Subcompacts all have barrels of about 3" or so.

What's your ammo choice for short barrels?  +P?  +P+?

Which LGS has them?


I only have 115 & 124gr FMJ for practice, and none of the "good stuff"....................

I took the bait and bought some Speer Gold Dot for short barrel pistols.  The specs seemed to point to higher performance in velocity.

Then I found reviews with comparisons.  While they tend to work as advertised against bare skin and light-clothing-covered skin (T-shit), heavier clothing resulted in worse penetration and expansion results than standard 9mm ammo.

I bought mine from Young Guns several years ago.  At that time, they were to only place within a reasonable distance of my home that carried any SB ammo.

Three most important performance criteria (aside from "goes bang") are:

- Penetration
- Expansion
- Retained bullet weight

Some use a filler in the hollow point cavity to avoid it catching or expanding as it encounters heavy clothing.  I've noticed mixed results in independent reviews/tests.

So, for me, I'll stick with regular ammo that shows a high degree of penetration through clothing and skin.  Never know what kind of "threat" you'll encounter.

I feel these ammunition types are compensating for not having been fired from a more effective barrel length.  If it were that impressive, wouldn't everyone be using it regardless of the barrel type they carry?  I mean, improvements for smaller pistols should translate into improvements for other pistols.

That's mostly opinion.  As I've never shot anyone, nor have I done any scientific tests or comparisons, I'm only basing this on what I've been able to find online.

#YMMV

 

Thanks Flapp_Jackson

I am tempted towards those 9mm with "drill bit" looking hollow points, but I doubt any LGS in HNL carries them...............

Here’s a YouTube channel that did a ton of ballistic testing. For 9mm Hornady Critical Duty and Underwood both performed quite well if I recall correctly . https://m.youtube.com/user/tnoutdoors9

I have some of these:
Critical duty, gold dot, Sig jhp, hydra shok, and some jhp from Bushido arms. Idk if its defensive ammo or not but it's a jhp not sure what projectile he uses. I'm also reloading some jhp from Everglades ammo that I want to test in some gel, but bc ots reloaded,  its practice ammo

The critical duty and sig ammo I got at ogc
Federal hydra shok and speer gold dot I got at YG's or could have been HGS, I forget
SEC usually has some

Another factor is some guns dont allow +p or greater ammo. Our M&P 9C states this. So we use critical Defense (red plastic insert)

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

 

So, for me, I'll stick with regular ammo that shows a high degree of penetration through clothing and skin.  Never know what kind of "threat" you'll encounter.

I was thinking of loading my mags with alternate rounds of FMJ and SD ammo.  Was wondering what you guys think of this idea.

So far I have acquired Hornady Critical Duty, Sig V Crown, and some cheap PMC JHP rounds.

all jhp
no question...

I was thinking of loading my mags with alternate rounds of FMJ and SD ammo.  Was wondering what you guys think of this idea.

So far I have acquired Hornady Critical Duty, Sig V Crown, and some cheap PMC JHP rounds.

from looking at videos lately about 9mm carry ammo, it looks like 147 grain projectiles have great penetration but not so great expansion
all the defensive ammo I have is 124 grain jhp

or I could be wrong about the 147's.  maybe depends on the projectile

I would use whatever HPD issues.
It's one less legal matter to think about when you get sued.

I would use whatever HPD issues.
It's one less legal matter to think about when you get sued.

I think it's been said in other blogs that HPD uses Speer Gold Dot 124gr HP.

Can anyone verify if this is true today?

I think it's been said in other blogs that HPD uses Speer Gold Dot 124gr HP.

Can anyone verify if this is true today?

=============
yep
true
unless they changed it recently

I think it's been said in other blogs that HPD uses Speer Gold Dot 124gr HP.

Can anyone verify if this is true today?

yes, for their G17s.

I picked up a box of these

Seems like these "budget" type hollow points do pretty well, arguably just as good as the more well known, popular, and expensive types.

I think I saw a video of PMC Bronze HP doing very well and these are priced very cheap.

Tnoutdoors did a somewhat recent video.

The 147g federal HST perform pretty well. I forgot the exact barrel length but 99% sure it was less than 4 inches.

The gdhp 147g never expanded consistently while the hst did.

For anything less than 4 inches I have 124g gdhp. Cause I been stocking it for many many years before hst existed.

G19 barrel or longer I have 147g gdhp and hydrashoks.