I admit I don't know too many details about the different brands of ammunition, but wanted to use what would be considered high quality ammo in the gun that I carry and in the one that is my primary home defense handgun. In 9mm, I have both Speer and Hornady Critical Defense. Normally at the range I use cheaper ball ammo rather than JHP and both my carry gun (LC9s) and my home gun (Glock 17) seem to accept everything that I have put in them regardless of type or brand, as long as I get the caliber right! But today, firing my Glock 17, I decided to shoot some of the "better" ammo just to see if it felt any different than the cheap stuff. About the 3rd round I knew something was not right as soon as it fired. It sounded like a less than normal powder load, and while the bullet fired, the gun did not cycle. I assumed it was a one off, and it clearly was not the gun at issue, so I continued shooting. Within the same magazine it happened twice more. When I checked what was still in the magazine it was a mixture of both Hornady and Speer, and since there were tons of cases on the ground all around me I could not be sure what brand the mis fires had been. But it did give me a bit of pause, thinking that had I been in a self defense situation this could have been a matter of life and death. Now I'm just now sure what I should be keeping in these two "always ready" handguns.
Quality ammo for personal defense?
- Thread starter vito
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GunnyGene
Hawkeye
vito said:
There's quite a lot of premium SD ammo available. My personal preference is 135gr Hornady Critical Duty (not Critical Defense), and I did try out a half dozen different popular SD brands and weights before settling on this, but it was pretty much a toss up (performance wise) between the Hornady and 147gr Gold Dot. Ended up with the Hornady due to price difference.
I tend to load up for the worst case, not the "usual" case. Critical Duty penetrates deeper, and isn't as effected by clothing or other barriers as the Defense round. That said, I carry a full size 9mm (Ruger 9E) since the longer barrel gives a little more velocity (in addition to 17+1 in the gun. That said, I also use the "cheap stuff" for back yard practice, but haven't had any problems with that either.
Your recent experience could have been due to simply bad luck with a particular lot or box - a matter of statistical probability. Or maybe your Glock just doesn't like the good stuff. :wink:
From the sound and recoil it was very obvious that it was bad ammo, not the Glock. I think I will look for the Critical Duty and try it out.
GunnyGene
Hawkeye
vito said:
I buy it at my LGS at military/LEO discount. About $32/50. Don't know what the regular price is.
