your 9mm defensive load recommendations...

[The-Fly]

Any of the major brands in 124gr or bigger is fine. My preferred load is Federal HST 147gr

 

[kmrcstintn]

update~what I fired~what worked & what is questionable

earlier today I took my Beretta to a local indoor range for its initial break-in session; Beretta 92D Centurion, 2 factory hi-caps, 2 Mec-Gar commercial hicaps, 1 older Beretta military contract hi-cap mag, 1 older Mec-Gar gray parkerized ?military? hi-cap mag;

I shot 100 rounds of PMC Eldorado Starfire 124gr 9mm from a modest supply I have; I shot 100 rounds of Federal HST 124gr 9mm +p; I shot a partial box 32 rounds) of Wolf 115gr fmj 9mm; I shot 50 rounds of CCI Blazer Brass 115gr fmj 9mm~total of 282 rounds

I shot all the hollowpoints first to check functioning, recoil, muzzle flash, audible report, and accuracy at 7 and 10 yards; all 100 rounds of the PMC El Dorado Starfire functioned well and accuracy was as good as I was able to shoot; muzzle flash was a bit more than the Federal HST; recoil and audible report were a bit less than the Federal HST;

I had 1 stovepipe jam for the entire session that occurred with the Federal HST~~here's my concern...1 ftf out of 282 isn't bad, but the Federals were involved with several ftf's with the Beretta 9000S that preceeded my new 92D (the 9000S was sent back to Beretta USA; they replaced the extractor and test fired 84 rounds of their testing fmj's without a reoccurance; I shot it when I got it back and the Federal HST's were involved in 2 more ftf's; I traded that Beretta to get a Ruger SP101)...I'm hoping that it is only this batch of HST's since they are accurate and have low muzzle flash which is good for low light firing

for now, I'll rely on the PMC Starfires until I can get a few boxes of my old standby~Winchester WWB Personal Defense 147gr jhp to test in the new Beretta; I'm still leaning toward Speer Gold Dot 124gr +p, but I am having trouble getting a lead on 50 round boxes (the local shops have a hard time keeping this load on the shelves and they have a premium price for the 20 round boxes)

 

[Blimp Captain]

I'm don't know much about ballistics but do different weights generally work better for different barrel lengths? Different weights for compact versus service size pistols. For those that own both 9mm pistols and 9mm carbines (rifles), do you shoot the exact same bullets through both of them, assuming reliability isn't an issue. Do people use lighter bullets in longer barrels and heavier in shorter, or vise-versa? I would like to find one kind of ammo that I can stock for both and is reasonable priced.

 

[skers69]

After much testing in my PCR I use Speer Gold Dot 124 grain regular power..no +p for me thanks.

 

[3 gun]

A poll won't tell you how well your pistol will handle the different loads. Any modern load will do its part if you can do yours. Buy a box of each and try them in your pistol. Don't forget to try them in low light also. Give the edge to the load/s that run 100%. A 1/2 inch difference in group size is much less important. I've found my CZ and S2k both do GREAT with the 124+p Gold Dots. Neither did badly with any load tested.

 

[waynedm]

147 grain

 

[pinotguy]

Actually, my vote goes for the new Barnes XPB in 125-gr. I'd use this over Vihta Vuori 3N37 or 3N38. I'd love to see this combo for a 9x23 Winchester load. My guess is that this would come close to replicating the Corbon DPX offering - but would be cheaper.