Best 9mm Defense Round

I shoot 147 grain +P Remington Golden Saber out of my duty piece and my 9mm carbine.

They seem to hit the reactive targets pretty hard and I have tested them to penetrate drywall and 2x4 walls with enough energy to still drop a pepper popper.

They will also penetrate with energy left through most auto car doors and auto windshields.

Penetration is the reason I chose the 147's over the 115' or 124's.

For years I used Federal Hydra-Shoks but they are very dirty rounds in the gun. I have also over the years tried Hornady XTP and Cor-Bon.

I really think that with today's bullets there are a bunch of great choices. With a quality round it is hard to go wrong except going light. I am living proof that a 9mm with a 115 grain is not enough. I took one not in the nylon/kevlar and it did very, very little damage.

As a side note, I generally won't trust my life to a 9mm and my personal weapon choice is a 10mm. But what ever you have is better than nothing, even if it is a .22lr. What ever you choose shoot it enough to become proficient. Make sure that you shoot enough rounds of what you will carry to know your weapon will function with it as well. I suggest a minimum of 200 rounds of your carry ammo to check for function.
 
I have no problem with the 9mm. But like Colo., I like the heavier bullet weight. My bullet of choice is the CCI Gold Dot 147 gr.
 
The Winchester Ranger T series of 127 gr. +P and 147 gr. hollowpoints are really performing very well for the police departments that issue them. Several large California law enforcement agencies issue the 147 gr. and are enjoying excellent success in actual shootings. This is supposed to be "Law Enforcement Only" ammo (which is stupid) but it can be had through several sources if you look around. I carry the Winchester Ranger T 230 +P hollowpoint in my .45 ACP duty gun and feel I have the best load available for my purposes in a handgun.

Neck and neck with this is the various loadings of the Speer bonded core Gold Dot hollowpoint. The 9mm 124 gr. +P Gold Dot and the 147 gr. version of this is running right along with the Ranger T as excellent self defense/duty ammo. NYPD issues the 124 gr. 9mm Gold Dot loves it for stopping power. A very good version of this is the Black Hills ammo which custom loads the 124 gr. Gold Dot hollow point to +P velocity of 1,250 fps from a 4" barrel. That's .357 Magnum medium velocity levels and with the bonded core Gold Dot's reliable expansion and weight retention it is proving to be a winner when the chips are down. The Black Hills ammo is very reliable, well made, and is relatively inexpensive and readily available. I carry it in my Kahr K9 and feel as comfortable as a handgun only can make you feel.

There have been some recent inovations in bullet design, powders used, and testing protocal. Many of the old designs (Hydra Shok, Silvertip, ect...) are just that - old and outdated. As well as the old Marshall and Sanow data pretty well being proven to be not only inaccurate, but worse, perhaps totally fabricated. As in BS!
 
I use Hodgdon Universal, in both my 9mm, and my .45 ACP.
In 9mm, Universal is both my target load, and my defensive
load, powder. In my .45 ACP, my target load powder is
Universal, and my defensive load powder is Blue Dot.
Universal is a very clean burning powder, that has great
accuracy, in my pistols, and chrony's at middle to upper
velocities. Blue Dot burns a little dirtier, but pushes
.45 cal slugs, as fast as they can be pushed, and still be
safe to shoot.

For bullets, I am working through some XTPs in both
cartridges, but the next batch of bad guy stoppers will
be Gold Dots.

Unless I had no choice, I would be filling my hand with
the .45 ACP, given a life threatening situation. The 9mm
is for my wife to use, given a threat. My job is to develop
ammo for it, and of course test it, and keep the pistol
in good running order.

Squeeze
 
I have Cor-Bon 124gr +P, loaded in a 15rd mag. for the dance if needed. I do have 2 boxes of Winchester 147gr +P "Black Talon" now renamed sxt I think, saving that stuff as collector since the name has been changed. But if needed I will use it although I have several clips and plenty of Cor-Bon on hand. The 124gr produced a little less recoil allowing fast target aquisition on follow up shots, this is also something that should be checked and considered.
 
Pretty much any modern hollow point designed for self defense is going to be good. They all have advantages and disadvantages.

I'd lean towards a heavier bullet, the 147 specifically, for more penetration.

The Winchester Ranger is a good cartridge, and costs considerably less than most others. While the box says "Law Enforcement Ammunition" there is no law that restricts non-law enforcement use or posession. The Ranger is a descendent of the Black Talon bullet, with improvements to ensure more consistent and reliable terminal performance.

Whichever you choose, you want to test the reliability of that ammunition in your gun of choice. Consider firing at least 50 rounds of ammunition through the gun and magazines you intent to keep loaded with that ammunition to ensure functionality.
 
Don't show up at a gunfight with anything less than a .40 CAL. minimum preferably a .45 and do not let your wife be undergunned also. If they can shoot a 9 they can also shoot a .40.
Navarro
 
The Winchester 115gr +P+ is a long standing good one. It has been number for a long time. I don't know if it is available to the public.
 
Quote:
The best defense round for your 9mm is a .45 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif


Ditto /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
I carry the Winchester 127 +p+ in my 9mm, it's coming out of my Sig at 1145fps.

If the 147 grainers were moving that fast I'd carry those. Heavy slow bullets are not the ticket...

You have to get that bullet up over a 1,000 fps to get the expansion on hollow points.

That's why the good old 357 mag in a wheel gun with a 125 grain HP was one of the best one shot stoppers ever made. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
 
As long as the bullet is moving in the velocity range for which it was intended to expand, you should get expansion. Push it too fast and it will over-expand/seperate/fragment (aka fail) or push it too slow and it will not expand either at all or not much.

As such 147 grain 9mm bullets are designed to expand at the slower velocities they are at.

Quote:
You have to get that bullet up over a 1,000 fps to get the expansion on hollow points.



If that were the case you'd never see expansion in .45 loads that at 230 grains are typically moving around 850 fps or less.
 
I get plenty of expansion on a 200 gr. XTP, leaving my
1911 at 1000 fps, chronied /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Squeeze
 
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