Defensive ammo in shorter barrels; Px4 compact 9mm

[Tannhauser]

Just to satisfy my curiosity I got the chrono out this morning and ran 4 well respected defensive loads through three guns to see how the PX4 compact did with each round.

The "control group" guns were a 3" Sig P365 and a Gen 4 glock 19 along with the PX4 Compact, the only thing that surprised me was the 147gr HST in the PX4/c being a bit slower, the data:

Federal 147gr HST

PX4/c AVG=902, SD=15, ES =50
P365 AVG= 924, SD=7, ES=10
G19 AVG= 946, SD=18, ES =54

Federal 124gr +P HST

PX4/c AVG=1161, SD=11, ES=31
P365 AVG=1101, SD=12, ES=29
G19 AVG=1157, SD =10, ES= 27

Speer Gold Dot 147gr

PX4/c AVG= 940, SD=10, ES=31
P365 AVG=927, SD=18, ES=50
G19 AVG=941, SD=12, ES=42

Speer Gold dot 124gr +P

PX4/c AVG=1171, SD=17, ES=51
P365 AVG=1147, SD=12, ES=33
G19 AVG=1171, SD= 18, ES=58

Those results are very much in line with what I’ve seen. Worst case drop on MV is about 50FPS between the subcompact barrel and the service length barrel.

I use 124 gr HST in all my 9x19 pistols, from P365 up to M&P 5” barrel. Mostly because back when ammo was cheap, I could buy 124 HST at or under $0.50 a round (with savvy shopping) so I’m sitting on a LOT of 124 HST.

At this point any of my carry guns in 9 mm have seen a fairly substantial round count of 124 HST from both initial function check and simply cycling through carry ammo over the years, so with the demonstrated reliability with this specific load from the specific manufacturer in my mind, a slight increase in performance is not worth the cost of building up enough of a round count of a new load to verify reliability

[revchuck38]

@Tannhauser - I’m pretty much in the same boat, just with 124-grain +P HST. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

[piefairy]

Is +P safe to run on stock springs? I thought I heard at some point that you need heavier springs so I have always avoided it. Please enlighten me.

[revchuck38]

Is +P safe to run on stock springs? I thought I heard at some point that you need heavier springs so I have always avoided it. Please enlighten me.

With what gun? My Glocks, Walthers, and PX4s are fine with +P with factory springs. My perception is that current-production pistols are designed to handle +P ammo.

[piefairy]

With what gun? My Glocks, Walthers, and PX4s are fine with +P with factory springs. My perception is that current-production pistols are designed to handle +P ammo.

Sig p320 and 365

[revchuck38]

Sig p320 and 365

They'll be fine with +P. Check in the owner's manual.

[WobblyPossum]

Sig p320 and 365

Totally fine. My agency is the largest institutional user of the P320 outside of the military and we issue +P duty ammo. The same ammo is also the issued ammo for personally owned and agency owned P365s.

[piefairy]

Thanks for the info.