9mm carry/self defense ammo

[SpacemanSpiff]

What are your recommendations for carry/self defense ammo for 9mm?

I was reading reviews on MidwayUSA for Federal Permium Personal Defense and similar rounds. These review are really not helpful except how they may or may not work in a certain guns.

[Guest sling]

I really like Federal's bonded HST's. 124 gr

[Guest Brian@GunDepot]

I personally use Federal HydraShok ammo in my 9mm.

Other alternatives that are just as effective:

-Hornady XTP

-Speer Gold Dot

-Corbon

-Golden Sabre

As far as guns, each gun likes different ammo. My recommendation would be to try a box of each in your gun and if no FTF, FTE, or misfires occur... go with your favorite.

[Guest 270win]

Speer Gold Dot 124 grain +P ammo. If it is good enough for NYPD, it is good enough for my handgun.

[Guest NotDylan]

I really like Federal's bonded HST's. 124 gr

Ditto.

http://www.btfh.net/shoot/ballistics.html

Here's a pic of the 147gr HST's:

Beautiful

Edited July 28, 2008 by NotDylan

[Punisher84]

Federal and Speer are always good ones. I have some Hornady TAP 115 gr loaded up right now in the Kahr. I like them.

[Oh Shoot]

Speer Gold Dot 124 grain +P ammo. If it is good enough for NYPD, it is good enough for my handgun.

Knoxville cops apparently use Golden Saber 124 gr regular pressure, I've been told. Everything points to it being among the most effective rounds anyway.

Thought I might as well carry (soon as I can) with same thing, maybe a tad of legal help if the second worst thing ever happens.

- OS

[Guest bkelm18]

I use the Speer Gold Dot Short Barrel.

[Smith]

HST 124 +p or Winchester Ranger 124 +p. http://frag.110mb.com/

[Oh Shoot]

HST 124 +p or Winchester Ranger 124 +p. http://frag.110mb.com/

I'd venture that ANY of those would do the job just fine on a bipedal humanoid type bad person.

(pic only):

http://frag.110mb.com/images/All.Samples/Samples_UpRight.jpg

- OS

[molonlabetn]

I'm generally not a fan of 115gr 9mm JHP performance... but in order to retain good velocity out of the 3" barrel, I stoke my XD-9 SC with Georgia-Arms 115gr Gold-Dot +p+ cartridges. With a longer barrel, I would lean towards a 124gr load... my personal preference being Gold-Dot bullets, but I've heard good things about Federal HSTs, as well.

[Guest Todd@CIS]

I'm generally not a fan of 115gr 9mm JHP performance... but in order to retain good velocity out of the 3" barrel, I stoke my XD-9 SC with Georgia-Arms 115gr Gold-Dot +p+ cartridges. With a longer barrel, I would lean towards a 124gr load... my personal preference being Gold-Dot bullets, but I've heard good things about Federal HSTs, as well.

Eddie, while most anything will work if the shot placement is there, I would urge you to ditch the 115 GoldDot bullet in favor of the 124gr+P GoldDot. Even from a short barrel, the 124gr will outperform the 115gr bullet. If you're still concerned, try Speer's "Short Barrel" 124 gr +P GoldDot load.

The 115gr GoldDot bullet hasn't demostrated consistant performance in the tests that I'm aware of.

Regards

Edited July 28, 2008 by Todd@CIS

[Guest Todd@CIS]

These 9mm loads have demostrated superior performance in verified, FBI spec, lab tests.

9 mm:

Federal Tactical 124 gr JHP (LE9T1)

Speer Gold Dot 124 gr +P JHP

Winchester Ranger-T 124 gr +P JHP (RA9124TP)

Winchester Partition Gold 124 gr JHP (RA91P)

Winchester Ranger-T 127 gr +P+ JHP (RA9TA)

Federal Tactical 135 gr +P JHP (LE9T5)

Federal HST 147 gr JHP (P9HST2)

Remington Golden Saber 147 gr JHP (GS9MMC)

Speer Gold Dot 147 gr JHP

Winchester Ranger-T 147 gr JHP (RA9T)

Winchester Ranger-T 147 gr Bonded JHP (RA9B/Q4364)

Edited July 28, 2008 by Todd@CIS

[molonlabetn]

I intend to do that once I shoot the rest of these (I bought 200rd)... but for the time being I'll just concentrate on putting two or three right on top of one another, to maximize the penetration depth

They really scream coming out of the 5" barrel on my Tactical... something like 1400fps. Not ideal, but I'm sure it'd still hurt.

