UMC 115gr jhp 9mm use for ccw

I’d carry it. I can pretty much make up a test to show one round is dramatically superior.

And change a few criteria to prove it’s the worst round possible.

No matter who it’s made by. It’s a 115..124...or 147 gr chunk of lead and copper. It pokes holes in things. Sometimes expands.

I have a bunch of the Federal 115 “RCMP” rounds. XM9001. Kind of a plus P. I’d carry it without worry.

The Rem/UMC 115 gr JHP and the Federal 115 gr JHP (9BP) tend to work well in older guns like early P225/P6 that were intended for normal profile FMJ only. I have found the Rem/UMC usually a bit flashier than the Federal. I also like the Rem/UMC +P and the Federal +P+ (9BPLE) versions of the same loads.

Wouldn't hesitate for a second to use that ammunition for self defense. I believe many people rely to much on gel tests and what kind of clothing the subject is wearing, among other things, when selecting a self defense round. Sure, that kind of information is useful, to an extent, but a 115 gr or 147 gr 9mm to the head or center mass will probably neutralize the threat. More so if you believe you are going to use more than one round.

Carry the firearm and ammunition that your confident and comfortable with.

I have hand loaded a lot of Remington 115gr JHP's over the years, the same copper jacketed lead core bullet used in their UMC and standard Remington ammo and have shot factory ammo when I found it on sale. My handloads are generally higher velocity than the standard UMC and Remington brand. If you watch several of the Youtube "test" videos the velocity of this ammo is usually between 1,000 to 1,100 fps shot from pistols will full length service barrels. To get reliable expansion from these old style bullets you generally need over 1000 fps at the muzzle.

I load the UMC 115 JHP's in my Walther P1 on some occasions .for self defense because it is not hard on the old pistol with its modest but adequate velocity and it makes a decent self defense load. Use it in a handgun with long enough barrel that will deliver adequate velocity. I would not use it in a compact 3" barrel 9mm because the velocity would be too low for reliable performance.

I like Paul Harrell's non recommendation - recommendation.

So do the latest and greatest relegate all prior ammo to the “that no longer works” pile?

Ammo that efficiently worked for decades stops working because a new bullet was developed?

I guess some writers or video “experts” would have you believe that, but common sense says it just ain’t so.

I've kept that stuff in my PF9 for years at a time, and it's still in my Ruger P95 bedside gun. I trust it.

The PF9 now has Winchester "Defend" 115-grain JHP in it just because that was the next "affordable self-defense" round I found available when I bought it, maybe two years ago. It was priced about the same as the UMC stuff.

I think the UMC 88-grain JHP in .380 is what's in my Bersa Thunder, somewhere in the safe.

I carry Remington Green and White box UMC jhp in my 45acp and 38+p.
I am accuracy testing Precision One Ammunition 38 special 125 grain xtp defense loads. I can't find the UMC loads right now.
The Precision One Ammunition is loaded locally in Mount Pleasant SC and seems to be decent ammo.

Yep bought several 100 round boxes from Walmart before they quit selling such stuff.

I think the marginal difference between that stuff or Winchester/Federal white box JHP versus the premium stuff, for civilian concealed carry use, is minimal at best.

^ I use WWB jhp in my .40 guns.

Generic JHP? Yeah, I'd probably carry it just fine.

UMC? No. I've had way to many issues with UMC ammo before I started loading my own to trust it.

Though, I suppose I'd have to give it another chance since I haven't shot any in like 8 years.

Kind of throwing my hands in the air ...no offense

These days, I carry premiums that were expen$sive when I got them. Unobtanium now. If I didn't have them, I'd pretty much carry what I could find available. If it were FMJ range ammo and the only thing I could fire, I'd carry it and practice practice practice.

Smallbore, I get the question. There's a lot of them. But if somebody asked if I'd carry HSTs, "h@ll yeah!" Can I get them? H@ll no! If you can find JHPs, sure, why not? Might they be the "best?" Maybe, most likely not. Are they better than throwing rocks? ...
Due diligence, best choice of what's out there. At least for now ... Hopefully in a few months we'll be hotly debating ABC Explosive nose vs XYZ lightweight ultra speed. Until then, "shopkeeper, whatcha got?"

-jb, waiting with little patience

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I have carried Rem 9mm 115gr HP for self-defense in my Sig P250SC. They are accurate and never had a round not go off, FTF, FTE, etc. The only suggestion I can make to the OP is to try a couple boxes (if you can find it during this [blank] pandemic) to make sure you get acceptable results in your firearm.

Test accuracy and reliability first and always with any new carry ammo. If it passes those, HP ammo is HP ammo. Especially during these times when you carry what you have/can find.

It always functioned in my Taurus G2 , 19 & SD9VE
perfectly .. I carry it in my G2 .. no qualms

While I don't doubt a hollowpoint design is probably a better choice, I would be comfortable with the FMJ for carry. God forbid, but whether on the giving or receiving end, I doubt anyone that has ever been involved in a shooting wondered what kind of bullets were headed their way.

