Ikarus1
Avtomat Krishna-kov
Gold Dots are the only ones that I can reload for practice, and then carry the factory version for Massad Ayoob's approval lest I shoot someone with my bad bad reloads (which look identical to factory GD+p)
What's your 9mm carry ammo?
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thrillhill
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Took me a few decades to get there, but I am there.
I KNOW that animals aren't people.
But after autopsying probably hundreds and hundreds of animals, dispatching several that were wounded or sick and dying, and my time working EMS, I have come to accept that the handgun by and large is significantly less capable than I had thought.
My order of priorities, or what I am hoping to be able to accomplish when picking a round, has changed.
First and foremost I want hits.
Second most important capability that I desire is penetration. I want to be able to break bone. I want two holes. I don't hang out in shopping malls and my kids are all shorter than me.
Low flash propellants don't hurt my feelings. Neither does some expansion and temporary wound cavities. But they are icing on the cake. Side benefits.
I have mostly dropped hollow points from my revolver carry ammo. Most days you'll find semi-wadcutters or semi-jacketed FLAT points in my wheel guns.
To the question at hand, my 9mms have Federal HST 124gr +P in them right now. Mostly because I have a LOT of it and I'm lazy. And they will probably be fine for people. Animals? Not so much. A couple of weeks ago my wife shot a snapping turtle trying to kill one of our turkeys. She shot it with my Sig Legion 226 which resides on the nightstand. She shot it 4 times and walked away, assuming it was dead. Neighbor came by 3 hours later and prodded it with his foot. Snapping turtle was still alive, took several steps, and tried to bite him. She had to pump 3 more rounds of HST into him. That sucks. Now, snapping turtles are tough for sure, but 7 rounds sucks.
And take my word for this, that is not an indictment of the round, or in my experience the caliber, but handguns in general. They don't really do all that we think they do.
At the end of the day, my way of thinking in the semi-auto realm is to buy any "top shelf" round from a reputable manufacturer, make darn sure it will feed reliably, shoot to point of aim, and make sure you are skilled enough to land multiple hits if need be.
Handguns have been such a letdown to me capability-wise I hardly think my choice of projectile matters a whole lot. Hits, plenty of them, and hope I am penetrating.
Right on all counts. Remember Placement+Penetration. ALL that matters.
OP
Another thing to consider is to "work the column" from the belly button to the the top of the chest. Tight groups look great on paper but bullets going through tissue that was just damaged by the previous round aren't doing as much damage as ones that are creating their own wound channel.
Clint Smith from YT.....How many times do you shoot them?...All ya got.
I carry HST but in the end shot placement is key so I wouldn't feel undergunned with anything that can punch holes. Focus on being able to hit what you want rather than the bullet.
If you can't put 10 shots into an 8 inch circle at 10yrds in 10 seconds your energy would be better served focusing on proficiency than bullets.
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If you can't put 10 shots into an 8 inch circle at 10yrds in 10 seconds your energy would be better served focusing on proficiency than bullets.
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Preach Brother, preach it. Zachary Right!!!!
I need to practice more and get better, but the more I read the more I think head shots are the key. That way the ammo choice isn't likely to be quite as crucial. Several holes opened up in the cranium somewhere or in the face ought to slow down the problem. Or at least make the problem think twice.
Eh, yes and no. The benefit to a tight shot group, is that first round or 2 could weaken/destroy the bone structure allowing te next rounds to penatrate vitals.
Head is better protected than it appears. It also has a tendency to move a lot. Nothing wrong with ventilating the large COM which is much easier and doesn't move as much as the head.
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OP
I understand where you're coming from, but if I don't trust my carry ammo to penetrate as it should I need to change what's in my magazine. With that being said I think we all agree the most important thing is making sure we hit our target where we intend to.
TripleO7
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Stopping power, shot placement, the age old issues.
A tad off topic, but I recall reading an article a few months ago about the world record grizzly(?) bear taken with a .22...can't recall but it wasn't LR. It was a native woman in Canada IIRC. A well known markswoman. She was hunting small game and tried to avoid the bear and when it became obvious the bear wasn't going to leave her and her partner alone so she shot it. Between the eye socket and the ear opening. She knew from butchering where the weakest point in the skull is. When she approached she put a few more in it to be sure. Record still stands to this day. WITH A .22!
Fast forward several decades, I recently read an article showing that a bear a hunter harvested had a .45 bullet under its skin between the eyes! The bullet traveled after it penetrated the hide but not the skull. Who knows how long it had been there. Go figure!
A tad off topic, but I recall reading an article a few months ago about the world record grizzly(?) bear taken with a .22...can't recall but it wasn't LR. It was a native woman in Canada IIRC. A well known markswoman. She was hunting small game and tried to avoid the bear and when it became obvious the bear wasn't going to leave her and her partner alone so she shot it. Between the eye socket and the ear opening. She knew from butchering where the weakest point in the skull is. When she approached she put a few more in it to be sure. Record still stands to this day. WITH A .22!
Fast forward several decades, I recently read an article showing that a bear a hunter harvested had a .45 bullet under its skin between the eyes! The bullet traveled after it penetrated the hide but not the skull. Who knows how long it had been there. Go figure!
For the past 30 years Ken Hackathorn tells that his experience has been that no matter how bad a bad guy is, if you shoot him in the face he WILL reassess his situation in life. This from a man who has "seen the elephant" on several occasions. It is vitally important to take advice from people who have shot other people. Their outlook varies greatly from writers with only "opinions".
Jeppo
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Where do you think my comment about the 10yd/10rd/10sec came from..LOL!
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LOL guess I should have realized that. I have known people to do the alternating HP/FMJ thing though.
TripleO7
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I hear that from time to time too. Why?
I get it in some situations, like walking in the woods, or in my case working in the yard. Between snakes and my neighbors vicious dog and short fence, I carry a .38 special revolver with the first two rounds being CCI shot shells, the last three SJHP. I really wouldn't want to kill the dog, but that one is a known biter and just straight up mean and the neighbor does nothing to curb it's behavior. If it came down to it, I would hope the bird shot would slow it down and I could get away.
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I do exactly the same except the first three are bird shot and I try to carry a couple speed strips. The neighbor's dog does everything he can to get over the fence. 
Carefull with that damn stuff. I killed my wife's prized Mallard at a measured 45 yards with 38 special shotshell. ONE pellet hit him in the head. ONE!!!!
OP
Does she know that or did the fox get him?
Fox????? Damn, where were you when I NEEDED you???
While not a 9mm, I do carry some shot in the 44 Magnum I tote around when on the farm or when out in the woods. I generally only load one shot round as the first to be fired because the recoil of a full power bullet load can pull the shot capsule of one unfired in the cylinder out enough to lock up the revolver. If I need to shoot a bullet, the shot round gets fired first.
I carry whatever ammo I happen to have on hand that works whenever I carry a 9mm. Most of my carry handguns are either 38 Special, 380, or 45 Auto. They generally are loaded with ball ammo because that is what I shoot the most.
I carry whatever ammo I happen to have on hand that works whenever I carry a 9mm. Most of my carry handguns are either 38 Special, 380, or 45 Auto. They generally are loaded with ball ammo because that is what I shoot the most.
