What brand is the best self defence ammo?

[NIFT]

Go Here: Thoughts on Service Pistols, along with Duty and Self-Defense Ammo Recommendations - M4Carbine.net Forums

Read it. Written by Dr. Roberts, a well known ballistician (I guess that's what you call them??) and surgeon. Look at all of his stickies at M4C and you will learn quite a bit.

Not that it matters because I think his stuff is good, but IIRC he is a dentist. (guess he could be an oral surgeon.)

No, it does not matter, and, yes, Dr. Gary K. Roberts is a maxillofacial surgeon, Lt. Nary Commander, and the one who puts soldier's faces back together after being shot up. Doc Roberts is also the Director of the Letterman Army Institute of Research (LAIR), taking over that posiition from Col. Dr. Martin Fackler, the "father" of modern terminal ballistics and founder of the International Would Ballistics Association.

Dr. Roberts--not that it matters, again--was a patrol officer for many years, and, not that it matters, he and FBI Supervisory Special Agent, Buford Boone, of the Ballistic Research Facitility of the Firearms Training Unit of the FBI Academy in Quantico are the world's two leading authorities on terminal ballistics. Doc Roberts is absolutely brilliant and has full understanding--beyond, perhaps, anyone else--what happens "on the street." All this is just for starters.

As g00n24 said, Go here:
http://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=19887

Also, go here:
http://www.m4carbine.net/forumdisplay.php?f=91
and spend some time in the first 25 sticky threads by Doc Roberts. A veritable gold mine of information.

Just a reminder: bullet performance and shot placement are independent--neither affects the other. One is technology; the other is training related. They are, both, part of incapacitation, but they are independent

 

[Tripp11]

^ NIFT - Thanks for posting this information. I could spend hours (and probably will) going thru some of the data in those sticky links.

Much appreciated.

 

[cosermann]

Always seem to be some people who say they're using Critical Defense. Where are you CD carriers getting your performance data? I just haven't seen enough independent testing and/or incident reports to warrant putting it on my list of candidates for carry ammo.

 

[Caleb]

this is like asking what underwear feels the best

 

[lovemachine]

this is like asking what underwear feels the best

Hanes.

 

[cosermann]

Boxers.

 

[Caleb]

Hanes.

I kinda prefer commando sometimes...







....sometimes...

 

[9mmfan]

Hanes here. Also Hanes t shirts.

 

[Walken]

I don't think this is such a subjective question. Which gun is best for self defense is not something people will agree on, but best ammo of a particular caliber should not be that hard. You are going to pick your gun before your ammo, so that variable should be out also.

There are only a few variables left. We can rule our any ammo that is unreliable, illegal, or otherwise unavailable. After that, what do we have? Bullet velocity, mass, and bullet design. These variables will lead to measurable results in differing penetration and expansion. They will also lead to different recoil effects. This affects shootablilty which is not easily measured like expansion/penetration.

The problem in determining the BEST ammo (in say 9mm) is the top-performing brands have similar results. If one brand was measurably better than the others, it would not be a subjective judgement.

If there really was a clearly superior 9mm round for self defense, you could see near universal adoption. That's not true of guns. No matter how good a full-size DAO polymer 9mm gun is, it won't see universal adoption because some people need a smaller gun, a DA/SA trigger, an external safety etc.

I tried to think of all the variables and outcomes to consider, but I may have missed some. Is there anything else to consider?

 

[Never A Victim]

CorBon DPX 115gr. While most modern hollow point ammunition is sufficient and based on my own research, the DPX round will hold its shape better. And who says if I have to shoot through a car door or glass that I'm going to jail? I can think of many justified reasons to shoot someone through a car door or other barrier-the biggest reason being they are shooting at me.

 

[cosermann]

... You are going to pick your gun before your ammo ...

Believe it or not, many people do the exact opposite - pick the caliber first.

Why? Because in the final analysis it is the projectile that's the actual weapon, not the firearm. The firearm is merely a launch platform for the projectile.

Then, they'll chose among the many various loads for a particular cartridge (which is what we're all talking about in this thread) based on their needs, what their particular launch platform favors in terms of reliability, accuracy, etc.

I know what you mean though. Just about everyone picks a gun before picking a particular load.