Do you change your SD ammo during winter months?

[FL-NC]

Seems interesting on the surface, but I have never heard of a police dept. in a place like Minnesota having "seasonal ammo". I would sooner find out what rounds the northern LE people use and just carry them year round. in reality, I just wouldn't worry.

 

[JR24]

Nope, I find a load I like and carry it year round. Currently my favorite is HST in any caliber.

I will occasionally change my carry gun in the winter to something bigger (Glock 21 or 1911) mostly because I don't get so danged hot with a decent cover garment in the winter.

 

[Confederate]

Absolutely, I change my ammo. I use a light blue nose Hydra-Shok .38 Special during summer months, but 110gr +P JHPs in the winter. My gun is a stainless 5-shot Rossi with a 3-inch barrel. The latter was used a number of years ago by a friend of mine who was a Treasury agent. He said they used it all year round and they had good results with it. When he switched to a .40 S&W auto, he gave me a couple of boxes of his old ammo, so I still have some. But yes, when people don heavy coats, you usually need something that penetrates a little better. If you're using a .357 Magnum or a 9mm or higher, you probably won't need different ammo. But when using .38 or lesser, yeah, I'd change it. And if you use less than 125gr in a .357, you'll need to bump it to 125gr. If you use 110gr, it'll break up in heavy clothing.

 

[Darkstar888]

HST 124g all year round.

 

[Paladin7]

Yes, I do. When I carry in the summer, I go 9mm with appropriate 124 gr hollow points. During the winter months, I carry a 44 Special Revolver loaded with 200 gr Speer Gold Dots. Reason for this is, I need a round that will penetrate heavy winter clothing and not have any issues with expansion. These rounds do not need to expand much to be effective. You would be surprised to see how a 9mm hollow point does after hitting a few layers of heavy clothing vs the 44.

 

[aarondhgraham]

Having a round the functions 100% in your firearm is more important than any incremental improvement in terminal ballistics, IMHO.

^^^ this ^^^

I carry a small semi in either 9mm or .380,,,
I'm more concerned with penetration than expansion.

I carry ball ammo that I am positive will feed in my guns,,,
So no, I don't change with the seasons.

In my not-so humble opinion,,,
This is overthinking a problem that isn't there.

Aarond

.

 

[Malamute]

Yes, I do. When I carry in the summer, I go 9mm with appropriate 124 gr hollow points. During the winter months, I carry a 44 Special Revolver loaded with 200 gr Speer Gold Dots. Reason for this is, I need a round that will penetrate heavy winter clothing and not have any issues with expansion. These rounds do not need to expand much to be effective. You would be surprised to see how a 9mm hollow point does after hitting a few layers of heavy clothing vs the 44.

What do they do? Is the effect universal in all 9mm hollow point loads?

 

[Warp]

Yes, I do. When I carry in the summer, I go 9mm with appropriate 124 gr hollow points. During the winter months, I carry a 44 Special Revolver loaded with 200 gr Speer Gold Dots. Reason for this is, I need a round that will penetrate heavy winter clothing and not have any issues with expansion. These rounds do not need to expand much to be effective. You would be surprised to see how a 9mm hollow point does after hitting a few layers of heavy clothing vs the 44.

I would not be surprised, because that is the exact purpose of the denim layers in a ballistics test such as done by the FBI.

And of course we have decades of street results from 9mm in cold weather, such as the IL state police using 9PPLE

 

[Paladin7]

What do they do? Is the effect universal in all 9mm hollow point loads?

Of course all 9mm loads do not perform the same, haha, but a bigger heavier slug that doesn't need to expand to reach maximum effectiveness, is what I'm personally comfortable carrying during the winter, due to my own threat assessment . I'm fully aware of the FBI Testing Protocol for Cold Weather effectiveness, but choose to carry what I do because where I find myself needing to carry a pistol, people are generally wearing a lot of heavy clothing, and there is a problem with Meth...upstate NY in the winter. I don't want to take chances YMMV... Is my opinion a problem for you? I'm pretty sure you are entitled to your own...