This is another post that’s so obvious that the only excuse I can really plead is that I’m new to seriously considering firearms and self defense: what kind of ammunition to use? Not having given the matter much thought, I would have said until recently that it only makes sense to use ball ammunition. I mean, nobody uses hollow point ammunition to get a quick, clean kill when hunting. My thought was that penetration would be the most important factor, and that you would want to make sure the round could hit something vital and stop the threat.
But, as Massad Ayoob reminded me in Shoot to Live and The Gun Digest Book of Concealed Carry, most animals shot by hunters do not die immediately, even when the wound is fatal. They usually wander off for a ways and then die. That’s fine for hunting, but in a self defense situation, you can’t afford to allow the target to continue to be mobile without taking a chance that it can still hurt you. Instead, you’ve got to stop the threat, immediately.
That’s where the hollow point bullet comes in. As Ayoob goes on to point out, you don’t want a ball round that zips right through the target. Though it will be best able to penetrate to the vital organs and kill, most of the round’s energy will be expended in whatever backstop the round finally lodges in. A hollow point, on the other hand, will expand and expend most of its energy inside the target, providing the most shock to the target, and the best chance of stopping the threat immediately.
Another point Ayoob makes is that in most self defense situations, your only backstop is going to be the target. Meaning, you probably want a round that will expend most, if not all, of its energy in the target, to avoid hitting whatever’s behind the target.
So, hollow point ammunition will be my choice for my carry gun. And I probably won’t skimp on this purchase. I’ll carry something premium, and probably +P, meaning increased pressure, to ensure the round reaches enough velocity to reliably expand.
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“I probably won’t skimp on this purchase. I’ll carry something premium, and probably +P, meaning increased pressure, to ensure the round reaches enough velocity to reliably expand.”
What are the most significant factors of using a firearm for self defense? Reliability and shot placement.
The gun has to go bang. Do you have enough money to shoot off at least 50 of your chosen self defense load at the range to make sure that the gun likes it? One jam during the test and it probably isn’t the best load for your gun.
Shot placement. How do you place your bullets where they will do the most good? Practice! Regular practice!
I usually told my students that they should shoot at least fifty of their defensive rounds at the range, and then do it again every month for a year until they know where the point of aim will be with the chosen loads.
How much does premium hollowpoints cost, anyway? Average is a little bit more than $1.00 per bang, but some of them are more than $3.00 a round!
What do I recommend?
Winchester Silvertips. They work, but are distinctly unremarkable. Lots and lots of more effective choices available. But the cost is reasonable.
Wow, thanks, James. I can’t afford $3.00 rounds, nor even very many of the $1.00 rounds. I was basing this choice on comparison shopping at Midway USA and was seeing Cor-Bon +P for about $1.00 a round, and thinking that on top of training with cheap ball ammo, I could get by with maybe a box of month of the expensive stuff. It sounds like what you’re saying is that the difference in point of aim will be enough that I can’t afford to do that? In that case, I will definitely be checking on the Winchester Silvertips.
And thanks for the thread on your site. I’ll follow it and update with what’s there and your recommendation soon.
“I was basing this choice on comparison shopping at Midway USA and was seeing Cor-Bon +P for about $1.00 a round, and thinking that on top of training with cheap ball ammo, I could get by with maybe a box of month of the expensive stuff. It sounds like what you’re saying is that the difference in point of aim will be enough that I can’t afford to do that?”
No, you can do that. At least you can if you count a standard box of ammo as having 50 rounds in it.
Lots of hollowpoint manufacturers like to package their product in boxes that hold less than 50. Twenty rounds are popular.
I’m a 50-round-a-month kind of guy. If you can’t afford it, then do what you can.
Cor-Bon are rather notorious for having a different point of aim from standard ammo out past 25 feet or so. Light bullets moving really fast tends to do that.
I just checked, they are twenty rounds a box, and that’s through Midway USA, meaning I’d have another $10 per purchase shipping fee. I think it’s time I scouted some of the local stores where it’s most likely that I’ll actually buy my ammunition and see what they have. I’ll do that this weekend.
I’ll also try to ask whether they can keep what they have in stock. As whatever I pick will be what I’m shooting for the next year . . .
I carry Speer Gold Dots, 124 grain +p. You can usually find a box of 20 for $20 or so. They feed perfectly in every gun I’ve tried them in, and do well in all the gelatin tests I’ve seen.
Remington Golden Sabres in my .45 Glock 36.
They feed wonderfully in my gun, I use the 185gr +P variety. They used to be pretty reasonably priced, but now-a-days…….
If you are pricing 9mm ammo:
http://www.ammoengine.com/find/ammo/9mm
I have carried different ammo at different times. I currently carry CorBon DPX. It is one of the best for expanding after going through clothing – a consideration where regular snow means heavy coats.
220-grain loads are more expensive, but do the most damage by far (at least in my experience). Never had a problem with them feeding, other than once when I tried to increase the hollow-point effect by hand-cutting an “x” across the “tip” of each round. That was my fault, not the ammo’s. Live and learn, I guess.
+1 on the Speer Gold Dots. Those are good rounds in any caliber. GreyBeard is right about the Golden Sabers as well. Good rounds.
I use Black Hills 124 grain +P in both a Glock 17 and Glock 26. They are pretty cheap at $30 for a box of 50. I’ve shot a ton of them, and they’re reliable. I get 1,176 fps out of the little G26; not sure about the G17. I like to bridge the gap between the 115s and the 147s in 9mm.