Defense rounds help

[dayspring1978]

I own a P95 and have put maybe around 500 rounds of FMJ through it pretty much flawlessly. I have had only two rounds fail; one time when I was shooting and once when my best friend was shooting. I don't conceal carry, but I do have it next to my bed for home defense. My question is I have never put defense rounds through it and recently bought a box of Critical Defense 115 gr. rounds. I want to know what is a reasonable amount of rounds to put through the gun? My gun came with two 15 round magazines plus my friend found a Ruger 10 round magazine cleaning out a storage unit. Would 10 rounds suffice or perhaps I could get away with five rounds? I don't want to use the entire box because of the cost. Thanks for all the help and I love my Ruger! It works great for my especially with me being left handed. I tease my friend who owns a Glock all the time how my Ruger keeps up with a gun that cost twice as much as mine! The best part is, he has told me several times he would give me what I paid for it to 'take it off my hands'!

 

[Cholo]

I'd put at least 2 full magazines + one in the chamber for each of your magazines for a total of 64 rounds. I'd consider that minimum. I break in my semi auto defense guns with at least 100 rounds of handloaded ball ammo, my Kahr PM40 got 200. I'd start with a thoroughly clean gun, including the magazines, and start shooting your defense ammo. I know it's expensive, but you're betting your life on your P95.

I don't recall any issues while breaking in my LCP and carry it with confidence. I just added one of those kits that makes the magazine into a 7 round instead of the 6 it came with. Here I go again with the defense ammo...:lol:

 

[MikeyLikeCarbonFiber]

Your gun is broken in so you don't need to put a certain amount of your defense rounds though it. You want to shoot some so you can at least know how the gun will react with those rounds. How many, well thats all going to depend on how comfortable you are. I buy my defense rounds in boxes of 50 and will use 1 mag full (10 rounds) every time I go to the range. It's the last mag I run though the gun before I leave the range. Yes I go though a lot of rounds but I like to know how it feels and what I can expect from it if I would ever need to use it.

When I'm using my defense ammo I always practice what I would need to do in a defense situation. Drawing the gun from low (you can't draw from the holster at the range so I try to get the gun as low as possible and draw up from there), placing two rounds in the chest (double tap), bring the gun back to my body, look to make sure all the threats have been disable and then bring the gun back down to low point (holster).

I know self defense ammo can get expensive but you need to know how your gun will react when using it and what you need to do to be able to use it effectively.

 

[dayspring1978]

Thanks for the replies. I agree that my gun is broken in and that was not my concern. So, the next time I go target shooting I will run 10 rounds through at the end to see how they cycle. What's nice is my target rounds and defense rounds are both 115 gr. I doubt it will be an issue with this Ruger, but I think everyone would agree you need to make sure your defense rounds cycle flawlessly. Also, I consider myself very fortunate that I can go outback of my house and do any and all target practice there. I don't have my CCL, but I could still go ahead and practice drawing from the holster as you suggested. Thanks again for all the help!

 

[MikeyLikeCarbonFiber]

To me it's not a matter of cycling, Rugers are well known to eat just about any ammo you can put it, but rather how the gun reacts to the different bullets.

If you've never drawn from the holster practice a few times with the gun EMPTY. Also remember don't put your finger on the trigger as you pull your weapon from the holster!

HAVE FUN!!!

 

[kstoneking]

Run as many of the defensive rounds through your pistol as you can. Every pistol has different preferences for the ammo it will cycle, even my beloved Rugers. Many times there is a huge difference between cycling FMJ and HP ammunition. I 'bite the bullet', so to speak, and run at least 50 rounds of a defensive ammo, with NO bobbles, before I'll bet my life on a pistol/ammo combination. Expensive, yes, worth it, YES. Best wishes.

Kenny

 

[cluznar]

500 rounds? I'd say your gun is broke in. Don't be cheap, buy enough Critical Defense rounds to load both 15 round mags, it could save your life. Also shoot at least 25 rounds of Critical Defense, you are gonna like how well they shoot.

 

[Rei40c]

500 rounds? I'd say your gun is broke in. Don't be cheap, buy enough Critical Defense rounds to load both 15 round mags, it could save your life. Also shoot at least 25 rounds of Critical Defense, you are gonna like how well they shoot.

All good advice. I bought Winchester PDX1 for self defense when I was brand new to my 40c. I put over 500 rounds through it. Got very confident then tried a box of my self defense ammo. My accuracy was horrible with them. Be it the gun, the ammo, me or a combination I'm glad I learned that at the range and not on the street or my home when trying to defend myself. The round was just too hot for me. Many thousands out there can shot them well but I can't. I found I was rather good with Gold Dot's and Critical Defense especially.

PDX1 is fantastic ammo... if your a good shooter. If your a newbie like me I found it rather unforgiving of newbie errors, poor trigger control, grip ect. Its as if it takes those errors and amplifies them x3 due to the rather high amount of "umph" they pack. A pro can run these type loads all day long, and run them well, I've seen it at the range. I'm not exactly knocking the product, just pointing out my experience with them.

 

[dayspring1978]

From what I understand most 9mm self defense rounds are in the 130-140 gr. range; hence why they need to be a hotter round. This would cause an issue with more recoil and getting back on target especially if you have been shooting target ammo which is normally 115 gr. Where I see an advantage with the Hornady ammo I purchased is it's 115 gr. just like the FMJ target rounds I've already been shooting. So unless they have loaded these 'hotter' than the FMJ rounds I should be fine. I appreciate the advice and to be honest the recoil was something I thought about, but I was more worried about a FTF or FTE. I had a 'cheap' handgun when I first started shooting handguns and at first I was very happy with it, but then it started to drop the mag after each shot. I got rid of it after that. Anyways I have a very reliable gun and I doubt I will have an issues, but once you have an issue like I did you become a little cynical. Great advice from all and I appreciate all the feedback!