Good weight bullet for 3" 9mm

[Brian]

I'm carrying 147 grain, but am rethinking this.

124 +p?

It's for a Springfield Armory XD 9mm subcompact.

 

[Steve C]

I have a Walther P38K with a 3" and the full size P1 with aprox. 5" barrel. I loose about 100 to 125 fps from the shorter barrel with ammo I've chrono'd. This reduces the 147gr bullet around 800 fps. I decided to stick with lighter bullets for times when they're loaded and ready for a potential self defense situation. IMO the 147gr JHP is marginalized too much with the decreased velocity.

 

[mec]

I was completely happy with these. expanded in beef brisket and caught in water bottles.

 

[TT]

Brassfetcher has an interesting test of Remington’s 147 grain Golden Saber out of a 2.9” barrel:

http://www.brassfetcher.com/index_files/Page2449.htm

Executive summary: .541” expansion, 14.5” penetration.

 

[The Bushmaster]

Any of the 124 grain HPs...I would even give 115 grain HPs a look, but not the 147 grain...NEVER.

 

[easyg]

I use 115g Hornady Critical Defense.

I hope I never need to discover just how effective it really is.

 

[Erich]

Certainly depends on the gun, of course. I use Speer's new-ish short barrel 124-gr +P Gold Dots in my 3" RAMI (from which they do 1185 fps). It is probably worth seeking out the short barrel loading, as the regular +P loading ran just a bit over 1100 fps from this gun.

 

[NG VI]

Federal HST 147+P for the win. Works very well, better than the lighter bullets, and in short barrels heavier bullets lose less velocity than lighter, faster bullets, as a straight number and as a proportion of their intended velocity. HST is a great expander, fairly deep pentetrator, and is extremely consistent. It also works better through auto glass than any other non-bonded bullet. Look up the ATK law enforcement workshops, they put it up against the Gold Dot and occasionally some other bullets as well.