Thoughts on ammo

[SavageSmoker]

Hi all,

Looking for some good HD/SD. The two I would like comments on are Federal Premium Personal Defense vs. Hornady Critical Defense. Both 165 grain. Will be used in .40 Shield and FS M&P .40.

Thoughts? Thx...Brian

 

[Lineman73]

Go with Hornady

I give the vote to Hornady ammunition. While I have never used it for personal defense, I have used it for hunting. I have had way too many one shot kills, with huge exit wounds with it to use anything else.

If their game bullets work that well, they obviously know how to make an effective self defense load also. Make mine Hornady!! Critical defense, critical duty or Zombie Max (just in case), it's all the same to me!!

 

[chapguy]

Both are terrific cartridges by outstanding manufacturers. Buy a box of each and see which your gun likes, that should give you the best answer.

Although I agree with nearly everything that Lineman73 had to say, I respectfully disagree with the recommendation of Hornady Critical Duty ammunition. It is designed for Law Enforcement use and is made specifically to pass FBI standards. It is made to stay intact after passing through barriers such as auto glass, wood, drywall, etc. What that means for you is that it is a terrible self defense round because it will pass through interior walls in your home with little or no loss of energy. Great for LE uses but lousy for self defense or home defense since you will not likely have to shoot through barriers to defend yourself. The two choices you mention are both excellent. Good luck.

 

[MVEROSTEK]

PROPER AMMO FOR THE PROPER JOB

Just purchased my first 40 M&P fs for carry and home defense. I was not sure on the proper ammo to purchase so I spoke with the salesman. He raved about 135 grain Federal Premium Guard Dog Home Defense round. So I picked up a box, yikes $25 and change for 20 rounds! My thoughts were, you can't put a price on your life so I bought a box.

My questions are, are they equal to all the hype or was the sales person just praying on the new kid on the block and trying to make a sale? Also what does anyone consider a good practice round for the M&P 40? Normally I would practice with what I carry but the Guard Dog round is just to expensive.

Since there are so many brands and types of ammo out there, a novice such as myself can easily be misguided. After reading a little I was thinking of a 165 grain hollow point. Does anyone agree or have any better suggestions? Sure would like to know what my fellow 40 M&P carriers use. In this case, I would be a trend follower instead of a trend setter. Any and all recommendations would greatly be appreciated. Thanks in advance. Marty - Retired USN, GMC(SW)

 

[Steve C]

Hornady makes a good bullet but it has little experience in actual shootings of humans vrs the Federal which is basically the Hydra shok bullet, the same round that is sold to police depts. Perssonally I like Remington Golden Sabers for semi autos as I've found they feed reliably in my handguns and have good stats in actual law enforcement shootings.

It really doesn't make much if any difference on the ammo you select as long as it is a good proven HP that functions reliably in your handguns and is made by a major manufacturer. If used by law enforcement you know its been tested to meet their standards. Horanday does sell ammo to LE too.

Personally I'd look on line for something that's good and inexpensive to shoot enough that you are confident in the ammo feed and function reliablility in your handguns. Right now their are good buys on Remingington Golden sabers in 25 round boxes and other LEO surplus ammo in 50 round boxes.

Here are a couple good links to on line ammo sales that I have bought from:

40 cal | SGAmmo.com
Ammunition To Go : Your one stop for all of your ammunition needs!

 

[scooter123]

Some other excellent options are Speer Gold Dots and Winchester Ranger-T.

Personally I'm a bit of a fan of Speer ammunition because I've found it to be exceptionally accurate. In addition Speer builds a companion FMJ line to the Gold Dots under the Lawman label and while a bit pricey it's a superb range ammo that provides an exact duplicate in recoil and internal ballistics to the Gold Dots.

As for the Winchester Ranger-T, it's an evolution of the notorious Black Talon which was probably the first of the truely modern jacketed and bonded hollowpoints that have basically taken over the market. One benefit of this particular cartridge is that the profile is a bit more pointed and I've found it to be reliable in my 40 caliber XDm which is a bit fussy with Speer Gold Dots.