A firearms instructor should remain current on ammunition ballistics and testing relevant to his or her area of expertise. New products are continually introduced, making staying up-to-date with all the latest innovations a never-ending task. On that note, one of the most widely discussed issues in the field of everyday carry (EDC), outside of the gun itself, is what ammunition is “the best” to carry. Of course, there are no clear-cut answers for all occasions. But, by setting some parameters, the field can be narrowed to a manageable degree.
As much as we strive to be as informed as possible, we can’t be experts on every topic. So I like the fact that Sig manufacturers a specific pair of practice and self defense rounds for the 365.
I’m just glad I got my EDC before the ammo shortage of 2020. I went through a lot of defense rounds to find the “right one” for my G43. I tried Critical Defense, Critical Duty, Gold Dot, HST in 115gr, 124gr, and 147gr. I originally thought I was going to use one of the Hornady flavors, but I had too many failures to feed. The HSTs were the only ones that cycled reliably mag after mag after mag. With regards to accuracy, the HST 147gr seemed to have a slight edge over the 115 & 124, so I went with them.
My heart goes out to new EDC owners. Can’t imagine how much someone would spend these days to make sure the have the right ammo. That’s if they can even find a good selection to begin with.
The one thing I wish I had access to was ballistic gel, so I could have tested penetration and expansion of the different weight HST bullets.
That is part of the issue right now, in that you have to test the rounds to make sure they feed. Well when HPs are going for $2 to $3 a round that’s not an easy thing to do. I actually went through that test recent with a PCC I had bought for him defense. It was failing to feed HPs and I had to buy a bunch just to test and confirm. But I’d rather test like that then in a real scenario.