9mm carry ammo question

[mosin46]

new ruger LC9s. wondering about a few ammo choices. 9mm,3" bbl,standard pressure. have looked here and seems like gold sabers get little love,most like hst,critical defense some like,some don't,gold dots? based on testing done by members or others-LEO etc,what might the top 3 or so pics be from ammo that is likely easily obtained and affordable. yes,$ matter somewhat but not a huge factor as carry ammo use would be limited. use in fl where heavy clothing is not often an issue. thanks for replies.

[Clay]

https://pistol-forum.com/showthread.php?4337-Service-Caliber-Handgun-Duty-and-Self-Defense-Ammo

Best free advice on picking ammo - don't get obsessed with finding the latest and greatest. Pick one of the loads on Doc's list and drive on. Buy at least an extra 50 rounds and run through your Ruger to make sure it's kosher. I get all my ammo from SGAmmo.com - much cheaper than buying the 20 round boxes at Cabela's.


9 mm:
Barnes XPB 115 gr JHP (copper bullet)
Federal Tactical 124 gr JHP (LE9T1)
Federal HST 124 gr +P JHP (P9HST3)
Remington Golden Saber bonded 124 gr +P JHP (GSB9MMD)
Speer Gold Dot 124 gr +P JHP
Winchester Ranger-T 124 gr +P JHP (RA9124TP)
Winchester 124 gr +P bonded JHP (RA9BA)
Winchester Ranger-T 127 gr +P+ JHP (RA9TA)
Federal Tactical 135 gr +P JHP (LE9T5)
Hornady Critical Duty 135 gr +P PT
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)

Price wise your best bet is going to likely be Golden Saber's, followed by Gold Dot and Federal HST. I can't remember the last time I saw any Winchester Ranger for sale.


http://www.sgammo.com/

[Velo Dog]

Federal HST in any flavor should work well. The 124 gr. +P Speer Gold Dot is an excellent choice. I also like the bonded 147 gr. offerings from Winchester (Ranger Bonded/PDX1/Train and Defend hollow point). The 115 gr Barnes TAC-XP bullets also perform impressively from short barrels and are loaded by several companies.

[LtDave]

If you can find it all, buy one box of each. Test it in your gun off the bench to see what is the most accurate and reliable in your gun and if the rounds hit where the sights are looking. Upon determining which round(s) work best, check pricing and buy a case or more to put aside for carry. Try and do your testing reasonably soon after buying the test ammo, so that when you go to pick up the case lot from the same vendor you bought the test rounds from, it is more likely to be the same lot # you tested.

[Chuck Haggard]

From guns that small the +P rounds can get abusive with the recoil. They can also induce quicker wear-and-tear on the gun.

From the tiny guns the 124gr HST works pretty good, many of the service pistol choices start to have expansion issues from guns this short. For this job I'm also liking the Critical Defense even though it's not on Doc's list. One upside to the CD is that it mimics cheaper 115gr ball ammo, like the WWB, in recoil and typically is very close in POA=POI

[Duelist]

When I carried a P11 (3" barrel), after a lot of testing of different loads for reliable function and downrange performance, I used standard pressure 124gr Gold Dots. I liked them so much, I developed a lot of faith in them, and still use them as my primary load in almost every gun I carry. Even my jframe gets the analogous .38 Special version. Completely reliable, even if I've been carrying a particular batch way longer than I probably should. Very accurate from every gun I've shot them through, and one round of it through that P11 was what I euthanized a crippled deer on the side of the road with. Perfect performance.

I like the above post: Don't over think it - get something good, and drive on.

[Hauptmann]

Anything from Doc's list that is 147gr will do. In my experience lighter bullet weights, even those in +P or +P+ do not do as well as 147gr from a short barrel.

Notice that I am not giving you a top 3?......that's because there isn't enough difference between them to make much difference when shot into a body.

[Desertrat]

I don't see Double Tap on the list.....but it should be. Great stuff.

[RJ]

I subscribe to Doc's list also.

However, due to 1) aging hands (both wife's and mine) 2) desire to have one SD load for my VP9 and PPS M2 and 3) the fact finding 124+p in stock is very hard, I've kind of settled on the Speer GD 124 standard pressure.

Unless Bears. If bears, I will go camp out at sgammo.com for some +p's. :cool:

[DocGKR]

I don't see Double Tap on the list.....but it should be. Great stuff.

No. It is not.

Great stuff has USG/DOD contracts and consistently meets those contract specs.

[1911Nut]

Another standard pressure 124 gr. Gold Dot HP fan for the 9mm.

[mosin46]

thanks for all the food for thought answers.

[busykngt]

Lehigh Defense Xtreme Penetrator. Great for short barrel pistols & through heavy (Winter) clothing. See You Tube video testing results for some other recommendations and their performance.


Sent from my Apple thang.

[Hauptmann]

Lehigh Defense Xtreme Penetrator. Great for short barrel pistols & through heavy (Winter) clothing. See You Tube video testing results for some other recommendations and their performance.


Sent from my Apple thang.

I have yet to find ANY 9mm JHP loading that has trouble penetrating through heavy winter clothing and then adequately penetrating the body. I figured this myth was done with by now.......

The ONLY time a 9mm JHP has "trouble" with heavy clothing is if the hollow point is plugged by the clothing material and the JHP fails to expand......thus making it a deep penetrating FMJ with a cutting meplat. Even a plugged JHP has more cutting/crushing ability than a FMJ.

