I carry either 180 or 165 grain Hydra-Shok. I prefer 165.
Handloads are a bad, bad idea for self defense ammo. If you are ever sued in a civil court over a self defense shooting, the attorney for the plaintiff would love to raise hell about how normal factory bullets were not deadly enough for you, so you had to make your own. We all know it's BS, but juries are not exactly known for their reasoning ability sometimes.
Besides, I don't see that one could achieve much better performance out of a handload in .40 than factory ammo, at least for self defense purposes. Double Tap ammo is pretty hot, and Federal HST's are top performers as well. IMPD uses Federal 165 grain Tactical Bonded, which has performed well for us.
I agree with this a good bit. To me, the idea of using premium self-defense ammo is mainly for the increased percentage that it will go bang, compared to other stuff. However, if you can get a better performing bullet, then why not go for it.I really dont think it matters all that much what load you use. If you hit them center of mass with such and such +p+ devastators and they dont drop, chances are they arent gonna drop with the whatchyacallit magnum exploding death dots either. Seriously dont get so riled up on what you hit them with, just get a good hit (or 2 or 3)