Rei40c said:
I'm glad you've also happened upon the Critical Duty. I found exactly what you have only in the sr40c not the 9E, and obviously .40 not the 9mm. I posted several times about it a couple of years ago but stopped for fear people would start to suspect I work for Hornady because I spoke so well of it. lol
I found it to have excellent recoil characteristics and they just plain seemed to fly really well in terms of my ability to be accurate with it. The recoil was more of a factor for me with the .40 then it probably would be for you with the 9mm. And played a bigger role for me then I think it would have, had I had a 9mm.
In some self defense rounds in .40 REALLY crank up the velocities, and can kick rather violently. The PDX1 was one I can think of off the top of my head that I found just too much (for me).
The Critical Duty was the most tame. I also hear good things about the Critical Defense as well but haven't tried any myself.
The Defense round is a slightly lighter bullet than the Duty round and I think has a somewhat softer tip. Other than that they're identical except for the usual performance difference associated with the different weights, etc. I get a significant military discount on the Std & +P Duty round at my LGS, which was the deciding factor for me.
Penetration (9mm) is ~11" thru heavy clothing with the Defense, and 15" with the Duty. About the same with the .40, although a slightly bigger hole of course.
Hornady has all this posted on their site with pics.