DocGKR :40 S&W caliber Favorites

[jlw]

Doc stated that the Hornady Critical Duty was some of the worst .40 he tested IIRC, now I need to go look for the quote...

ETA:

Note the qualifier about car bodies and auto glass. I saw many of the other brands disintegrate and/or separate in the auto glass tests. The Critical Duty and the HST were the only brands that didn't do so. This was three different tests with repeatable results. There were conducted at three different locations, and in each, the Hornady folks allowed any and all comers to shoot the tests with their own firearms and ammo. Bare gel, denim clad gel, and wallboard barriers were also used.

Also please note the qualifier that I made concerning whether shooting through car bodies was a factor in the decision making process. I was buying duty ammo for guys making traffic stops. The car body/auto glass factor was a big deal to us.

[Sparks2112]

Note the qualifier about car bodies and auto glass. I saw many of the other brands disintegrate and/or separate in the auto glass tests. The Critical Duty and the HST were the only brands that didn't do so. This was three different tests with repeatable results. There were conducted at three different locations, and in each, the Hornady folks allowed any and all comers to shoot the tests with their own firearms and ammo. Bare gel, denim clad gel, and wallboard barriers were also used.

Also please note the qualifier that I made concerning whether shooting through car bodies was a factor in the decision making process. I was buying duty ammo for guys making traffic stops. The car body/auto glass factor was a big deal to us.

Hey, you'd know better what you need than I would, just relaying information.

[DocGKR]

Duplicate

[DocGKR]

There have been a lot of shootings in this area with the Fed 180 gr HST--it works very well in OIS incidents and is what I have loaded in my .40's since I got it for free... If I had to pay for ammo, I would be comfortable using any load on that list.

[veteran-USMC]

There have been a lot of shootings in this area with the Fed 180 gr HST--it works very well in OIS incidents and is what I have loaded in my .40's since I got it for free... If I had to pay for ammo, I would be comfortable using any load on that list.

DocGRK-thank-you for the ammo information.

[Chuck Whitlock]

jlw,

Is the Critical Duty giving you any issues?

We purchased some last year and have been having intermittent failure-to-feed issues at qualification. I suspect that the rubber tips may be dragging on the inside of the magazine, and, if Doc Roberts numbers are an indication, slightly lower than published velocities, which may account for the extreme penetration/lack of expansion.

We've not had these issues with 155 gr. TAP CQ (XTP), 165 gr. HST, or older Hydro-shoks. I really want to like this ammo, and the price point we get is attractive, but job one has to be reliability, and we aren't seeing it. I still need to get on the phone with Kathy over this.

The agency has two sources for ammo (long story) and we recently got a fair amount of Win. Ranger bonded that we are carrying.

[jlw]

jlw,

Is the Critical Duty giving you any issues?

We purchased some last year and have been having intermittent failure-to-feed issues at qualification. I suspect that the rubber tips may be dragging on the inside of the magazine, and, if Doc Roberts numbers are an indication, slightly lower than published velocities, which may account for the extreme penetration/lack of expansion.

We've not had these issues with 155 gr. TAP CQ (XTP), 165 gr. HST, or older Hydro-shoks. I really want to like this ammo, and the price point we get is attractive, but job one has to be reliability, and we aren't seeing it. I still need to get on the phone with Kathy over this.

The agency has two sources for ammo (long story) and we recently got a fair amount of Win. Ranger bonded that we are carrying.

We haven't had any issues with the ammo. In fairness though, we have only had it for a few months.

[Chuck Whitlock]

Thanks for the feedback.
The sporadic/intermittent incidents makes it hard to pin down. We have a mix of brand new Gen4s and 10+ year old Gen3s, some with lights and some without, but none of these seem to be a factor.

[Chuck Whitlock]

jlw,

Is the Critical Duty giving you any issues?

We purchased some last year and have been having intermittent failure-to-feed issues at qualification. I suspect that the rubber tips may be dragging on the inside of the magazine, and, if Doc Roberts numbers are an indication, slightly lower than published velocities, which may account for the extreme penetration/lack of expansion.

We've not had these issues with 155 gr. TAP CQ (XTP), 165 gr. HST, or older Hydro-shoks. I really want to like this ammo, and the price point we get is attractive, but job one has to be reliability, and we aren't seeing it. I still need to get on the phone with Kathy over this.

The agency has two sources for ammo (long story) and we recently got a fair amount of Win. Ranger bonded that we are carrying.

Just an update.
Got off the phone with Hornady LE rep today. She said that this was an issue early on and the round was redesigned. (we got ours early last year...most likely 1st run) They are replacing what we have left on hand. I will shoot the hell out of the replacement stuff when it comes in.