Who's shot lots of Hornady 357 Critical Defense? Experience?

[drastic_quench]

I've read a few reviews back from 2010 and 2011 that mentioned primers being dislodged and binding up revolvers, but everything since seems glowing. How's this factory load performing you guys for the last few years?

tnoutdoors9 has a video that shows about 1320fps out of a 3" barrel on average with 16" penetration into ballistics gel, so I was seriously considering the load as my primary carry in my SP101.

 

[mike campbell]

I was arguing revolver vs auto when a guy commented on Critical Defense .45ACP ammo that had no powder....dud rounds, a good case for a revolver, right? then another guy chimed in on the .357's with blown primers binding up his revolver.

Ooops.

I ran down to the shop to look at some .357 empties, and 30% of them had pierced primers. I never looked back.

Winchester PD, Speer Gold Dot and Remington Golden Saber is all just as good IMO. From my 2" MP340 they all expand to 75+ caliber in water or wet paper. Not sure of the Win PD, but the Gold Dot and more recently the G. Saber are bonded ...virtually zero weight loss.

 

[Alpo]

Wow I'd never heard of this.
All my revolvers are loaded with CD rounds. I've only shot a handful through each gun (to verify POI). I'll shoot a couple dozen 38s and 357s next time out to see what happens with the primers.
Hopefully I'll get out to my club this weekend.
I'll report back in this thread once I do.

 

[clayflingythingy]

I have had "bad" ammo from all the big 3....Federal, Remington, and Winchester. I wouldn't let an isolated report on the innerwebs concern me too much.

 

[hvacmedic]

I have never had any issues with .38spl or .44spl critical defense ammo.

 

[Poco Oso]

I've been using Hornady CD in, .38, .357, 9mm, and .45ACP, since they first came out, with no issues. No problems with reloading them either.

Edit for accuracy

 

[shatolang]

+1 on critical defense. 38+p and 357 mag

 

[Alpo]

Went to the range this morning.

No primer (or any other) problems with .38 & 9mm Critical Defense.
Didn't get a chance to shoot the .357s.

 

[Jeepnik]

I won't comment on the quality of the Critical Defense line. But as mentioned earlier, even high quality production ammo can fail.

There are two cures for this, first learn the proper drills to get a handgun up and running after a malfuction. And second, carry a backup.

I go one step further. I load my own ammo. For practice stuff, I load on a progressive (and can count on my fingers how many bad rounds I've had). For SD ammo, I load it one round at a time just as one would match ammo. Yes, I could possibly still get a round that would fail, but it hasn't happened yet.

 

[Alpo]

I won't comment on the quality of the Critical Defense line. But as mentioned earlier, even high quality production ammo can fail.

There are two cures for this, first learn the proper drills to get a handgun up and running after a malfuction. And second, carry a backup.

I go one step further. I load my own ammo. For practice stuff, I load on a progressive (and can count on my fingers how many bad rounds I've had). For SD ammo, I load it one round at a time just as one would match ammo. Yes, I could possibly still get a round that would fail, but it hasn't happened yet.

Yeah, so long "bad round" always means click-> no bang, not click-> "blew up my gun".

 

[Jeepnik]

I won't comment on the quality of the Critical Defense line. But as mentioned earlier, even high quality production ammo can fail.

There are two cures for this, first learn the proper drills to get a handgun up and running after a malfuction. And second, carry a backup.

I go one step further. I load my own ammo. For practice stuff, I load on a progressive (and can count on my fingers how many bad rounds I've had). For SD ammo, I load it one round at a time just as one would match ammo. Yes, I could possibly still get a round that would fail, but it hasn't happened yet.

Yeah, so long "bad round" always means click-> no bang, not click-> "blew up my gun".

Don't get the reply, are you saying I might blow my gun up with a reload? Not likely with the SD rounds as the charges are individually weighted.

Some have suggested that in a suit, it could be brought up that I made the ammo more "deadly". But since my records indicate they are loaded for accuracy (target rounds) that would not be the case. Besides, I prefer good ole cast bullets to fancy ones designed to kill just going by (well, that almost what the manufacturers claim).

