Thoughts on carrying 9mm FMJ ammo.

[Hoosier8]

I have been carrying my Bersa High Capacity 9mm with 17+1 using FMJ. Normally I would carry a 45 8+1 with hollow points. Carrying the Bersa with an extra mag gives me a 35 round capacity instead of 16 that I was carrying (I have one 8 rnd and one 7 rnd mag for the 1911).

The reason I started carrying the FMJ with a larger ammo capacity has to do with the legal cases I have read. One of the things that the prosecution brings up is that carrying a 45, you are carrying a hand cannon, more powerful than what the Police carry. Yes, I know the silliness of all of this but one has to think ahead. You can be absolved by the Police in a self defense shooting but be sued by relatives anyway. I suppose that high capacity mags can be brought up but that still wouldn't be any different than what Police carry.

Seeing how most shootings do not end in death and ball ammo can go through instead of expending all of it's energy in your target, the danger would be from bleeding out, which is the reason most people die if not hit in a vital area. One plus is that ball ammo may have a better ability to penetrate layers of clothing. Many people carry .380s which do not have the ft/lbs of the 9mm anyway.

I wouldn't mind other ideas or what people think about this.

 

[maxcoen]

For reliability I do carry ball in my Kimber 45. I have had occasional problems with hollow points in it but never one issue with FMJ ammo. So for me gives me peace of mind knowing it will go bang every time.

I do think your probably going to get civilly sued 90% of the time. But if the criminal courts found it was justifiable so will the civil. I don't know if your ammo would play a big role. It would be more the appropriate use of force.

 

[Crystalship1]

From what I've read 9MM FMJ is an absolutely pathetic man-stopper along with the danger of the round passing through the target and striking someone or something else. I vote for a good well tested SD round such as the Golden Saber or similar. And .45 is not a hand-cannon. As long as it's a "good shoot"... that should not be an issue as long as you're not carrying some kind of self-loaded exotic round..

 

[agentl074]

For reliability I do carry ball in my Kimber 45. I have had occasional problems with hollow points in it but never one issue with FMJ ammo. So for me gives me peace of mind knowing it will go bang every time.

I do think your probably going to get civilly sued 90% of the time. But if the criminal courts found it was justifiable so will the civil. I don't know if your ammo would play a big role. It would be more the appropriate use of force.

 

[Joe Williams]

The prosecution will not have any luck with either the .45 or the hollowpoint thing. It's a breeze for a defense attorney to not only shoot the argument down, but point out how responsible you are for using ammo that is safer for innocent bystanders, and safer for the bad guy.

First safer for the bad guy: if you use 9mm FMJ, you will likely have to shoot the bad guy multiple times, which increases the odds he will die, and he will certainly suffer more debilitating injuries if he survives. Worse, you are endangering you and anyone you are trying to protect, because 9mm FMJ is notoriously ineffective as a stopper.

Second, safer for bystanders: Not only is 9mm FMJ hideously ineffective, it overpenetrates heavily. I can guarantee that even if you hit a bad guy COM, you will still be sending that bullet downrange to endanger anyone behind him. In building material, 9mm FMJ is heavily overpentrative... as in shoot the BG (and you'll have to do it several times), then have those rounds go through him, the wall behind him, right on into your neighbor's house and into your neighbor. 9mm FMJ out penetrates a round fired from an AR15, and way out penetrates buckshot.

9mm FMJ is a horrible choice for defensive carry. One of the worst. I'm a fan of 9mm, but for defensive carry it's only an effective and safe round when loaded with good hollowpoints.

 

[NateIU10]

No way I'd carry FMJ in 9mm, too much risk of over penetration, not as effective a man stopper either. You want to make the biggest hole possible, and FMJ isn't gonna do that.

 

[Hiram2005]

I would carry FMJ only if I was forced to by law. (New Jersey) With 9mm fmj or any caliber really you end up firing MORE rounds into the target to stop hostilities than with HP's. It may sound silly but actually hp's are more humane. Less # of wounds possible or probable. Of course I am no expert at wound ballistics, what I know I have gained by reading and hunting. A good writer to get this info from is Mas Ayoob. He has several books out and writes artcles in several gun mags. Check him out.

