What's your favorite Brand of 9mm JHP?

Which is your Favorite?

  • Speer/Gold Dot

    Votes: 52 34.0%
  • Remington

    Votes: 10 6.5%
  • Winchester

    Votes: 18 11.8%
  • Federal

    Votes: 53 34.6%
  • Other

    Votes: 20 13.1%

  • Total voters
    153
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Federal Tactical HST

Anything less than this kind of expansion, weight retention and penetration is just plain inferior:
hsttacticalle40it0.gif
 
Anyway I'm looking to buy the baddest jhp for my 9mm house and carry guns. I'm leaning towards Gold Dot, just because of the reputation. Any suggestions or insight would be appreciated.

The fact is they are all good. There is no magic bullet. My criteria is reliable functioning (hard to find a quality semi-auto pistol that doesn't feed everything now) and accuracy. Any 147 gr bullet is more accurate in my S&W or Taurus, my Glock 26 likes Silvertip, and Glock 17 Gold Dot.

I don't base my ammo selection on manufacturers ads or claims, what expands well in phonebooks, sand, water jugs, gelatin, etc, or the results of the tests that Joe and Charlie did down at the gravel pit between beers.

Any quality ammo you listed (and a lot more will do the job).
 
Federal Hydra-Shock outdated???

Don't know about that. It runs better in more pistols than just about anything else. I use the 147 grain load. So far I haven't seen anyone that would volunteer to step in front of one of these!
 
It's the new generation of criminals that's willing to step in front of them...they've figured out how to reproduce from age 2, and have been breeding selectively to resist Hydrashok damage ever since Federal released them. It's like those damn pesticide-resistant bugs.

Headshots, whatnickname, headshots...
 
I carry Federal Hydra-Shock, and I believe that at the range you will be using those 9mm, a bit of bullet weight will not have a big effect on performance.
 
I'll definately have to check out Fed HST. Those results are impressive.

See that's one good thing with premium ammo, so many other people do the penetration/expansion test for you. So all you have to do is the function/accuracy test per gun. That's so nice.

Not that I'm am bad mouthing medicore jhps. But, lets be honest. They lack in quality control, design and emperical evidence of real world effectiveness. However with shot placement being the key as long as it goes bang is the important thing. A well placed fmj shot is better than a peripheral shot with a premium jhp.

By the way, thanks 23 Glock for the link, that was interesting. I appreciate everyones insight.
 
IIRC, Mas Ayoob highly recommends Speer 124 gr. GDHP +P. In my personal experience, they seem to feed more reliably than any other HP's in a wide variety of semi-auto's.
 
Try several brands

I usually use +P+ HYDRO SHOK in my 9m.m. pistols for defense. The reason is simple, I was issued quite a bit of it when my agency used 9m.m. handguns and it is both accurate and effective.

I have found that in most calibers, the HYDRO SHOK is one of the most accurate and effective rounds you can buy.

That said, when I run out, I will probably buy either WINCHESTER Ranger +P+ 127 grain bonded hollow points or FEDERAL HST +P+ ammo for my 9m.m. I have found that both can be bought in cheaply in bulk and either will work well enough and are completely reliable.

I only use 115 or 124 (the WINCHESTER is 127) grain +P+ for defense. The heavy 147 grain ammo has proven to be a poor choice in the 9m.m.
It lacks the velocity that the 115 and 124 grain +P+ 9m.m. and 155 grain .40 S&W rounds have. In their respective calibers, it is the high velocity ammo that has proven the most effective on the street.
It is the same for the .357 magnum.

I would not discount the white box ammo just yet. I have found the WINCHESTER white box ammo is of good quality. If I were choosing a standard velocity JHP 9m.m. ammo, I would be on my short list. It is fairly accurate (not up to the HYDRO SHOK or HST standard in my guns) and will expand. It is also cheap enough that you can practive with the same load that you carry. There is a lot to be said for that.

Jim
 
Short Barrel Gold Dot 357s (oops just noticed you specifically asked for 9mm - I just saw JHP)

Winchester Ranger 147gr Bonded 9mm

Rangers are excellent, but nothing magical. They are cheap and I like to shoot quite a bit with SD load before I trust it (with an auto)
 
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I tend to carry the WWB 147gr HPs, for the reasons that have alreayd been noted. Practicing with your carry ammo is important to ensure proper reliability of your carry package, and I just can't afford to burn up hundreds of HSTs per month.

I did run into a good deal on 147gr Speer GDs recently and stocked up on 600rds - I'll feel quite comfortable carrying those (assuming that they function well in my pistols) when I burn thru my Winchester stock.
 
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Rebernie,

Past 1-200 rounds out of the carry gun for initial reliability testing, why do you feel continued practice use of the carry round is necessary?

At practice ranges I can't tell a practical or perceived difference out of my gun between +P+ Hi-shok and WWB 115gr.

edit: and that's out of a tiny little Keltec P11! (~14 oz empty)
 
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I really doubt you need to shoot up hundreds of rounds of your carry ammo every month. a few boxes to make sure it aggrees with your pistol, and a box every so often just to be sure nothing has changed, otherwise shooting nothing but carry ammo is expensive.
 
Past 1-200 rounds out of the carry gun for initial reliability testing, why do you feel continued practice use of the carry round is necessary?
I don't shoot my carry ammo exclusively. But I also don't think that shooting 200 rds and then switching to practice ammo exclusively is a good idea, either.

I will normally run a few mags of my carry ammo thru my carry gun at each range session, either practicing one handed shooting or working on some other such thing - just to make sure that all is well. (I also won't carry a gun that I've cleaned and not shot to make sure that it still works, if that gives another view into my approach.)

I try to go shooting once a week. This means that I burn thru at least 100rds of carry ammo a month, and sometimes more. With some premium fodder costing more than $1/rd, that can get a mite expensive. Given the choice to shoot less carry ammo or carry less expensive ammo, I choose the latter approach.

There is no such thing as a magic bullet. Trying to optimize my skills will probably serve me better than trying to optimize my carry round.
 
Federal HST, Remington Golden Sabers, Speer Gold Dots, Winchester Ranger...

All perform well in my pistols and I have confidence that they'd do the job if called on.
 
Speer Gold Dot is by far the best, from all of the tests that I've seen. It's not the best in every test, but it consistently performs well.

That said, I carry 124gr. Goldensabers in my Sigs because I got a ton of it for $10/box on sale a while ago, which is half as much as I can find Gold Dot for.

I wouldn't use anything but Goldensaber, Ranger T, or Gold Dots.
 
bernie,

That's a fair and logical answer.

Me, I am content initially testing the ammo itself for reliability, then shooting the carried ammo (1-2 mags) every 3-6 months.

I also feel comfortable cycling snap caps to ensure function after field stripping, rather than live firing.

You know, now that I think about it though, it frankly seems to me that the generally-acknowledged higher quality control of premium ammo outweighs the ability to constantly retest middle-of-the-road ammo (Hey, WWB is no Wolf and I consider it better than UMC too).

I have had several dud WWB rounds and (from a smaller pool, admittedly) zero premium duds.
 
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