115 gr. Blazer or Federal for target & Hornady Critical Defense for when it gets real here. Never tried steel cased in the 9mm's. Only thing I've run that in was my S&W .45 ACP. That thing will literally ingest anything & keep firing. It's just a big pig of a pistol to carry.
As long as your practice ammo is from a well known company, I think you're fine. I tried Herters ammo once and had several rounds that failed to go off. Avoid discount russian stuff. We shoot thousands and thousands of Winchester 9mm fmj at work and have never had any problems. Paul Harrell has pretty sweet SD ammo tests on his YouTube channel. Hornady, Federal, Sig, Winchester, Gold Dot, etc all make HPs that will work for the intended purpose as long as the feeding & accuracy are good in your gun. 115-135gr is a good range for more reliable expansion.
Just have to be careful from a liability stand point. Prosecutors have been known to use the modified (less) trigger pull as the defendant being a "gunslinger", ready to kill.
I'm mostly carrying Rem. 124gr. Golden Saber +P, just 'cause I have a bunch of it. Also- Cor-Bon & Glaser, Hornady CD, and I'll now be looking into DRT. In winter, if I may have to penetrate 4-6 layers of jackets ,hoodies, and thermals before my bullet hits skin, I want a penetrator. In summer, it would be an expander. I'm covered depending on season. I shoot a variety of brass cased FMJ's for practice. 115-124 gr., not much use for 147's in my pistols.
Same with high expanding bullets I suppose. To be fair though, I don't ever point a gun at something I don't intend on harming.
Used to be more difficult to defend oneself if you used a "dum-dum" bullet. Old term for a hollow point. So now, current marketing helps. Hornady's "Critical Defense " - "Critical Duty " show an affinity between protection and law enforcement. There are others that list their ammunition the same way, for defensive purposes. It has been proven to be effective in jury trials, that the wording, that promotion was for defensive purposes. The product was used for such a purpose, etc., etc.. It's up to the lawyers, but it makes a difference it seems. Now, the DRT ammunition Well Seasoned mentioned, I like what I've seen so far. But a prosecutor would label DRT as -"Dead Right There", even though that is not the manufacturers name. So that has to be weighed if you want to use it. If you own property and a backhoe, I wouldn't worry so much....
Our state is pretty good about allowing you to defend your home. DRT could stand for Dad's Rat Tickler as well.
In the winter, it still makes me wonder, who the h*** would want to pursue the robbery/ intent with that much clothing at -10 but then again we’ll understand theres not much limit to that... haha don’t do that.
Sellier and Bellot ammo is pretty good stuff. If I recall correctly, they are the largest ammo manufactory in the world. In my opinion, the Blazer ammo is just good for plinking or non serious practice. I have never used steel cartridges! I have some Hornady hollow points in a home defense CZ 75 but pray to God that I am never faced with using them!
I went with acquiring a pretty steady collection of the S&B at the store in Fife. Great price for the membership, paid off and then some. I could tell that the ammo was very good quality from feeling the brass. But need to still shoot it. Now....9mm is just *gone*. It’s very hard to find just plinker ammo. I saw some Hornady Self Defense in a gun box for a somewhat reasonable price considering the regular price for each single box added up quick so it was like getting a box for free, cost wise. Now I sorta did an unthinkable for me: I ordered bulk ammo online. YES. I’m thinking “why do this, it costs a lot and I’m not seeing it in front of me” Then I did a bit of math and the nominal costs for quality ammo, yada yada not to mention the driving and whatnot to these stores just to find ammo. Turns out, It works pretty well from a numbers perspective, even factoring in the shipping and the cost evened out. I had bought 1000 rounds of 9 mm and another 1000 of some rifle ammo. Call me a bit of an ammo hoarder but since this stuff isn’t staying on shelves, I’ve picked this option for now because it’s getting quite ridiculous trying to find it.
