Home defense ammo

[Bang4Buck]

Curious what you prefer for home defense 9mm ammo? New to firearms here and trying to find a safe, consensus choice.

[Pawpaw]

Grab your favorite beverage, sit back, & enjoy the show. You have opened one large can of worms.

You're going to get lots of advice & most of it will be good. What you will likely come away with is the realization that there is no ONE right answer.

[nightmare69]

/thread

[lfinsr]

Curious what you prefer for home defense 9mm ammo? New to firearms here and trying to find a safe, consensus choice.

IMNSHO, the best ammo is the one that you have tested and know it will reliably feed without fail. After that you can pick your brand preference.

Larry

[BigGuy]

Ha! You might as well log onto a car or motorcycle board and ask what he best oil is. (Mobil 1 Extended synthetic, 5w-30.)
I'm just waiting for the guy who logs on and says the best 9mm is .45 acp.

[JALLEN]

What is reliable in your gun? What does the manufacturer recommend?

I used to use 147 grain ammo in my 226 Navy. When I bought the P7M8, it didn't go well, all sorts of weird uncertainties. The reason, I discovered, is that the P7M8 is made for 124 grain ammo. Now I use 124 grain Speer Gold Dot and everybody is happy. The Sig is happy with anything from 115 to 147 grain, actually.

The brand matters less than the type your gun is optimized for. I doubt a BG will know or care whether you shoot him with one or the other once it goes BANG!

[Bang4Buck]

Thanks for the comments. I have a S&W M&P 9mm full size in a gun vault next to my bed. I'm sure any quality ammo would do the job, but I'd just assume have something as close to what the police use as possible.

I'm also looking at buying a Glock G19 for my concealed carry once my CHL arrives. I sent my paperwork a week ago. I have an XDs 45, but it has serious FTF and FTE issues, even after sending it back to Springfield Armory. I'm waiting to hear if they are going to facilitate a refund. Needless to say, that has been a disappointing experience for someone new to firearms. My S&W M&P 9mm goes BANG every time. 800 rounds and zero issues.

[w squared]

Both your S&W M&P and your future Glock 19 will probably digest any 9mm round that you can feed them. Both of those firearms have a well-earned reputation for just plain working.

I tend to carry 147 grain Federal HST in my 9's - but that's not saying that I think you should carry that over a different load. Here's my thought process:

#1. Choose something that has a FMJ or practice ammo equivalent that is at least similar. You will want to practice with something that causes your pistol to recoil in a manner similar to how it recoils with your carry ammo. Don't load it with 147 grain +P+ and then load 115 JHP steel-cased ammo from Outer Kerblakistan that will barely cycle the slide.

#2. Choose something that is a high-end defensive offering from a premium manufacturer. Speer, Remington, Federal, Hornady, Winchester - if it was what was on the shelf, I would be fine with buying a product from any one of those manufacturers.

#3. Personally, I chose the 147's for my 9mm because I've read enough data suggesting that lighter rounds in a 9mm may have issues achieving enough pentration to be effective in some circumstances. Please note - this is not a condemnation of 115 grain ammo...just my way of approaching the situation.

#4. Shoot 100 rounds of your chosen ammo through your carry pistol. If you get through 100 rounds without a single failure, you're probably in good shape to carry with that ammo.

I would be 100% fine with carrying any one of the ammo choices on the following list, because they all passed the FBI protocol. Enough penetration to be effective in a variety of different situations, and reliable expansion. The FBI protocol is by no means the be-all and end-all....but it's good enough for me.

Barnes XPB 115 gr JHP (copper bullet)
Federal Tactical 124 gr JHP (LE9T1)
Federal HST 124 gr +P JHP (P9HST3)
Remington Golden Saber 124 gr +P JHP bonded (GSB9MMD)
Speer Gold Dot 124 gr +P JHP
Winchester Partition Gold 124 gr JHP (RA91P)
Winchester Ranger-T 124 gr +P JHP (RA9124TP)
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 147 gr bonded JHP (RA9B/Q4364)

I went with 147 grain because I would rather have "slower and heavier" than "lighter and faster" in a 9mm defensive round....but I wouldn't argue with someone that happened to pick the Barnes 115 grain. I like the 147 grain HST because they meet the FBI protocol without being a +P or +P+ loading....which means that by shooting a heavy bullet over a normal pressure charge, I can practice with ammo that behaves in a way similar to my carry ammo. This is important to me, because my practice gets used for IDPA as well as "regular" range sessions, which ends up being anywhere from 60 to 300 rounds a week....and that would get EXPENSIVE with carry ammo.

[w squared]

I'm just waiting for the guy who logs on and says the best 9mm is .45 acp.

Since the can of worms is already open, we might as well dump them all over the salad...

.45 ACP is a less effective manstopper than 9mm.






















Here's why: 000 Buck has pellets that are 9.1mm in diameter....which means that laoding 000 buck really just turns your 12 gauge into a 9mm. A round of three and a half inch 000 buckshot is the best 9mm round you are going to find - and I think that we can all agree that a round of 12 gauge 000 buck is more effective than a round of .45ACP.

[Bang4Buck]

Very good points. I only shoot ammo from the manufacturers you listed. Why buy a Ferrari and then put crappy gas in the tank, right?

Interesting point on going with heavy and slow vs. fast and light. I've debated this myself. I remember back to the high school science equation of: Energy = Mass times Velocity squared . I wonder what the total energy of each of those rounds would be? Is the higher speed of the lighter round enough to result in more energy? And what is the total damage caused to flesh? I obviously need to research this, as I'm sure someone has run various tests on different bullets.

[bdickens]

Curious what you prefer for home defense 9mm ammo? New to firearms here and trying to find a safe, consensus choice.

Make it simple and just use the same stuff you carry.

[Bang4Buck]

I don't carry yet. My CHL should arrive in the next month or so. For now, my guns stay at home.

I want to get to where I have range ammo and carry/home defense ammo. Choices are a bit overwhelming for a newbie.

[JALLEN]

I went with 147 grain because I would rather have "slower and heavier" than "lighter and faster" in a 9mm defensive round....but I wouldn't argue with someone that happened to pick the Barnes 115 grain. I like the 147 grain HST because they meet the FBI protocol without being a +P or +P+ loading....which means that by shooting a heavy bullet over a normal pressure charge, I can practice with ammo that behaves in a way similar to my carry ammo. This is important to me, because my practice gets used for IDPA as well as "regular" range sessions, which ends up being anywhere from 60 to 300 rounds a week....and that would get EXPENSIVE with carry ammo.

You will no doubt be fascinated by this: http://www.ar15.com/ammo/project/fackle ... er_9mm.pdf, "Performance of the Winchester 9mm 147 Grain Subsonic Jacketed Hollow Point Bullet in Human Tissue and Tissue Simulant."

and

http://www.firearmstactical.com/ammo_data/9mm.htm

I was drawn to the 147 grain initially because that is what was used by SEAL Teams. I figured if it is good enough for those guys, it's good enough for me. Like I indicated, though, not all pistols work well with it.

[VMI77]

I'd look for some readily available HP in the local market (difficult at the moment, I know), buy at least 100 rounds of it to test (I prefer 200 but it's expensive), run it through your gun, and if it feeds flawlessly, adopt that as your carry ammo. Caliber and ammo type get endlessly debated but shot placement is way ahead of all those other smaller variables.

[Pecos]

[ Image ]


/thread

I like this ammo. Also Critical Duty!