Self Defense ammunition

What are you guys using for this purpose?

I have a nephew that is a LEO..... according to him... the Hornady Critical Defense ammo is awesome. Based upon visual exams of morons trying to rob a gentlemen inside his home.

They had to be bagged and tagged.

I have seen them on Youtube tested in Ballistic gel. I must say they do look impressive.

Winchester Ranger 155gr and Federal Premium Tactical 165gr HST, both 40 S&W

.45 ACP 230gr Speer Gold Dot HPs.
My wife carries 180 gr Gold Dot in her 40 S&W

For my 9MM I use speer gold dot 124 grain short barrel. For the .45 I use Speer gold dot 230 Grain.

Speer loaded 180gr Gold Dots for all of the Glock 40 S&Ws. 200gr Nosler JHPs for the Glock 10mms. I would give the new Nosler stuff a try.

Gold dot in both .357 sig and .38 spec.

My carry loads are W-W Ranger 380 95gr, 9mm 147 gr and 45 ACP 230 gr.

JD338

Winchester PDX 125 Grain in 357 SIG.

Hornady Critical Defense 165 grain in a .40 S&W, Pit Bull Revolver (1250 fps).
Winchester 225 Silvertips in a .45 Colt 4-5/8th barrel (900+fps).

9mm - 124gr Speer Short Barrel +P Gold Dots
357Sig - 125gr Speer Gold Dots
45ACP - 230gr Speer Gold Dots or Winchester Ranger T

carry Fed. Prem. LE 165 gr. HST in my .40 S&W.
Win Ranger LE 147 gr. Bonded HP in 9mm
and if i ever wanted to carry j-frame again i have it loaded with Speer LE 38+P 135gr GDHP.Lee

j-frame again i have it loaded with Speer LE 38+P 135gr GDHP

Click to expand...

That is all I carry in my Rossi.

I am going to open this post up again. The reason is to discuss ammunition performance in my main self defense handgun which is a .40 S&W Pit Bull Charter Arms revolver.

When I use Hornady Critical defense ammo (165 gr JHP's at 1080 fps), I get really scattered grouping of about 8 inch groups at 10 yards. This ammo is really hot but will not shoot in my revolver. I wonder how it does in a semi auto?

It is not, I feel the gun because I hand load for this revolver with 150 grain Nosler bullets at 1250 fps using IMR 4756 (8.3 grains) and my groups are in the 2-3 inch range. Why is the Hornady stuff so wild and inaccurate?

OT3 - I've never used that Hornady .40 ammo, but have shot a bunch of 180 gr Federal "tactical" law enforcement .40 cal ammo w/excellent groups from a standard Glock 22 service weapon. Also a lot of 180 gr CCI Blazer FMJ training ammo. Thousands of rounds of that stuff, also with good grouping. I can heartily recommend either of those as good .40 ammo.

Guy

Thanks, Guy, I will remember those ammo brands.

Has anyone else here used the "Critical Defense" Hornady ammo? I am curious about their accuracy results if they have been shooting Hornady ammo?

Its not the best...but its easy to find and the price is better than most...I carry Hornady TAP 230 grain +P in my Glock 36...before the Glock I carried the same ammo in a Les Baer 1911...it has always worked great in both.

Federal HST's are without equal though, clearly the best pistol bullet ever designed for autoloaders...but very hard to find and not available as a reloading component

Given that your resolver is shooting 150 grain handloads well you might want to look at the Federal 155 Grain JHP.

It's a proven load and was the BP load before the current 180 Grain "push".