Defensive ammo in shorter barrels; Px4 compact 9mm

[CSW]

I have a question concerning bbl length and effectiveness of defensive ammunition.
My carry gun(s) have always been 4 inch bbl or longer, except for a G26 that I ran for a short time.
I originally carried federal Hydra-shock 124+p, only because I was given a great amount by the department I worked with.
Never an issue with any of the guns.

I switched up, going with Speer G2, 147 grain, and have carried this primarily in the past few years... Both in a 4" 1911 9mm, and in the Beretta m9a1 compact.
It has been good ammo.

I've been looking into getting a PX4 compact, in 9mm, and wondered if the 3.25" bbl would have an effect on the effectiveness of 147 grain ammo.
Would using a lighter, faster bullet be better?

Or, am I just overthinking the barrel length, and compare the results to a G26?

Any help is appreciated.

Chris

[WDR]

IIRC, the G2 Gold Dot is really intended for "service" size pistols, and sometimes has issues with expansion from shorter guns.

That said, the 147gr loads lose less velocity in short guns, than the lighter loads. I think 147 HST does okay from shorter guns, as does RA9T. I'll carry either of those in my G26... which is ~1/4" longer than the PX4.

[revchuck38]

I've been looking into getting a PX4 compact, in 9mm, and wondered if the 3.25" bbl would have an effect on the effectiveness of 147 grain ammo.
Would using a lighter, faster bullet be better?

Or, am I just overthinking the barrel length, and compare the results to a G26?

Somewhere here, @DocGKR wrote that the 147s tend to lose less performance when going to a shorter barrel than lighter bullets. I'm using 124-grain +P HST in my 9x19s because I want the additional recoil impulse to help the guns work. I'm confident in the bullet performance at either standard or +P level.

I've chronographed both the Golden Sabre 147 load and the HST version. The GS came in at ~900 fps while the HST went ~1000 fps, both from my 4" PX4. Both made Doc's list.

Quit overthinking this.

[revchuck38]

I've been looking into getting a PX4 compact, in 9mm, and wondered if the 3.25" bbl would have an effect on the effectiveness of 147 grain ammo.
Would using a lighter, faster bullet be better?

Or, am I just overthinking the barrel length, and compare the results to a G26?

Somewhere here, @DocGKR wrote that the 147s tend to lose less performance when going to a shorter barrel than lighter bullets. I'm using 124-grain +P HST in my 9x19s because I want the additional recoil impulse to help the guns work. I'm confident in the bullet performance at either standard or +P level.

I've chronographed both the Golden Sabre 147 load and the HST version. The GS came in at ~900 fps while the HST went ~1000 fps, both from my 4" PX4. Both made Doc's list.

Quit overthinking this.

[WDR]

Quit overthinking this.

You didn't have to say it twice!

On that note, I agree. The G2 thing deserves some research, but otherwise, I wouldn't worry too much about it, as long as the selected load ran in whatever gun I was using.

[revchuck38]

You didn't have to say it twice!

The website's being wonky again. I hit submit and then got a timeout so I tried again. Just got a 503 too.

[CSW]

Both the hydras and the G2 are 100% reliable as far as feed/extract.

My question was more about the bullets doing what they are designed to do ~
Open properly, with velocity playing a big role.
This layman's thought is that the quarter inch difference between the Px4 and the G26 can't make that big a difference.

[revchuck38]

This layman's thought is that the quarter inch difference between the Px4 and the G26 can't make that big a difference.

That's this layman's thought too.

[cosermann]

I follow the “barrel length” advice from this page - https://www.ar15.com/ammo/project/Se..._FAQ/index.htm

[Navin Johnson]

I have a question concerning bbl length and effectiveness of defensive ammunition.
My carry gun(s) have always been 4 inch bbl or longer, except for a G26 that I ran for a short time.
I originally carried federal Hydra-shock 124+p, only because I was given a great amount by the department I worked with.
Never an issue with any of the guns.

I switched up, going with Speer G2, 147 grain, and have carried this primarily in the past few years... Both in a 4" 1911 9mm, and in the Beretta m9a1 compact.
It has been good ammo.

I've been looking into getting a PX4 compact, in 9mm, and wondered if the 3.25" bbl would have an effect on the effectiveness of 147 grain ammo.
Would using a lighter, faster bullet be better?

Or, am I just overthinking the barrel length, and compare the results to a G26?

Any help is appreciated.

Chris

Barrel length, in pistols is not an accurate indicator of velocity only a chronograph is…..

Availability, function, and accuracy, far outweigh the nuances of expansion and penetration as long as it’s within reason

Pick something off “the list” that can be purchased in multiples of 1000, be sure that it functions and drive on.

Manufactures love to give their own technical data, but never mention velocity windows.

General, if it’s 9 mm and the barrel is between 3.5 and 5 inches it should be good to go.