal #P9HST4 147gr +P in my my Steyr dbl stacks (3.6"-5.0") for the past 4 years with absolutely ZERO malfunctions. Put 500 rds - including 100 rds of #P9HST4 - through this puppy over the past couple weeks with the same result. Zero, ziltch, nada malfunctions, it eats everything from FM 115gr remans to the HSTs, happily! As far as I'm concerned, an 8+1 HST load in a Shield (or any other pistol) is the perfect Minute of Badguy for defensive pistol - BAR NONE...! Check out Ammo Quest\youtube for his 3" barreled FBI test comps and ammoseek.com - I just picked up 500rds from bonefroggunclub.com (NV) for $0.3971/rd with s/h ($18.25/50rd box before s/h). Oh, and NO, the 147gr +P HST isn't noticeably more snappy than my 124gr FMJ range ammo... Hard to tell the diff when my buddy candy-canes the rounds for me.

 

[GoDevil Man]

Put 500 rds - including 100 rds of #P9HST4 - through this puppy over the past couple weeks with the same result. Zero, ziltch, nada malfunctions, it eats everything from FM 115gr remans to the HSTs, happily! As far as I'm concerned, an 8+1 HST load in a Shield (or any other pistol) is the perfect Minute of Badguy for defensive pistol - BAR NONE...!

10-4 to this! I'm up to 420 rounds in my shield, including 20 HST 124 and tonight 50 147 HST. Ate all the HST no hiccups and 147 shot to POA from 10 yards.I had one Hangfire out of 200 Remington UMC on which I may have rode the slide. 100 cheap federals from Walmart all ran fine, as did 115 gr. PPU. Love the Shield!