Ammo! what type of ammo do you carry and why is there a huge debate?

I’m barely dealing with youtube these days, never mind a tiktok…fwiw, I bought 1000 rounds of Winchester Ranger 147 +p’s a few years back for my 9’s. Bought 500 at first, price was a steal, shot it, it shot well, felt great, fed in 7 guns, and I sure as heck wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of it, so grabbed another case. For .45’s, I have a few hundred PPU hollow points, same deal, and if I ever go through them I have a few hundred .45acp HST’s still wrapped in cello. I also have “some” 9mm 115 grain IMI razorcore and Freedom Munitions loaded Hornady hp’s which are less of a handful in my subcompacts.
Buying quantity means not dealing with tiktok vids or forums dealing with opinionated experts…all I know is I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of any of this.
Cripesakes, been shooting a lot of .22lr lately, and seeing how that round allows me to put 10 rounds in a 4" circle at 15 yards in under 4 seconds…starting to think my little SR22 loaded with 3 cent t’bolts might make a good carry gun :kissing_smiling_eyes: pewpewpewpewpewpewpewpew

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As @Frank73 said start with premium HP ammo from well known brands and you are likely to be fine as long as you test it to make sure it functions flawlessly in your firearm.

One thing to consider though is that all ammo is designed to work within certain velocity parameters and to do certain things like penetrate barriers or be less likely to penetrate barriers. If your barrel is shorter or longer than the barrels the ammo was designed for then the ammo may not perform as designed. For instance Hornady Critical Duty and Speer G2 were apparently optimized for duty sized pistols and have been shown to have issues opening up when shot through the smaller micro guns many carry these days.

I always look for online tests preferably from LE agencies or other reliable testers using standard protocols. I want to see how the ammo performs from barrels of similar lengths to the ones I use. And see how it performs through the barriers I may have to deal with. Heavier HSTs and original Gold Dots are my preferred brands in 9mm and .45. Really want to try the newish Federal Hydrashok Deep in .380 but can’t find it anywhere.

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I use Critical Duty, Critical Defense, Sig Sauer V-Crown, Federal HST. These are the main ones I load up with for self defense. It also depends on what firearm you have. Some ammo feeds better than others through certain firearms. I suggest you try some of the premium brands mentioned in these posts and take it from there.

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Federal HST 124gr for me. I’ll carry Speer Gold Dot without hesitation also. I’m with the others who do not listen to social media influencers when it comes to my gear, ammo, etc. I choose to carry the HST’s because they are duty proven and trusted by those in the field, nothing more, nothing less. The same can be said for Hornady Critical Duty, it is trusted and used in the field as well.

I have no real preference between the HST or Gold Dot other than the fact the Federal Am. Eagle 124gr FMJ mimics the HST round very well for me and keeps my training consistent.

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Any debate boiils down to having different opinions (and different handguns as Shamrock mentioned.) Barrel length has a lot to do with performance in many cases.

In my ammo starved state of California it’s not a matter of which make and model carry ammo but what the heck ammo can you can find that at least functions reliably.

Since you asked, my preferred carry ammo is
.45acp Winchester 230 gr JHP(for a Colt Combat Government Model)
.38spl Privi Partisan 158 gr LSWC(for a S&W Centennial)

Neither of which have been on local store shelves in over a year.

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Check these out. Tic Tok really. :roll_eyes:

Poll: Favorite Self-Defense Ammo

What’s your favorite self-defense ammunition?

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I would have to say any Hornady Critical Duty or Critical Defense

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While you were at Lucky Gunner, I assume that you found your way to Lucky Gunner Labs and their extensive series of handgun ammo ballistic testing from 2015 to 2020. It’s a good single source if you don’t want to scour the internets, and a great base for whatever additional exploration you might want to do. It’s not the most obvious thing to find if you wander through the front door of their main site, and I wouldn’t want anyone to miss it for being slightly out of sight.

Whether you care — or would just as soon buy what’s on sale, or what the other guy does — that’s a different thing.