 

[Alpo]

I won't comment on the quality of the Critical Defense line. But as mentioned earlier, even high quality production ammo can fail.

There are two cures for this, first learn the proper drills to get a handgun up and running after a malfuction. And second, carry a backup.

I go one step further. I load my own ammo. For practice stuff, I load on a progressive (and can count on my fingers how many bad rounds I've had). For SD ammo, I load it one round at a time just as one would match ammo. Yes, I could possibly still get a round that would fail, but it hasn't happened yet.

Yeah, so long "bad round" always means click-> no bang, not click-> "blew up my gun".

Don't get the reply, are you saying I might blow my gun up with a reload? Not likely with the SD rounds as the charges are individually weighted.

Some have suggested that in a suit, it could be brought up that I made the ammo more "deadly". But since my records indicate they are loaded for accuracy (target rounds) that would not be the case. Besides, I prefer good ole cast bullets to fancy ones designed to kill just going by (well, that almost what the manufacturers claim).

You mentioned that you've had a handful of bad rounds of target ammo from your progressive press.

My comment was simply that as long as you don't get a double charge, that's no biggie.

Though an unnoticed squib can be just as dangerous.
This is the case whether it's reloads or factory ammo.

 

[cjs1945]

I have used Winchester and Hornady in my SP101 and LCR357 and have never had any problems with either one. I have shot a lot of .380, 9 mm 40 S&W, .45 ACP .38 special, .38 +P and .357 magnum Critical Defense ammo and have never had any problem of any kind with any of it. Quality of Critical Defense is really hard to beat.

 

[Rodfac]

I've used two boxes of Hornady 357 Critical Defense ammunition with no problems, no blown primers, no split cases, nada. It's good ammunition in my experience.

As to duds from either factory loaded ammunition or reloads....in over 50 yrs of loading my own I too have had a handful of rounds that failed to fire or had insufficient powder (if memory serves, less than 6). In that same time span, I've had an greater number of factory rounds that were failures: nearly half a box of early Federal .32 H&R's split on the first firing, and about a half dozen Winchester and Remington rounds that had no powder in them. Nothing's perfect in this life padnuh, but for the most part, I'd rather trust my own work than someone else's that has no skin in the game. I speak here for trail use and practice only.

All that notwithstanding, for CC use, I load Hornady CD's for both my wife's Smith 637, my Smith M60, and a Sig RCS 1911, all with complete confidence. I subscribe to Masad Ayoob's tenet that in court, it's easier to defend your ammunition choice if it's comparable to police use locally.

Best regards, Rod

 

[Desertdog]

I have shot a lot in both .357 and .38 Special. BUT....last year, I had a box of each left
and I believe they were only a year old. Shooting my M36 S&W, 13 out of the 25 Failed to Fire!! Glad I didn't need them for an emergency...and about 5 of the .357's did the same
in my old Model 60. I for one, am NOT impressed, and have not purchased any since.
I have gone over to Speer for all defense loads.

 

[rich642z]

I haven't had any problems with Hornady's Critical and Law enforcement Defense ammo from 9mm to .45acp.

 

[ProfessorWes]

I haven't shot any of the Critical Defense loads - I haven't seen any data on real-world defensive results, and they strike me as light for caliber - but I have shot the regular "Hornady Custom" line of .38 SPL (140-grain XTP and 158-grain XTP) and .44 SPL (180-grain XTP). No problems, and plenty accurate.

My S&W 638 Airweight is loaded with Buffalo Bore standard-pressure .38 158-grain LHPs, but given the smoother profile of the Hornady XTPs I use those (the 158-grain version, preferably) for reloads in speed strips.

 

[hi-power man]

I've shot about 60 rounds of 38+P Critical Defense with no issues.

 

[MCPO]

Both my 9 and 380 loaded with CD. Have probably shot over 100 rds and no issue either caliber.

 

[6gun]

I think Critical Defense loads are just a gimmick to get suckers to pay more for less ammo, I can buy the same bullets and load them how ever I want heavy or soft loads.