There is no magic bullet. If it works well in your gun and is reasonably accurate I'd feel confident in using it.

herrwalther said:

Test accuracy and reliability first and always with any new carry ammo. If it passes those, HP ammo is HP ammo. Especially during these times when you carry what you have/can find.

Click to expand...

That was my conclusion as well, when you pay 30cents a round it’s less painful to test function more throughly.

The other thing people don't think about when buying cheap JHPs is flash. Touch off a few when it's dark and see if the flash blinds you.

I've seen quality JHPs (Winchester Silvertips*) have flash so bright that it was like looking at a camera flash. My normal carry JHPs have a dull orange ball of flame that isn't very noticeable.

You don't have to pay $1/ea for good JHPs. My stash right now is from a case of Federal 9BPLE +P+ 115gr JHPs that I got for around $0.35/ea shipped. It's an older load that isn't necessarily the best for shooting though car windshields and suchlike but I don't expect to need to do that any time soon.

I'm not wedded to any particular brand but for pistol ammo I tend towards light and fast. In 9mmP in particular a lot of American made ammo is loaded light so as not to blow up granny's 9mm Hi-Point copy she got during the war. I don't own any antiques in 9mmP so it's +P or +P+ for me.

I have a list** of ammo I trust and if I'm low I'll be on the look out for those loads. Right now is a bad time to try to be buying anything gun related. Luckygunner Labs is a good resource for narrowing down what is suitable for you. You can sort by penetration, expansion, or velocity: https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/self-defense-ammo-ballistic-tests/#9mm

BSW

*Yeah, I know Winchester and quality don't necessarily go together. They were sold for a quality ammunition price.
**The aforementioned Federal 9BPLE, Remington 115gr +P, Speer Gold Dot 124gr +P, Corbon 115gr +P. Winchester has a 30 year history of disappointing me so they are right out.

The REMINGTON 9.m. 115 grain jhp ammo is a mixed bag. The negative is that expansion is small. Check the LUCKYGUNNER Ammo Labs site for results. Even the +P ammo does not expand a lot.
However, this ammo was always a bargain and it worked in nearly every gun that I tried. The one exception is a SIG P-6, only ball (fmj) and COR BON Powerball work in that gun.
I used to buy the 100 round boxes of this load and use them as range ammo when I did not have some fmj. I would carry this load in my my larger 9m.m. pistols like the BERETTA 92, GLOCK 17 and SIG 226, where the longer barrel gives this ammo a little extra velocity, but my first choice is FEDERAL HST 124 grain jhp.
Because this is among the most reliable feeding hollow point ammo that I have come across, I would use it when breaking in and testing a new 9m.m. pistol. I would start with 100 rounds of fmj, then the REMINGTON 115 grain jhp and finally the FEDERAL HST which is my normal carry ammo for my own guns.

As either range ammo and carry ammo when you cannot get premium ammo, it will do, just not as well as a premium round.

Jim

golden said:

The REMINGTON 9.m. 115 grain jhp ammo is a mixed bag. The negative is that expansion is small. Check the LUCKYGUNNER Ammo Labs site for results. Even the +P ammo does not expand a lot.
However, this ammo was always a bargain and it worked in nearly every gun that I tried. The one exception is a SIG P-6, only ball (fmj) and COR BON Powerball work in that gun.
I used to buy the 100 round boxes of this load and use them as range ammo when I did not have some fmj. I would carry this load in my my larger 9m.m. pistols like the BERETTA 92, GLOCK 17 and SIG 226, where the longer barrel gives this ammo a little extra velocity, but my first choice is FEDERAL HST 124 grain jhp.
Because this is among the most reliable feeding hollow point ammo that I have come across, I would use it when breaking in and testing a new 9m.m. pistol. I would start with 100 rounds of fmj, then the REMINGTON 115 grain jhp and finally the FEDERAL HST which is my normal carry ammo for my own guns.

As either range ammo and carry ammo when you cannot get premium ammo, it will do, just not as well as a premium round.

Jim

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I've done something similar in .40 S&W. The Federal 155gr JHPs are only a little more* than FMJs in that caliber so I'd buy a case and just shoot those instead of buying both FMJs and JHPs. I was splitting case lots of ammo with some buddies from work since I don't shoot .40 enough to really justify having a thousand rounds hanging out that would take me 5 years to run through.

BSW

*In the Before Times... Haven't bought any ammo in about a year except some .380 ACP for a new pistol I bought. Took months to find decent JHPs in stock and the price was high.

We all love to geek out on this stuff and nitpick, but in the real world, there is so little difference in actual effectiveness, shot placement and repeated hits are going to have far more to do with effectiveness than what type of hollow-point it is.

My wife started carrying during Obama Panic I, and for a year, all that was available was my 115 gr plated lead reloads. Ideal? No. Far better than nothing? Absolutely.