 

[glockguy07]

Porter County Sheriffs Dept carry the Glock 21SF (.45)......

- As to being worried about carrying a .45 vs a 9mm, I think you have nothing to worry about.
- As to carrying an extra magazine or two of ammunition, I think you have nothing to worry about.

All you need is to make sure you are legally justified to shoot the attacker + get a good lawyer. If you have both of these what you carried/how many rds you carried will not be an issue.

 

[Hoosier8]

From what I've read 9MM FMJ is an absolutely pathetic man-stopper along with the danger of the round passing through the target and striking someone or something else. I vote for a good well tested SD round such as the Golden Saber or similar. And .45 is not a hand-cannon. As long as it's a "good shoot"... that should not be an issue as long as you're not carrying some kind of self-loaded exotic round..

I always carry production ammo for legal reasons that have been explained well by Ayoob.

I hope never to get into a situation to have to pull my weapon but the over penetration situation didn't occur to me, even though I have read about it before. Good point. What kind of ammo do the Police carry?

Another reason I decided to carry the Bersa is that it is a very nice weapon but low cost and since I carry every day, I don't mind putting the holster wear on it. With ammo, it feels about the same weight as my Kimber alloy frame with ammo. It is wider but with the Hume IWB it seems to actually conceal a little better. Of course, I could get a better holster for the Kimber. I also seem to be much more accurate with the Bersa.

 

[Crystalship1]

I always carry production ammo for legal reasons that have been explained well by Ayoob.

I hope never to get into a situation to have to pull my weapon but the over penetration situation didn't occur to me, even though I have read about it before. Good point. What kind of ammo do the Police carry?

Another reason I decided to carry the Bersa is that it is a very nice weapon but low cost and since I carry every day, I don't mind putting the holster wear on it. With ammo, it feels about the same weight as my Kimber alloy frame with ammo. It is wider but with the Hume IWB it seems to actually conceal a little better. Of course, I could get a better holster for the Kimber. I also seem to be much more accurate with the Bersa.

Yeah I've heard nothing but good things about the Bersa. And being able to comfortably carry and be proficient with your carry gun is of utmost importance. As far as what ammo the police carry, I think that many departments are carrying the Winchester SXT/Ranger ammo. Perhaps one of our local LEO's will chime in on that.

 

[Guy9]

So is a 9mm a good carry gun? I am a fairley new gun owner,S&W 9ve, should i be worried about too much penatration?

 

[Metro 40]

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[blainepoe]

I carry HST in my 9mm for much of the reasons listed above. Anyone have any opinions/thoughts on the EFMJ as a viable option?

 

[Crystalship1]

So is a 9mm a good carry gun? I am a fairley new gun owner,S&W 9ve, should i be worried about too much penatration?

Yes and not unless you carry FMJ's.

 

[Guy9]

Help

Is a 9mm a good carry gun? What kind of ammo is best to carry. I have S&W 9mmve, and a new gun owner .

 

[Jerry C]

ISP carry 147gr. gold dots.

 

[Crystalship1]

Is a 9mm a good carry gun? What kind of ammo is best to carry. I have S&W 9mmve, and a new gun owner .

AGAIN.........

Quote:
Originally Posted by Guy9
So is a 9mm a good carry gun? I am a fairley new gun owner,S&W 9ve, should i be worried about too much penatration?

Yes and not unless you carry FMJ's.

 

[Bigum1969]

I agree with everyone on this post. I would add that many in the military are not happy with the performance of FMJs in their M9's.

 

[Joe Williams]

So is a 9mm a good carry gun? I am a fairley new gun owner,S&W 9ve, should i be worried about too much penatration?

Not worth worrying too terribly much with good hollowpoint ammo. If it overpenetrates a person, it won't have much energy left. Worst case scenario would be building materials, but hollowpoint 9mm is no worse than other calibers in this regard. FMJ 9mm is nasty, though!

And 9mm hollowpoint ammo is a fine defensive round.

 

[Shay]

You seem to be worried more about liability after a shooting than you are about saving your own life.

Pistol calibers are iffy when it comes to stopping violent humans. Why would you increase the odds of not stopping the bad guy by choosing even more poorly performing ammo?