Looking for suggestions on defense ammunition

[qdeezie]

With regards to 9mm, .45 ACP and .223 Rem, what are some brands of defensive ammo that I should look into and what should I avoid? What's a good value?

Honestly, I'm not exactly looking to spend top dollar on something that hopefully I'll never have to use, but I don't want junk either.

Is this one of those things where as long as I buy from a reputable manufacturer, I should be good to go?

I've been looking at YouTube videos to get an idea on what's out there and all of it looked good (to be perfectly honest), but I figured quite a few suggestions from BITOG would be good and there's always someone with a different perspective or deal that I would have never thought of or known about.

Suggestions on one or all of the above are welcome.

 

[OldNorthState]

Originally Posted By: qdeezie
With regards to 9mm, .45 ACP and .223 Rem, what are some brands of defensive ammo that I should look into and what should I avoid? What's a good value?

Honestly, I'm not exactly looking to spend top dollar on something that hopefully I'll never have to use, but I don't want junk either.

Is this one of those things where as long as I buy from a reputable manufacturer, I should be good to go?

I've been looking at YouTube videos to get an idea on what's out there and all of it looked good (to be perfectly honest), but I figured quite a few suggestions from BITOG would be good and there's always someone with a different perspective or deal that I would have never thought of or known about.

Suggestions on one or all of the above are welcome.


I run a lot of Freedom Munitions new and remanufactured ammo in my 9's, .38's/.357's and M4's. For defensive handgunning, use the "XTP" bulleted offerings by Freedom. XTP bullets are made by Hornady, but Freedom loads 'em to Hornady specs. at less than half the cost of Hornady's own loadings of same. I've run and own many hundreds of rounds of their goods, and they run about as well or better than most any others. Also, don't be afraid of their "remanufactured" stuff for target - or even self defense, honestly - work. It's virtually as reliable, in my experience, as their "new".

 

[umungus1122]

For practice Freedom loads with the XTP are fine if you want to use that bullet, but for serious carry I'd stay with Hornady's TAP ammo with the XTP. Speer Gold Dots, Winchester Ranger, and Federal HST are all top bullets for defense. I wouldn't skimp on the carry ammo.

 

[AdmdeVilleneuve]

There are some who will recommend you use whatever your local law enforcement agency uses. If the unthinkable happens, you can't be accused of obtaining some exotic, overly deadly ammunition that's rarely seen. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg PD are certainly using a quality brand/type, so that could be one option.

 

[CarbonSteel]

Do a YouTube search for TNOutdoors9 and you can see very good testing of defense ammunition for most of the popular calibers. If memory serves, the Federal HST, Hornady Flex-Lock (Critical Defense and Critical Duty), and Speer Gold Dot are the top three brands used today.

 

[Astro14]

I'm a big Speer Gold Dot fan, I've got it for my 9mm and my .40 pistols, and the advice to use a common load from Hornady or Speer is good. At least in the pistol ammo. I've got little experience with the Hornady loads for .223 - but they do make a specific defensive load for .223. I would chose that over generic XM-193 or XM-855. Make certain that your .223 barrel has enough twist to stabilize it.

I would add that you need to run a substantial amount through your weapon/s to ensure that your weapon/s functions reliably with your choice of ammo land magazines.

Don't trust your life to something you've not tested.

 

[CT8]

The bonded ammo from the major US companies are good to go. As Astro14 posted the Speer Gold Dots are about as good as it gets.

 

[OtisBlkR1]

critical defense is my go to, but they are all decent

 

[Robenstein]

Avoid Remington Golden Sabers....especially the non bonded ones.

Speer Gold Dots are hard to beat, as are the Federal HST when it comes to handgun ammo.

For 223, it depends on what rifle you have (barrel twist rate).

 

[buck91]

Originally Posted By: 2010_FX4
Do a YouTube search for TNOutdoors9...


Second. I ended up going with Winchester PDX1 for my .40s&w but there are plenty of good options. Haven't researched the others as much but I'd imagine its a similar story.

 

[HerrStig]

For home defense you want something which will stop a lowlife you can see but not travel through walls and injure someone three rooms away. JHP projectiles flatten when an obstruction with any substance is encountered.

 

[90crvtec]

Originally Posted By: qdeezie
With regards to 9mm, .45 ACP and .223 Rem, what are some brands of defensive ammo that I should look into and what should I avoid? What's a good value?

