hornady ammo

[Full Metal Jacket]

^^yep. good post

 

[mhodge]

How many of you reload your own? I have no problem with my handloaded PD rounds. I won't knock factory loads, but I have had a few FTF's and I need it to go bang every time with a CCW.

 

[Full Metal Jacket]

you shouldn't carry reloads. use factory.

 

[chris101973]

I have yet to hear back from hornady I emailed them yesterday afternoon I will give them a few days before I call. You would think they would jump on this and want to know lot # to make sure a bunch didn't make it out the door.

 

[DustyVermonter]

That sux, I carry Hornady TAP and Critical Defense FTX and now after reading this post all I can associate FTX with is Fail to Expand.

It just bothers me to think that within the few pieces in my carry rotation there could be a fail to -----.

I like the Hornady because the price is right and will probably not dismiss Hornady just based on this thread but I have been interested in stocking Winchester Silver Tips and Winchester Ranger Talon's.

Also, just as a side note, I was reading an article a while back that really turned me away from Federal Hydra-shok's.

Long story short an 75 year old retired Marine was in a restuarant during a hold-up and was marched into a back room and knelt down execution style, and with the quickness pulled his CCW(which happenned to be a 5" 1911) and he struck one of the guys in the head and killed him, but the other man he shot took 3 .45acp 230gr Federal Hydra-Shok's in the chest at point blank range and was able to run 10 blocks until police finally caught up with him.

I know that stranger things have happenned and I don't always put too much stock into these stories, but the man had expressed his disappointment with his choice in carry ammo at the end of the article and I don't blame him, if I put 1 or 2 230gr 45 caliber bullets in someones chest at PBR, and that someone isn't incapacitated or dead by the time they reach the door, I too would feel indignant as a consumer.

The man switched to Gold Dot's or Golden Saber's or something, but everytime I see a box of Hydra-Shoks I think of that article.

I think I'm gonna try my luck with Winchester Silver Tips, anybody have anything bad to say about those?

I think ill stock my .45 and 10mm with Silver Tips and Ranger Talons for my 9mm and .38.

 

[Just One Shot]

I know that stranger things have happenned and I don't always put too much stock into these stories, but the man had expressed his disappointment with his choice in carry ammo at the end of the article and I don't blame him, if I put 1 or 2 230gr 45 caliber bullets in someones chest at PBR, and that someone isn't incapacitated or dead by the time they reach the door, I too would feel indignant as a consumer.

The man switched to Gold Dot's or Golden Saber's or something, but everytime I see a box of Hydra-Shoks I think of that article.

I think I'm gonna try my luck with Winchester Silver Tips, anybody have anything bad to say about those?

I think ill stock my .45 and 10mm with Silver Tips and Ranger Talons for my 9mm and .38.

Just another example of shot placement being more important than caliber. There are many examples of people being shot and being under the influence of some drug or having a major adrenaline dump and they were able to keep functioning.

But this could happen even if a person is shot through the heart. Have you ever seen a deer that was hit through the heart run 40-50 yards before crashing?

I remember reading somewhere that back in the old west days of shootouts there was a saying "I'll have my 10" meaning even if a fatal shot is recieved they would still be able to function for 10 seconds. Do you know how many rounds a person can discharge in 10 seconds? This is why when faced with a life or death situation you shoot until the threat stops.

 

[DustyVermonter]

I have always been under the impression that the head is the best place to aim and shoot an attacker, that way you should only have to waste one bullet per threat.

In the event 3 or 4 more attackers pile out of the car and come in to excecute you, you want all the firepower you can possibly have.

When the SHTF, you don't get a second to catch your breath and get your sxxx together, so all the trivial things that everybody else may think is rediculous to train for may come in very handy one day and save lives.

 

[hometheaterman]

I'm not at all anti Hornady, and infact, I really like their rifle ammo. It's some of my favorite, and their SST bullets are just flat out amazing imo. However, I see no reason to use their pistol loads for self defense when any issues are being reported. Winchester Ranger T series, Speer Gold Dots, and Federal HST's are all great self defense loads, and I see no reason to use the Hornady's over any of them even if the Hornady's aren't having issues.

