Re: What are you guys using for defensive pistol ammo?
I've ran hydroshoks, hornady TAP, and the winchester ranger ammo. Of the most recent tests I've seen the winchester ranger ammo always gets very high marks and the hydroshoks have fallen back in the tests some. I think any of the well known hollow point ammo is going to work just fine as long as it runs good in your gun. I think a major mistake many make is they don't fire enough of their carry ammo to know. 20-50-100 rounds is NOT enough to call your weapon proven with your carry ammo. I see it all the time guys fire thousands of rounds of FMJ, then put 40 rounds of carry ammo through it and call it good to go. 500-1000 rounds is more like it.....expensive....damn right, but knowing your weapon runs 100% with it if you need it is well worth it.
The ford/chevy analogy is great, no one wants to be shot with any of them, and if used properly will conclude about any confrontation. You can't read much into the chart data either because ft/lbs is not the same as penetration or knock down. Their calculations always favor a lighter/faster round over heavier round. Ask any archery if they'd rather shoot a bear with a 200 fps 700gr arrow or a 350 fps 300gr arrow, anyone that's shot bear knows slower and heavier wins every time.
According to the charts a 165gr .45 slug has more ft/lbs than the 230 gr slug, but I guarantee the 230gr slug hits harder and does more damage. The 30gr 22mag round has the same listed ft/lbs as the 124gr 9mm hydrashok....now I don't want to be shot with either of them but there's no way the 22mag as the stopping power that the 9mm does, yet the chart numbers say it does. It just goes to show how useless the ft/lbs numbers are across calibers and bullet weights. It's useful as a comparison in the same bullet weight only.
