[Skeptic49]

I had a brief discussion with a bright young lad from work about 9mm Training and carry ammo.
I have always used 115-gr ball and Winchester SD 115 gr HPs for practice and carry.

He is using bulk 124 gr ball, because he had an incident where his 115 gr WWB ball ammo did not make minor. He has not had that trouble since going to 124 ball.

So, reservoir of vast knowledge in the Peanut Gallery, is the 124 ball better for training and practice and competition, or should we all go 147 ??

Geoff
Who is looking at bulk ammo deals, the lad above visited a gun show with cash at closing time and a folding cart and ran back and forth between two ammo dealers until he got almost the deal he wanted. He smiled when he told me that. :thumbsup:

 

[Charlie Petty]

According to some 115 is more prone to stoppages and 124 seems to be most popular.

OTOH I strongly prefer 147 based on FBI results and my own experience. I do not carry a nine, but one house gun is loaded with 147 Hydra-shok

 

[William R. Moore]

His error was in using WWB-I had the same didn't make minor issue thirty years ago.

I've had outstanding results in the real world with +P 115 gr and 124 gr. My opinion of 147 was/is colored by the results I saw with my first boxes of Olin 147. Underwhelming would be a fair thought, but it was intended to be sub-sonic in MP5s. Gee, looking at the first paragraph, do we see a pattern here?

Federal 147 was impressive on the accuracy and chronograph. Dunno about the street.

 

[IrishCop]

We carried SIG 226's with Federal 147 grain Hydra Shok the first 6 years I was with this department. Only had one OIS, and our guy won. He fired six shots, but most of them were peripheral hits. The last shot he fired hit the CNS and the bad guy dropped. The bullet didn't fail.

I truly believe it is where you shoot them, not what you shoot them with.

If you can, try a few different bullet weights, see which ones you and your gun like. When you decide on a defensive round, make sure it works in your pistol.

Then practice, practice, practice...

 

[t-star]

or you can use 115s in an uzi and chew his ear off= that's what works for me- I have 3 9,,s- a beretta 92, a tokarev , and an uzi- i use the 130 grain lead Crayola style bullet over 5 grains of 231 and never seem to have a problem, even on repetition - the 130 is the bullet designed for the super, but you can't get it going fast enough to need a jacket with the 9mm case

 

[Tim Burke]

Federal AE 115gr has always had a PF between 130 & 135 at the chrono stage for me.
I don't have any issues with malfunctions with that round, either.

My 9mm carry round is Federal HST, 147 gr, +P.

 

[noylj]

Real Life and Action Pistol are worlds apart.
You should find what works for you and your gun(s).
According to my records,
Win 115gn FMJ went 1109/123,
Win 115gn WhiteBox FMJ went 1030/118,
and Hdy 115gn XTP went 1118/129.
Next,
Hdy 124gn XTP went 1066/132,
Fed 124gn Hydro-Shok went 1095/136,
and Hdy FMJ went 1102/137.
Finally,
Hdy 147gn XTP went 985/145,
Speer 147gn Lawman went 985/145,
and Speer 147gn Gold Dot went 995/146.

Mass trumps velocity for PF/momentum. Thus, if you load 147gn down to 130PF, you'll have a softer shooting load if for no other reason then pressures are lower. One reason why an RCBS 38-150-KT bullet and 4.5gn Unique can give 1110/172 and 5.0gn Herco can give 1090/169 and be at SAAMI max pressure (according to one reloading manual). Energy is going down, but momentum is going up as mass goes up, even as velocity goes down.