 

[ET]

The failure to fire is a very bad problem however the top link the guy that posted the OP found that when shot in a longer barreled gun they expanded like they were suposed to. The pics posted above were out of a snubby 2". He later fired them out of a 4" and they expanded properly. Dont know why they would need a longer barrel to work properly. Maybe it has to do with the extra 2" of rifleing causing it to spin at a quicker rate. Who knows. Untill they work out the glitches i'll still use their TAP ammo. Never had a problem there.

__________________


The longer the barrel the faster the bullet & the faster the spin. Hollow points do better when they go faster and spin more.

I like the critical defense & the Hornadys that don't have the red plug. I can find an article or test that shows anything on the internet. I mean really...Did you know that there is solid proof that God is dead? Yep! It's right there on the internet.

 

[WV_Vizsla]

Critical Defence does what it should

I tested the Critical Defense (red plug) and the older and still produced Custom last year in ballistic gelatin. Both did what you would think they should. CritD left a little longer and wider channel in a few spots, plus little red dots along the way.

The goal beyond marketing of CritD was adding the plug for jacket/shirt penetration. AND a reduced flash like the TAP. In that regard: From a 3" barrel, flash seems about the same as Custom and WSF handloads.
4" barrel did seem a little less flash with the CritD to the research staff I had watching.

PS: Fully willing to conduct extensive research if the funding is right. 100+ rounds was enough to have confidence in the Hornady product.

 

[ET]

Good job!

Critical Defence does what it should

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I tested the Critical Defense (red plug) and the older and still produced Custom last year in ballistic gelatin. Both did what you would think they should. CritD left a little longer and wider channel in a few spots, plus little red dots along the way.

The goal beyond marketing of CritD was adding the plug for jacket/shirt penetration. AND a reduced flash like the TAP. In that regard: From a 3" barrel, flash seems about the same as Custom and WSF handloads.
4" barrel did seem a little less flash with the CritD to the research staff I had watching.

PS: Fully willing to conduct extensive research if the funding is right. 100+ rounds was enough to have confidence in the Hornady product.

Thank you. It's good that SOMEBODY will test the ammo before making a judgement on it's effectiveness. (OK, I don't do this either. I just shoot it into paper and assume it expanded.)

 

[gofastman]

I have always been under the impression that the head is the best place to aim and shoot an attacker, that way you should only have to waste one bullet per threat.

In the event 3 or 4 more attackers pile out of the car and come in to excecute you, you want all the firepower you can possibly have.

one's ocular cavity is quite a bit smaller than the thoracic cavity.

but the man had expressed his disappointment with his choice in carry ammo at the end of the article and I don't blame him

so he took two people's lives and expressed disappointment at his ammo choice? psycho


Anyway back to the OP, if you had FTF in a properly working gun, i would stay FAR away from that ammo, pick one of the ones mentioned in post #25.

 

[the_skunk]

I had 16 misfires out of a box of 25 .... primer had to be hit twice. Then I fired Winchester 32s, and Speer 32s, etc and they all worked. Obviously a hard primer on a sensitive Seecamp.

So I saved $4 on ammo and spent $75 checking the guns reliability. Maybe a mugger will undertand if I tell him - "Let me reload, this clip has cheap bullets"

 

[randytrapper]

This is why I went with Win Rangers in a 50 round box. They are inexpensive enough to practice with. Not that the 'marketed' defence ammo is not good. But I can't spend $1.00+ a round on ammo.
I would never fire enough 'defence' ammo to find out if there 'could' be a issue with it. Granted, any ammo could have a problem. But I just fired enough Rangers to trust my life to them.

 

[KimberUltra]

Ive shot the Critical Defense through my Ultra Carry .45. No issues at all. My 1911 doesn't like gold dots or golden sabres. I was looking for something with more of a point to it and the CD is perfect. No issues yet.

 

[unclenunzie]

I have tested Hornady CD in .380 and .357, no issues at all for the lot #s I got. But I had significant fail to fire issues with the .38 special variety, all from one lot. It was a while ago but I distinctly remember 9 of 25 rounds needed multiple strikes from a single box (fired from an SP101). Hornady replaced the ammo and the new lot tested OK....... but still, I can't recall a single other brand of premium defense ammo having failed to fire. Personally I think they must have gotten a bad batch of small pistol primers back in the ammo shortage period post November 2008. They should have tested them rather than allow them to go to customers, in my opinion. Of course I have no idea if they did or didn't test them or if such testing hits primers harder or in some way differs from real-world weapons.

Ultimately this is the reason for testing ammo prior to depending on it for anything serious.