Hornady Critical Defense.....

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...to fire or not to fire....

Well, if I owned any guns...I'd be more concerned about the reports of failures-to-fire with the CD cartridges than I would be about the question about whether it expands better or worse than brand-X or whether it has enough velocity. There's a number of threads floating about on several of the gun forums reporting multiple failures-to-fire-per-box . Not the kinda thing one wants to hear about a Self-Defense cartridge, I would think.:confused:
 
I just bought a box of this to try in 2 guns as carry ammo.

I have the brass primers in my box. I'm a little irritated - as now I'll always be left "wondering.

Best case scenario - I'll just keep it in my extra mag I carry. But, now I'll be left wondering if I have a bad box like some on that Ar15 thread. You'll never know until its too late.
 
I've shot 4 boxes of Hornady CD(9 mm), 2 from Cabela's and 2 from a local shop. All, I think, had brass colored primers, at least the last 2 did for sure.

No malfunctions: No failures-to-fire or feed, no FTE.

Haven't checked each bullet to see if it expanded, so I can't address the "expands everytime" thing.
 
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I just ordered another box of hydrashok 124 gr online (I gave up trying to find it around here).

I'll just keep the CD ammo in my gunsafe with the rest of the extra. I don't have confidence in it right now I think - not because of the expansion, but because of the lack of discharge some people are reporting.
 
Hey shipwreck,

Instead of putting it up in the safe, why not take it to the range and shoot it. See for yourself how it works and let us know too.
 
I would, and I thought about it... And I was actually going to shoot 1/2 of it thru one of my guns to see how it worked (I've had different weight bullets sometimes shoot a little higher or lower than the gun is sighted, so I always look for that).

However, even if 24 of 25 worked, that doesn't tell me that the last one won't suffer from the failure to fire issue that they seem to be having. Or, that the next box won't suffer from this.

I guess I'd wait at least another year for these reports to go away and for the ammo to get more of a rep before I buy it again.

I was looking for something new to keep in my PM9. Guess this won't be it...

I like to keep extra ammo stashed. I think I'm better off just putting it away for a rainy day - as with shipping, it's not really worth trying to sell it to anyone online.
 
Usually a "Lot" of ammo will all act similarly. If 24 of 25 worked, odds are really good that 25 is good too. However, now all your ammo is gone. Buy more than one box from the same Lot; I prefer to buy a case.
 
On the failure to fire issue, it would be interesting to see (from those reporting such) just how many failures they have with some of the other ammo they've tried. Sometimes it the gun that's the problem.

Also on the expansion thing that someone posted a link to: Looks like the CD expanded just about as advertised. Even the Hornady XTP is not an overly large expander, especially when compared to some of the +p stuff. I've shot through pine boards with the CD and have gotten very nice expansion - now I'll admit that's not all-encompassing, scientific testing, but it's one test. Also works well through regular old dinner plates; in fact, one of the nicest expanded bullets I got (and a bit of a surprise to me) was one fired through a dinner plate followed by two pine boards (just touched and fell to the ground off the third board).
 
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I have been pleased with the Hornady critical defense in the little bit of "testing" I've done.
 
I fired off 10 9mm critical defense yesterday. with out a hitch. I cried a little due to the price I was sending down range, but all went bang.
 
As for the "FBI requirements", if a bullet over penetrates and hits innocent victims, the agent isn't going to get sued or likely go to jail. If it happens to us, we WILL.
Click to expand...

More rounds miss than over penetrate So miss or over penetrate still same result I stick to my DPX Corbon in all my carry calibers
 
Haven't checked each bullet to see if it expanded, so I can't address the "expands everytime" thing.
Click to expand...

I have recovered one non-expanded critical defense round so every time must be false. That said the expansion I have seen has been very good and probably more consistent than many other loads and all rounds have always fired.

However, even if 24 of 25 worked, that doesn't tell me that the last one won't suffer from the failure to fire issue that they seem to be having. Or, that the next box won't suffer from this.
Click to expand...

You realize that this is always true no matter what numbers you put in there or what brand of ammo you are talking about. I have no way of knowing how wide spread this FTF problem is but based purely on the number of rounds I have fired and the people I have spoken to I would think that statistically it must be minuscule. If you don't have confidence in the ammo then don't carry it it is as simple as that. However, your reasoning might not be super sound.

On the failure to fire issue, it would be interesting to see (from those reporting such) just how many failures they have with some of the other ammo they've tried. Sometimes it the gun that's the problem.
Click to expand...

This was my thought too. I am not familar with the report in question but is it just one person claiming this? If so maybe it is a light strike issue or someting of that nature. It reminds me of the yahoo on here who blew up his FN 5.7 pistol and make a big fuss about the gun having fired out of battery and being an unsafe design etc etc. In the end it was confirmed that the guy just double charged his round and got the expected results. Even now however I will see references to FN 5.7s firing out of battery and being unsafe.
 
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Girodin
Quote:
Haven't checked each bullet to see if it expanded, so I can't address the "expands everytime" thing.
I have recovered one non-expanded critical defense round so every time must be false. That said the expansion I have seen has been very good and probably more consistent than many other loads and all rounds have always fired.
Click to expand...

Through what medium was the non-expanded round fired?
 
It was into a telephone book. If I can find the slug I'll post a pic. Other critical defense rounds did expand very well however. They also were the one of the two best rounds for expansion that we shot into those phonebooks that day. I was shooting with some other people so I am not sure what all the other loads were. One guy was shooting his carry ammo in 9mm and not one round expanded.

BTW I know phone books aren't the same as people and am not trying to make any claim in that respect.
 
I know this thread is about CCW but the lack of penetration with CD does offer another benefit, home defense.

Mind you that my first choice is my 12ga. w/ TAP for home defense but the lack of penetration is a bonus if you have other people living in your home. In my case, I've got 2 small kids in the house and underpenetration is preferred to a bullet traveling through several rooms and going into my sons/daughters room.

If I ever have to face that...and my house has been broken into before...I'd rather blaze away, not penetrate wall abut scare the BG vs. the potential of hitting one of my kids while they sleep.
 
I only have 1 box of JHP right now, and it's Hornady CD 9mm. After hearing about FTF issues with this ammo, I decided to shoot 7 rounds from the box (leaving me 18 to fill my M&P9). I had no FTF issues at all, but couldn't check penetration, as I was shooting at targets stapled to a tree. Still, I think when I can find about 100 rounds of gold dot +p, I'll just waste away the Hornady.
 
Can someone explain what the differance is between the CD and the TAP offerings?
I currently carry the TAP's in my PT745 as i do prefer more penetration,but is that the only differance?My local place carrys both and it seems the CD is selling better anyhow.

I know i shot about 5-6 boxs of CD in 10mm with no failures either.They actually a pretty hot load and definetly not downloaded,but at $1 a pop it got pricy fast but i loved shooting them as much as DoubleTaps.

On a side note i carry CorBon 230 +p in my 1911,they look to be gold dot bullets imo.I know some people like those but just as many seem to say they have expanding issues?
Of course i want expansion and penetration,but expansion is more important imo.
 
I didn't know that the FTX Critical Defense was available in 10mm quite yet?

My CZs love the 9mm Critical Defense.
RAM2.jpg
Can't find any Hornady XTP or other 10mm ammo at my local shops.

Do you have any pics of the 10mm FTX boxes?
 
I have a 9mm revolver with a 2" barrel and I purchased some because I figured that they will mushroom when a conventional hollow point would not achieve the velocity to open up. The rounds should be here on Wednesday.
 
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