In a 9mm Luger CCW, what is best for stopping power?

[Deaf Smith]

I recently bought an XD9 sub compact and by the way, love it! I have been shooting 115 grainFMJ American Eagle ammo with a muzzle velocity of 1180fps and muzzle energy of 355 ft-lbs. They range well for this gun and have no problem with them as a practice round. Without getting into whether some other round is better than the 9mm luger, I would like to know what equals better stopping characteristics? A heavier bullet, a hollow point, a soft point, a faster or slower moving round, etc... I just want to try and decide given an awful but necessary decision to use my weapon, what will save me or my family's lives.

Best stopping power?

YOU! Your skill with the 9mm. Your ability to shoot strait. That is what makes stopping power.

So don't worry to much what ammo you have in your 9mm. Practice often and well, that is the key to stopping power.

Deaf

 

[wnycollector]

When I use one of my 9mm's as a CCW, they are loaded with the Federal 9BPLE 115gr +P+ round. I carry it because it has a 20+ year track record of stopping bad guys. It used to be cheap and plentiful, thus allowing you to practice with what you carry. Currently, it is much harder to find. Once my last 1/2 box of the 9BPLE gets used up, I plan on upgrading it with the new 115gr +P+ winchester ranger load. It has similar ballistics to the 9BPLE but with a newer bonded core bullet. Here is a link to the ranger load http://www.ammunitiontogo.com/product_info.php/cPath/23_61_119/products_id/1582

 

[Madcap_Magician]

There are a lot of good 9mm defensive loads. The only real must is that the bullet needs to be a modern defensive hollow point. There are effective 115-gr. loads, effective 124-gr. loads, effective 127-gr. loads, and effective 147-gr. loads.

Some examples include: Speer Gold Dot, Winchester Ranger, Remington Golden Saber (The newer bonded ones are bit better), Federal Hydra-Shok (The newer ammo is better, it was redesigned relatively recently, don't use the really old stuff from the 80s and 90s if the new stuff is available), Cor-Bon and Double Tap loads using Gold Dot or Barnes XTP/DPX bullets, etc.

 

[whatnickname]

What Rangerphil and Doc1911 said!

First and foremost, if your pistol doesn't function reliably the choice of ammo is moot! Secondly shot placement is the key...especially with handguns. If you can't hit center of mass your selection of bullets doesn't mean all that much anyway. I think a good many folks tend to place far too much importance on foot pounds of energy. There are two ways to arrive at a particular foot pound number...velocity and bullet weight. Lighter bullets at higher veolcity will get you a correspondingly higher number. Drop the velocity and increase the bullet weight and you can approximate the same foot pound number you get with the lighter bullet at the higher velocity. Go to the Hornady URL and play around with their ballistic calculator to see what I mean. The better criteria to consider is the dynamics of the bullet once it hits the target. Velocity and bullet style being equal, the heavier bullet will penetrate better. Just as we do with hunting big game, pick a bullet that will do the job on the animal you're hunting. A friend once asked me to load some .30-06 ammo for deer hunting. I selected 150 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets at around 2900 FPS. I knew this round's effectiveness on deer from my own experience. Unfortunately he pointed this load at a large feral pig and hit the animal in the shoulder. When the bullet hit the gristle plate on the hog it disintegrated. The next turn was the pigs and he was damn pissed off over the whole getting shot thing. He had a fatal wound but for the next few minutes his whole focus was the complete destruction of the guy that shot him! The point is this: As I'm writing this its 5 degrees outside and we have a record 12" of snow on the ground. Anyone that wishes me harm will likely be wearing a heavy coat. My G19 is loaded with 147 grain bullets because in order to do any good I know I've got to get through quite a bit of heavy clothing first.

 

[Ripped]

Winchester Ranger RA9T... Tampa Police Duty Ammo.

Good enough for them = good enough for me.