I'm actually leaning more towards Double-Tap's 147gr load...

[Guest Todd@CIS]

I really like Federal's bonded HST's. 124 gr

Also, not to pick nits, but Federal's HST is not a bonded round.

Among others, Federal offers Tactical HST or the Tactical Bonded (LE only) round.

My Dept is getting ready to switch from the GoldDot to the HST round in .40S&W and .45ACP.

Edited July 28, 2008 by Todd@CIS

[Magiccarpetrides]

I intend to do that once I shoot the rest of these (I bought 200rd)... but for the time being I'll just concentrate on putting two or three right on top of one another, to maximize the penetration depth

They really scream coming out of the 5" barrel on my Tactical... something like 1400fps. Not ideal, but I'm sure it'd still hurt.

I'm actually leaning more towards Double-Tap's 147gr load...

If that doesnt do more than hurt you probably shouldnt be shooting at a Grizzly Bear sized target with a 9mm in the first place

[Magiccarpetrides]

Also, not to pick nits, but Federal's HST is not a bonded round.

Among others, they offer Tactical HST or the Tactical Bonded (LE only) round.

My Dept is getting ready to switch to the HST round in .40S&W and .45ACP.

You can normally purchase the LE Only rounds from www.bigdogammo.com no matter who you are FWIW.

[Guest Todd@CIS]

You can normally purchase the LE Only rounds from www.bigdogammo.com no matter who you are FWIW.

Yep. A silly company rule (Federal and Winchester) that's easily avoided through many vendors.

With a couple of exceptions, I'm a big fan of...

Winchester's Ranger-T, Speer's GoldDot, and Federal's Tactical line.

I currently have Speer 124+P GoldDots in my G19.

Edited July 28, 2008 by Todd@CIS

[Cruel Hand Luke]

My personal recommendation after much research is either Federal HST 124+p, Corbon DPX 115, CCI Gold Dot 124+p, or Ranger Talon 127+p. The DPX is what I currently carry.

[Guest sling]

Cant beat it... plus you get 50 rnds.. instead of that stupid 20 number.

Who the heck boxes pistol ammo in lots of 20. Pwsh.

Edited July 28, 2008 by sling

[Oh Shoot]

You can normally purchase the LE Only rounds from www.bigdogammo.com no matter who you are FWIW.

Interestingly (or not) that's same place as www.ammunitiontogo.com.

- OS

[Guest AK4ME]

Gold Dot or Golden Sabre for the 9mm. These are both excellent loads for self defense.

[SpacemanSpiff]

Wow, thanks for all the replies. I guess maybe I should have stated that I'll be carrying my Glock 19 or 26. Not sure if that makes a big difference.

So it seems the consensus is to forget the 115gr and go with the 124 or 147?

I'll probably pick up a couple boxes and see how they are in my guns.

[PaiMei]

These 9mm loads have demostrated superior performance in verified, FBI spec, lab tests.

9 mm:

Federal Tactical 124 gr JHP (LE9T1)

Speer Gold Dot 124 gr +P JHP

Winchester Ranger-T 124 gr +P JHP (RA9124TP)

Winchester Partition Gold 124 gr JHP (RA91P)

Winchester Ranger-T 127 gr +P+ JHP (RA9TA)

Federal Tactical 135 gr +P JHP (LE9T5)

Federal HST 147 gr JHP (P9HST2)

Remington Golden Saber 147 gr JHP (GS9MMC)

Speer Gold Dot 147 gr JHP

Winchester Ranger-T 147 gr JHP (RA9T)

Winchester Ranger-T 147 gr Bonded JHP (RA9B/Q4364)

You beat me to it...Dr. Roberts list. This is the list I use....I carry the Gold Dot 124 +p obviously cause they are on this list... but they feed fine in my carry gun (G19), and they always go boom.

[Guest Todd@CIS]

You beat me to it...Dr. Roberts list. This is the list I use....I carry the Gold Dot 124 +p obviously cause they are on this list... but they feed fine in my carry gun (G19), and they always go boom.

Yep.

I consider myself fairly well versed on the subject of terminal ballistics, but when I have a question, Dr. Gary Roberts is one of my prime sources of info.