So I’ve been researching ammo for a few days now and finally found a round that I think will satisfy my at home as well as out and about every day carry requirements. It’s the “Underwood Ammunition 9mm Luger +P 147 Grain Jacketed Hollow Point”. It has a heavy bullet for deep penetration and minimal snappiness in my 3 inch barrel, it’s +P and has the muzzle energy of some 40mm rounds, and it’s a hollow point, so could be used for personal defense. Seems like it’s the best compromise to cover both dangerous game and dangerous people, I suppose the best compromise on the legal side too. And I also like that the box is sort of generic, doesn’t advertise that it’s a ‘death bullet’ which could be argued in court. I just ordered four boxes. Here’s a link:
i love Underwood products, I have them in several calibers and find them very accurate. 
I’m sure you meant .40 cal. 
Yea, 40 cal LOL
FMJ for training but always carry hollow points for defense! Correction, I mix FMJ and hollow points in my .380 for some extra penetration with that smaller caliber. Remember, if you have to draw your weapon in a defensive situation, lethal force is required. Worry about everything else later.
X2
That sounds good in theory, please report back the weight of your 3" pistol and if the theory held true after you shoot some. I shoot Barnes TAC-XPD +P in my 9mm 1911 and love it. I tried the same ammo in my 16 ounce 3.1" pistol and the recoil was brutal!
Maybe you just need to toughen up your hand, I don’t have any trouble shooting 147grn. out of my Taurus 3".
I don’t know anything about that particular Underwood loading but many of the HP bullets designed for deeper penetration with hunting thicker skinned and boned animals as the goal don’t expand well at all in thin skinned targets. They end up acting like FMJ passing right through imparting less of the bullets potential energy.
But there are a lot of 147gr bullets that work great for self defense. I use HSTs or Gold Dots.
Not sure if you are just razzing me, but iit is a G2C, then it starts out 6 ounces heavier plus holds 5 more rounds of weight when fully loaded.
I think it is safe to say most 147 grain 9mm ammo does not come anywhere close to the 400+ ft-lbs of energy the Underwood does - that’s why I am curious about the recoil. It would seem that accelerating 147 grain to 115 grain velocity could yield similar "snappy recoil.
Jacketed hollow point is the most common type of ammo used by LEO’s, that ammo has two advantages, it works well and by the fact LEO’s use it that gives it a lot of credibility to fight a prosecution that wants to send you upstate by claiming you are nothing but a cold blooded killer, who bought ammo designed just for that job.
As for reloads, never use them, unless you have nothing left for self defense, the primary reason is the same as above, a prosecutor will use the fact you made them because your a cold blooded killer who was not satisfied with what ammo companies where producing, so you produced your own “ultra deadly man killer” ammo.
The other reason is quality control, with reloads, even if you make them yourself, can have QC problems.
I have for many years produced a very good copy of Winchester Silvertips, my goal was to have practice ammo just like what I carry with a lower cost per round.
I use bullets that are of the same weight, though not aluminum jacketed and have the charge copied very well, I use a LEE progressive press which works nicely and quickly.
However I have a QC problem and not have been able to solve it, that being under-charging a round.
It’s very rare, I have had only a single failure out of a thousand rounds, but the reality is, hearing a pop versus a bang in a self defense disables the firearm and that can be real deadly.
As such I only use name brand factory brand ammo, because of liability those folks have QC controls I could never afford to do.
Nothing makes the prosecution happy. To see this on full display you can watch the part of the Rittenhouse case where the prosecutor accuses Kyle of using FMJ because it would over penetrate, then go watch the part of the Kim Potter case where the prosecutor complains about how deadly her police issued JHP rounds are. Whatever you choose the prosecution will try to find a way to spin it against you.
Seems like 2 magazines would be best. 1 for 2 legged and 1 loaded for 4 legged creatures.
That’s not a bad idea in wilderness settings but you still need to decide which one to have loaded for those surprise encounters that don’t give you time to swap out.
Animal encounters are fairly rare and dangerous unless young are involved. Most animals try to avoid humans and humans are notoriously loud. My choice would be to have 2 legged load in firearm.
That is my choice as well. Though I might reconsider that in brown bear country.
@James366 I carry an extra mag now loaded with Underwood Flat nose Hard cast 255grn. +P for the .45 ACP. after reading a story about shooting a large, fat Black bear with H.P.s in 10mm and having the Bullitt expand and penetrate not much past the fat barrier. 
That reminds me of a video I watched for my concealed carry license. A trooper shot a large individual 4 times. The individual shot the officer once. The officer was hit in his aorta and died slowly, he said he was dieing on radio. Sad. But the large(fat) suspect lived. None of the officers rounds penetrated to vital areas. Your making a good choice. Have to hit important stuff to stop target.
Thanks for the post. Interesting and thought provoking on caliber and number of rounds.
A friend worked at a hospital, told us a story of a very heavy set gentleman who sustained a gun shot wound (GSW) to front his torso; His heavy layer of fat was not good for his health but happened to protect his organs from the bullet, and he subsequently survived. Still, a no brainer, no one recommends extra weight.
So sad for that fallen officer, sympathy, RIP.
I had to look it up, aorta is in the chest area, and holds lot of blood, near the heart which pumps blood, thus highly vulnerable.
Read once of a story which occurred in the Philippines. A police officer was killed by a rooster. His crew was breaking up a gambling ring where they pit roosters up against one another, but they tie razors to their feet, horrible. The officer was struck on his inner thigh (femoral artery) and bled to death, so sad. The inner thigh, though we are not supposed to aim for it, that is another very dangerous spot to get shot at, then again, any GSW is dangerous.
I once heard a gun attorney say that if the shoot is justified, ammo doesn’t matter. if NOT justified, ammo doesn’t matter.
I think if you shoot someone with that kind of ammo you could hit someone behind them too. Hollow points are made to not go through the body but cause more shock.