SD ammo

[MathGeek]

Originally Posted by jchief

Ok, I agree with the idea of knowing where the bullet is going before pulling the trigger.

What ammo, based on your studies, would you recommend for personal protection in 9mm?

There are a lot of bullets out there which will optimize the 9mm's potential in a wide variety of situations. For many years, my wife and I both carried the 115 grain Quik Shok, but the company that made them went out of business.

Without knowing the details of an individual risk assessment, I'd say that the 127 Win Ranger SXT is a good choice. There are some lighter JHPs with more fragmentation that might be a better choice against lightly clad meth head types. There are also some bonded bullets that are better against intermediate barriers. There's very little not to like about the 115-125 grain Federal and Speer God Dot offerings in their premium self-defense loads.

I do not recommend FMJ or 147 grain JHP bullets for most defensive uses in 9mm. We did kill 2 deer with one shot once with a 147 grain JHP, but lack of expansion and overpenetration is a persistent problem here. The deer in front ran over 200 yards before it fell even though it was a perfect double lung center punch. In contrast, deer center punched with a 115 grain JHP (Quik Shok) averaged under 50 yards, with none going further than 100 yards.