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I carry Federal HST at 124-grain in my EDC. Lucky Gunner has some good data on ballistics and I’ve watched other ballistic gel tests in HST and other HPs. Speer and Hornady seem like solid choices as well. I scrounged up about 500 rounds so I’m in a good place with supply.

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I got some back in the before times. I like the testing done by others. Performs nice in my water jugs. For some reason, it consistently snags feeding the top round from slide lock in my Kimber — but is fine being first in line after +1.

If there was more available, I’d like to test it more. Currently, I load the Micro380:

  • FTX x 1;
  • HSD x 7;
  • FTX x7 reload.

EDC is 9mm HST 124gr, but the HST tests in .380ACP don’t impress as much as in larger calibers. I don’t care for Gold Dot or Golden Saber performance in my guns, and have never found the Winchester LE loads for sale.

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I have been running Liberty Civil Defense since it came out. (50gr at 2,000 fps for the 9) I have all of the different calibers. My CCW is the S & W 9c in the M & P.

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Thanks @techs for the input. Hope to find and test some .380 Deep some day. In .380 at the moment I’m using the old tech XTP bullets since they seem to have the most consistent penetration (even when they fail to open) in both bare and 4 layer denim gel tests.

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I like how you think! I also have liked Federal Law Enforcement!

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I switched from XTP to FTX because it seemed like the rubber plug was preventing clogging — allowing greater and more consistent expansion against a clothed person.

Application to the real world?
Who knows? — to-may-to, tuh-mah-tow.
Just trying to milk the most from the least. :boom: :boom: :boom: :slightly_smiling_face:

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My EDC is Federal Law Enforcement 9mm 124 Grain +P HST Jacketed Hollow Point. While I discourage carrying range ammo as EDC, If that’s all you have, it’s better than not having anything at all.

I’m terms of huge debate, people are compelled to spew their opinion and challenge those that think differently. Unfortunately, like that of Tik Tok, Facebook and Twitter, that same style of antagonistic debate is making its way to this group.

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LuckyGunner has great tests, which they conduct in ballistic gel. Paul Harrell on youtube follows a different approach and tests on elaborate “meat targets”. He is pretty scientific, though he goes through smaller selection of brands. He has research on .380, 9mm and .45.

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Debates are healthy. It gives out the pros and cons of each, and starts a discussion.

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Speer, Gold Dots for me, my EDC loves them and I’m pretty accurate with them at the range. I also find them pretty easy to come by in this market.

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To define what you are looking for is really easy. You want hollow points from a reputable manufacturer with documented performance, a good track record, and tested to functionally work 100% in your firearms.

The reason that tiktokker said he wouldn’t buy no-name hollow points is pretty clear once you look at that criteria. As for local availability, I believe all states allow online purchase altho places like CA might make you jump through a few more hoops. Prices are higher than pre-COVID, but you can still get the good stuff with a little patience or stretching that wallet just a bit.

Check out those links above from @BRUCE26 for a list of what everyone here is using. The most common ones you’ll see vary based on caliber but Federal HSTs, Speer Gold Dots, Hornady Critical Duty/Defense are on my personal short list and those of many others.

You’ll notice the most popular choices also happen to be top choices of law enforcement departments across the country. They will also have a ton of Youtube (or similar) videos of performance in gel tests. As @techs linked to, LuckyGunner has an extensive library of tests, all conducted to the same standards to enable a really big apples-to-apples comparison. They do those tests from short barrels (which works for our EDC perspective) but other sites have tests from longer barrels. Just make sure to compare apples-to-apples when you go surfing youtube gel-tests.

Once you get into the, say, top 5 or so choices you are really splitting hairs as to the relative performance of one or the other. One maybe expands .1" more or less than another or a 0.5" more or less penetration that honestly doesn’t matter anywhere near as much as your shot placement.

At that point, once you have your own personal shortlist, then check for availability (either at your LGS or online) and try them out in your firearm. It is absolutely crucial that whatever you pick works well in your firearm(s). They must cycle reliably and be accurate.

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Great summary! :+1: :100: :+1:

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