As for the LD Xtreme Penetrator......it is overpriced junk. Dr. Roberts has had a few choice words about it. Sure it makes a moderate temporary cavity stretch in ballistic gel......that is the primary design function so it looks good for potential buyers. Read up on Duncan McPherson's "Bullet Pentration".....such bullet designs have been tried before and they have no terminal effects advantage other than looking good in a specific test for the snake oil market.

[Tamara]

Lehigh Defense Xtreme Penetrator.

Jesus, no.

[Jeep]

Jesus, no.

Oh come on. Not only does it defeat the laws of physics but it has some of the best ad copy around. Anybody can buy a good performing 9mm round, but genius advertising hype is a scarce good. I think the only thing it doesn't claim is to have a depleted uranium penetrator, but I might be behind the times.

[Velo Dog]

One upside to the CD is that it mimics cheaper 115gr ball ammo, like the WWB, in recoil and typically is very close in POA=POI

From the defunct firearmstactical.com website

A Word of Caution about Hornady’s Critical Defense Handgun Ammunition
- by Shawn Dodson

According to Steve Johnson, Hornady Marketing Communications Manager, the Critical Defense line of handgun ammunition:

"...is not designed to shoot through glass, is not designed to shoot through a car door, and is not designed to shoot through a wall. If you have to shoot through something like that in a personal defense situation you're probably going to jail."

-- NRA's American Guardian TV

Thus if you carry a concealed handgun for personal defense and need to shoot from the inside of your car, through glass or sheetmetal, then you cannot rely on Hornady Critical Defense handgun ammo to perform. If you're stopped at the side of the road changing a flat tire and you're attacked, you cannot rely on Hornady Critical Defense handgun ammo to shoot through glass and sheetmetal, if that's what it takes to stop the attack.

Laminated automotive windshield glass is an especially difficult barrier for handgun bullets.

Ironically at least one TV commercial for Hornady Critical Defense handgun ammo depicts a couple stopped on the side of a road, in a remote location, changing out a flat tire. In a scenario such as this you might have to shoot through a raised trunk lid, glass hatchback, raised engine hood, or through the sheetmetal of an open car door.

If you use Hornady Critical Defense handgun ammo for home defense you cannot rely on it to perform if you have shoot through concealment, such as the corner of a wall or through sheetrock and 2x4 studs near a door jam, to hit the center mass of a violent home intruder who's partially concealed, if that's what it takes to stop the attack.

Hornady Critical Defense handgun ammo is not designed to shoot through anything other than clothing. It's not tested against anything other than bare gelatin and clothing. Performance against commonly encountered light barrier materials is untested and unknown. Therefore if your self-defense requirements include the capability to shoot through commonly encountered light barrier materials then Hornady Critical Defense handgun ammo is not your best choice.

The human target presents the same challenges to private citizens as it does to law enforcement. Is a law enforcement officer more likely to have to shoot through glass, sheetmetal or the corner of a wall than a private citzen? Probably. But because the odds are probably greater for law enforcement to encounter these kinds of situations does not mean that the odds are zero for a private citizen.

Personal defense ammo designed especially for "private citizens" is a niche market. Perhaps it's somehow more morally/socially appealing for a private citizen to use handgun ammunition with less terminal performance capability compared to common law enforcement handgun ammunition?

If you're looking for specific advice about what handgun ammunition to choose for self-defense then I suggest you consider the loads that have been tested and found to provide outstanding terminal performance which are...posted by Dr. Gary K. Roberts ("DocGKR")...

[Tamara]

I'm sure Chuck is fully aware of the difference between Critical Defense and Critical Duty. And I'm using the word "sure" literally. I'm also using the word "literally" literally.

[Velo Dog]

I'm sure Chuck is fully aware of the difference between Critical Defense and Critical Duty.

;) My response was for the original poster's benefit.

[Whirlwind06]

This thread and a few others, and the ammo section on this site. Motivated me to order 500 rounds of Winchester 9mm Ranger Q4392 147 gr Bonded JHP today. Got it for a better price then the local shops. As near as I can tell this is the current FBI load for 9mm.

https://www.outdoorlimited.com/Winchester-9mm-Ranger-Q4392-147-gr-Bonded-JHP-CASE-p/q4392case.htm

Now I hope you all don't tell me I ordered the wrong one! :)

[Duelist]

This thread and a few others, and the ammo section on this site. Motivated me to order 500 rounds of Winchester 9mm Ranger Q4392 147 gr Bonded JHP today. Got it for a better price then the local shops. As near as I can tell this is the current FBI load for 9mm.

https://www.outdoorlimited.com/Winchester-9mm-Ranger-Q4392-147-gr-Bonded-JHP-CASE-p/q4392case.htm

Now I hope you all don't tell me I ordered the wrong one! :)

That's a good price...

Really sitting here tempted.

According to that website, the PDX1 is the new FBI duty load, but it's hard for me to imagine that it's really better than the Ranger bonded. Especially at the huge price difference - 17.99/20 for PDX1 vs 19.99/50 for Ranger.

I just paid 21.00/50 for 147gr WWB JHP for a couple of boxes. To pay less for Ranger bonded? Yeah, that's pretty good. Trying to not spend any more ammo money this month, but I am really tempted anyway.

[DocGKR]

Current FBI load is 147 gr Speer G2. Win 147 gr RA9B was their previous load.