Best 9mm home defense ammo

[sparkyfender]

Any quality JHP that feeds reliably. I don't get too hung up on names, specs, hype, etc.

My bedside gun is an older GLOCK 30. I believe the mag is filled with a mixture of Remington Golden Sabers and WWB jacketed hollow points. Both 230 grain.

 

[spyshot]

shot a bunch of brands into water...speer gold dot 124 gr +p by far the best.

now everyone can hammer me on how non realistic that test is.

 

[Regionnus Rattis]

In the September 2012 issue of the American Rifleman magazine an article titled Handgun Stopping Power, the author, Richard Mann a Field Editor, compared the ballistics of calibers from .22 to .45 ACP. The author fired 100 rounds into 10% ballistic gelatin. 23 of these rounds were 9mm. He tested for velocity at 10 feet, penetration and expansion. He did not specify what guns were used to fire the rounds. He does on occasion show results for different length barrels for selected rounds.

He went through the logic of his protocol for determining what performance results were satisfactory in his opinion. He concluded that the minimum velocity of a round should be 1000 feet per second, that penetration should be at least 13" and expansion should be at least 1.5 times the original diameter of the round irrespective of your caliber of choice. Another approach he suggested for using his data was to compare you favorite round to the averages for its caliber. Obviously when one is analyzing raw data you can develop your own criteria and analyze accordingly.

For the rounds tested, his results showed about 1/3 of the 100 rounds tested met his suggested standard. Relative to the 9mm rounds tested, his results disclosed that 11 of the 23 rounds tested (including multiple same rounds in different length barrels) met or exceeded his specifications. Using his specs, the Corbon 100-gr +P; 2 DoubleTap rounds, a 80-gr and a 124-gr; Federal 115-gr JHP; Remington 115-gr JHP; Remington 124-gr Golden Saber +P; 2 Speer 124-gr HP; Winchester 124-gr JPDX1 HP; and Wilson Combat 124-gr XTP. Some of these same rounds did not meet his standards when shot out of a medium or short barreled gun. The Hornady Critical Defense 115-gr was just short of his standards. I utilize the Hornady and the Federal ammo in my defensive handguns so I am one out of two based on this analysis. He did not test the relatively new Hornady Critical Duty round.

If you can obtain a copy of the article he discusses his thoughts on the differences in killing a bad guy vs stopping the bad guy. His opinion is it is all about stopping the bad guy before the bad guy can harm you. He cites several well known sources of information on the subject. He points out that he could not distinguish whether a round nosed .32 or a round nosed .45 ACP made cavities in the gelatin when the rounds passed completely through the gelatin. He also points out and cites other studies that show that there is documented evidence of one shot stops with all calibers from .22 to .45 ACP. Some of his test results are surprising and others were predictable. All in all the article is worth the read.

That's not even related to what the point was in the OP's question.

To answer that...I use Federal or Hornady 124 gr

 

[Never A Victim]

Corbon DPX 115gr.

 

[JLL101]

Seems some posters like to just take cheap shots. It appears this poster did not read my post before he made his erroneous comment. It almost seems like these posters like to make these type comments just to boost their post count.

The original poster asked:

"Best 9mm home defense ammo - Just like the title says.... what does everyone have when loaded beside you on the nightstand?"

I specifically responded to the gentleman's question as to the defensive ammo I use and then I also referred him to a recent American Rifleman article by one of their Editors who tested 100 rounds for performance in 10% ballistic gelatin from various calibers including 23 9mm rounds (the original poster's question was about 9mm rounds). The Editor found that 11 of the 23 9mm rounds he tested met his criteria and possibly would be effective "stopping rounds". How can someone say this is not an appropriate response to the poster's original question? While my comments did add some additional comments made by the Editor, I felt like the comments were relevant to the discussion as the Editor was providing good basic information about what makes a good defensive round irrespective of the caliber (including 9mm rounds).

 

[nra4ever]

What about this...

Liberty Ammunition’s USM4 UltraDefense

Liberty USM4 Ultra Defense CD950 9MM+P, Hollow Point

Liberty Ammunition’s USM4 UltraDefense handgun projectile is a monolithic, hollow- point, lead-free handgun projectile that significantly outperforms traditional lead-based handgun ammunition across every metric. Liberty Ammunition’s handgun rounds have historically only been available to the Military because of their lethality, and have up until recently have been guarded by the Department of Defense under a Level III secret review. Now, after customization specifically for US Law Enforcement and Civilian Handgun Markets, the breakthrough performance projectiles are for the first time being made available to a broader target audience.


The guys at the LGS said it would penetrate vests with no problem as well.

 

[danielson]

Cor Bon in the 9mm

 

[chezuki]

What about this...

Liberty Ammunition’s USM4 UltraDefense

Liberty USM4 Ultra Defense CD950 9MM+P, Hollow Point

Liberty Ammunition’s USM4 UltraDefense handgun projectile is a monolithic, hollow- point, lead-free handgun projectile that significantly outperforms traditional lead-based handgun ammunition across every metric. Liberty Ammunition’s handgun rounds have historically only been available to the Military because of their lethality, and have up until recently have been guarded by the Department of Defense under a Level III secret review. Now, after customization specifically for US Law Enforcement and Civilian Handgun Markets, the breakthrough performance projectiles are for the first time being made available to a broader target audience.


The guys at the LGS said it would penetrate vests with no problem as well.

FTFY.

 

[SmithGuy]

Hornady Critical Defense. I used to use Federal Hydra-Shok.

 

[Regionnus Rattis]

Horny Non-Critical Defense