[weshowe]

Gents,

beungood, opined that some personal defense ammo performs better than LE ammunition because it doesn't meet NIJ standards for penetration. Here's my take on it.
First, carry whatever ammo you like for whatever reason, smile and be happy. This is not a "mine is better than yours" post.
That said you'll rarely find yours truly carrying ammo that doesn't met the standard or is VERY close to it.
The "Personal Defense" marketed ammo I am aware of has only one thing going for it...it does go bang. It's pure marketing and usually claims reduced recoil and more controllability. The ammunition usually uses a reduced weight bullet and/or a reduced charge/velocity. It has to in order to meet those claims or until the laws of physics get repealed. Unfortunately, it makes an already marginal (a pistol) round even more so...
A number of criteria must be met for any ammunition to be effective.
You must hit your target and have good bullet placement.
No standard construction bullet can guarantee it will remain in the body.
For CCW use expansion after barrier penetration may not be a hard requirement. I'll hedge my bets with something that expands before encountering a barrier AND after.
I want to have sufficient penetration and expansion coupled with good placement to get the job done.
There are several exotics I would consider: Corbon's Pow'rBall being one of them. A specialty round from EBR (Engel Ballistic Research) that I won't discuss here.
Pre-fragmented ammo like Glaser or Mag-Safe make a lot of claims. Unfortunately, their track record is that they tend to perform way beyond expectations or fail miserably. I'm not going to "flip a coin" when it comes to performance and my life.
That's my take and here's what I currently use:
.45 ACP: 230 Gr Ranger SXT LE (RA45T), the +P version (RA45TP),
and Hydra-Shock 230 gr JHP's. In lieu of those I use WW White Box Ball.
.40 S & W: Winch Ranger SXT 165(RA40TA), Fed Hydra-Shock 180 gr. JHP's, or Cor-bon 135 Gr. JHP's.
.357 SIG: Winch Ranger SXT 125 gr (RA357SIGT)
9mm: Winch Ranger LE 127 Gr. +P+ (RA9TA), Winch Ranger LE 147 Gr. (RA9T), Corbon 115 Gr. +P JHP. Standard pressure loads are Winch 115 Gr. Silvertip (X9MMSHP) and Federal 115 Gr (9BP)
There is a lot of good ammo out there. Carry "Personal Defense" ammo if you like. After all it's only YOUR funeral...

Wes

 

[wilsoncqb1911]

Are you speaking specifically about Federal's personal defense ammunition? I kind of like their 135grn low recoil stuff in 9mm. There are better loads available, but the testing I've seen points to this being a great expander and not a bad penetrator. Like I said, it's not my first choice, but I wouldn't turn it down either.

 

[weshowe]

wilsoncqb1911,

My comment was generic to number of manufacturer's products. I see the Federal PD ammo most commonly here. It's expensive and if someone tries to tell you it's better than what's out there please put them in contact with me...I'd like to share what they're smokin'...

By the same token I wouldn't turn it down if the choice was it or ball ammo in 9mm.

Wes

 

[pff]

The Federal PD sort of started the trend to selling partial boxes of ammo at box prices. Cute see-through plastic boxes probably helped sales also.

Remember their PD 12 ga load? a bit of #2 shot as I recall, in boxes of 6 or 8 rounds, at premium prices.

I do like their 135gr .40 PD load in the Grock 27. The G27 is pretty snappy with heavier bullets.

Penetration is your friend. Take a look at yourself and draw imaginary lines through from different angles. Any load that doesn't exit on a frontal shot is NOT going to reach vitals on less optimum shots. Period.

Maybe I ought to reiterate that: Any load that doesn't exit on a frontal shot is NOT going to reach vitals on less optimum shots.


Regards,

Pat