Defense rounds

J

Jehu

Active member
I've been looking into the effectiveness of various cartridges. As near as I can figure, it's hard to beat Hornady Critical Defense for stopping power. The test results put HCD .380 well above 9mm hollow points that were available 20 years ago. It seems like there have been a lot of advances in ammo development over the last couple of decades.

I'm carrying 9mm and .380 so I'll probably go with HCD. I'm not sure if that's the best option for my car-gun (.45 1911)

My wife is carrying a Walther P22 22lr. I'm not sure if there is a realistic option for a stopping round but I'd like to figure out the best option.

Most of the test results that I've looked into use a standard of 2 layers of denim against a block of ballistic gel. That doesn't make sense to me. Firing through denim is rarely the objective. It seems to me that they should use a layer of hoodie cloth. That would be a more realistic situation.
 
J

Jehu

Active member
VooDoo said:
check these tests out:
https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/self-defense-ammo-ballistic-tests/#9mm
Click to expand...

Thanks, Phil. Great reference.

It looks like the Hornady is the winner in .380 and 9mm. Remington Golden Saber wins the .45 and nearly the 9mm. That helps a lot.

I was watching shooting incident videos for a couple of hours yesterday. I'm convinced that it's important to understand ammo. One guy got three close-range hits with 44mag hollow-points. They all went through-and-through. The perp kept fighting and nearly got the gun. Meanwhile, a .380 with HCD (my personal choice) would probably have stopped him.
 
Last edited:
J

Jehu

Active member
BUILTnotBOUGHT said:
I like the 135+p critical duty, 124/147 HST and 124/147 Gold Dot
http://www.ar15.com/ammo/project/Self_Defense_Ammo_FAQ/index.htm
http://www.hornadyle.com/assets/site/files/Hornady-LE-Military-Application-Guide.pdf
Click to expand...
Critical Duty is better for cops because it can penetrate windows or car doors an still be effective at the target. That's not a likely benefit to a personal defense incident. My interest would be avoiding through and through caused by clogged hollow points.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 
B

BUILTnotBOUGHT

Active member
Jehu said:
Critical Duty is better for cops because it can penetrate windows or car doors an still be effective at the target. That's not a likely benefit to a personal defense incident. My interest would be avoiding through and through caused by clogged hollow points.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I think that's an extremely likely scenario, shooting through an intermediate barrier is a big concern for self defense. If you look at that second link I posted it showed performance after penetrating barriers, even with heavy clothing it penetrated 15" which is just about what I consider to be a perfect amount

Critical defense has been proven time and time again to not reach the 12" minimum.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top