What SD ammo do you carry?

[tdoom15]

Personally I don't put a lot of thought into the whole barrier testing thing. Lets face it, how a bullet is going to perform is unpredictable. There are just too many factors to take into consideration.....clothing, body fat (or lack of), heavy bone, angle of bullet entry and even distance . I say pick a hollowpoint that will reliably feed in your particular firearm and go about your day. I carry Federal Hydra-Shok in my LCP and have no concerns.

That is exactly why they do these tests...

The FBI standards are there for a reason. They take into account that you are very likely to shoot through an arm while shooting an armed attacker as you will likely fixate on their weapon (hence the 12" min penetration). They take into account the chances of shooting someone in the winter or while wearing heavy clothing as they found older designed HP ammo will ball up and may become stuck or plug up and not reliably expand. Handgun ammo has grown leaps and bounds in terms of performance over the last 20 years.

You shouldn't worry about what ammo to buy until you are proficient enough with a firearm to get multiple good hits on target, but after that, you should arm yourself with the best available loads.

Older loads like the hydrashock, black talons, etc...are all far inferior to modern designs like the gold dot, ranger T's, etc

Like I said before, I like the 124gr +p gold dots...but if it isn't on Doc's list, I wouldn't use it as SD ammo.

 

[danmrt868]

Hornaday Critical Defense, Federal Hydra Shoks

 

[Adamz04]

9mm 147gr Federal HST JHP. Why? Because it is proven to expand reliably up to a half inch in diameter, and penetrates up to 12" right through most test tissue. Google it for comparison to other 9mm loads, it is superior. I also use HST 124GR +P, and Winchester Ranger SXT Talons in 147gr. Show me something better and I'll buy it.

^^^^he is right. Ive done lots of research on this and i use federal hst 124+p. A tad more energy than the 147gr,but a little less penetration(usualy). You cant get hung up on the kinetic energy numbers unless your bullet is performing properly. The best SD ammo ive seen is Federal HST, speer gold dots, corbon dpx, then maybe winchester rangers in a distant 4th only because they dont expand as reliably as the others. Sure everything will expand when you shoot it into water like on the internet, but with realistic type medias and gelatin Hst and gold dot are superior.

 

[edporch]

Winchester 10mm auto 175 gr silvertip

 

[mrp010]

Federal HST.

124gr 9mm.

230gr .45.

 

[turnandshoot4]

115gr federal range and target.