With regards to 9mm and 45ACP, the suggestions are going to depend a lot on barrel length. Some 9mm defensive ammunition is completely ineffective if fired from a short barreled 9mm (4 inches or less).

For 45ACP, due to the size of the bullet and the size of the hollow point cavity, just about all brands work well.

I'll summarize with this. If you need defensive ammunition for short barreled carry guns, I personally use either Speer Gold Dot SHORT BARREL ammunition or any Federal HST. Both bullet designs have proven to work well in short barrels.

For full sized handguns (Glock 17, HK VP9, etc.) I would consider regular Speed Gold Dot or Federal HST.

If you're looking for one hollow point that works in pretty much any barrel length, go with the HSTs. They are harder to find but they work well and I've never seen one fail a test, including independent tests on youtube. Buy them in 50 round boxes to help out with economy, most times you can get them for around 50c a round shipped if you buy a few hundred rounds at a time.

 

[friendly_jacek]

pardon my ignorance, but do these things have expiration dates?

 

[Cujet]

I don't worry about special ammo for personal defense. I prefer to use name brand conventional ammo in everything. Ball ammo (230g) for my 45, FGMM (Federal Gold Medal Match 168g) for my 308, XM193 for my AR15.

I like the reliability of ball ammo, and I train with it, so I understand it's performance perfectly.

Sure, ball ammo does not expand, but it feeds perfectly, is very accurate and performs exactly the same, every time. I know what it does because that's what I shoot. And, I can shoot it accurately at all reasonable distances.

I understand the argument that expanding ammo "might" or is "more likely to" stop inside the bad guy and ball ammo will "probably" pass through. It's more complex than that though and depends on clothing, air in the lungs, bone contact and so on. Comparatively few people are hit by bullets that pass through a person.

Expanding ammo that will go right out the other side...

 

[brian_06328]

Originally Posted By: friendly_jacek
pardon my ignorance, but do these things have expiration dates?


Not a bad question at all, if stored in a cool dry place away from oil or solvent ammunition can last for a very long time. In the late '90s I bought a huge amount of surplus GI .30 carbine, most of it was headstamped '53 but some were '52. I have gone through quite a lot of it, not all of it, and I haven't had a single failure to fire from any of that ammunition. Would it be my first choice for home defense, probably not, but in my opinion the best home defense round is the one in your gun.

 

[qdeezie]

Thank you all for the feedback and keep it coming. I have pretty much no experience with firearms outside of what I've researched over the past few months, so all of the tidbits you're providing along with recommendations is great.

 

[LotI]

http://www.ar15.com/ammo/project/Self_Defense_Ammo_FAQ/

 

[Robenstein]

Ball ammo is not as effective. Not even close. They DO overpenetrate, especially in 9mm. The only time I might use ball ammo is in a caliber like 32acp or 380ACP where I need the extra penetration. Not to mention...if you miss with ball handgun ammo, it is going to go through a surprising amount of walls. Now if you use something like M193 5.56mm ammo, it will fragment much sooner in terms of walls.

If your gun will not reliably feed any type of ammo you put in it...you should not be trusting your life to it.

 

[billt460]

Originally Posted By: friendly_jacek
pardon my ignorance, but do these things have expiration dates?


None what so ever. This is one of the most asked questions on the Internet regarding ammunition. What kills ammunition is dampness and heat over time. If you keep your ammunition stored in a cool and dry environment it can and will last indefinitely.

To give you an example, I recently found some .300 Winchester Magnum hand loads I loaded up way back in 1975. I had completely forgotten about them. The last time I went to the range I brought them along. Every one of them not only went bang, but they did so very accurately. I happened to have my chronograph set up and the extreme shot to shot velocity spread was only 75 FPS for the 15 rounds that were in the box. Not bad for ammo that was 40 years old.

That taught me age meant nothing in regards to ammunition, IF it is properly stored. Keep it cool and dry and your ammo will out live you.

 

[qdeezie]

Originally Posted By: friendly_jacek
pardon my ignorance, but do these things have expiration dates?


Take this with a grain of salt (because I'm new to this), but I have read that sometimes ammo can go dead over time and the way to mitigate this is to store ammo in an air tight ammo can or ammo box along with a desiccant air pack to remove moisture.

So with this being said, I'll be cycling out my defense ammo to ensure that I have fresh rounds. As for how often I'll be cycling it out, I don't know yet. That is still to be determined.

Once again, take it with a grain of salt but this is what I've come to thus far by reading online.

If anyone knows differently, please feel free to correct me.