Fuel for discussion Check out this link

[Barksdale123]

http://www.internetarmory.com/handgunammo.htm

[pocketgun]

I have lots to say on this one (God help us all), but don't have the time to post it right now.

[Barksdale123]

Sounds like someone trying to quantify something as complex as ballistics after they hit someone has over simplified it a bit. But it should make for lots of talk.

[pocketgun]

Ammunition manufactured in the United States is among the finest in the world. For intended defensive uses, the gun owner will not go wrong in selecting ammunition produced by the most widely recognized manufacturers. These include CCI/Speer, Cor-Bon, Federal, Remington, and Winchester.

Allow no margin for error in protecting one's life. Avoid potentially unreliable ammunition that is hand loaded, re-loaded, or of dubious quality foreign manufacture when choosing defensive rounds.

The anti-handloaded thing is a crock of shit. The finest, most accurate and reliable ammo is hand crafted one round at a time by benchrest shooters. They spend as much time as they want measuring, weighing, prepping, and crafting ammo designed to function perfectly in their particular weapon.

Factory ammo is made by machines in just moments. Hell, I had a .32ACP from Federal that didn't even have a rebated area in front of the rim, and locked my mag up tight. Who knows if it even had a flashhole? A skilled handloader can make better ammo than any factory IMO, provided the top bullet designs are available.

As a generality, it appears as though two distinct schools of thought exist: cartridge performance preference based on real world shooting data ("one shot stop" statistics) and cartridge performance preference based on bullet penetration data (derived from shooting into ballistic gelatin, used to simulate human tissue).

One shot stop stats were nothing but a scam using phony data and designed to sell books and some very expensive exotic ammo. Ballistic gelatin testing only tells part of the story, but is the best thing out there right now. Just don't start believing that the FBI ammo requirements 1) apply to CCW by ordinary people, or 2) that they apply to sub-calibers like .380ACP and .32ACP. What irks me the most is the absurd notion that one should eschew all expansion for the sake of reaching the somehow magical depth of 12" of penetration in gelatin. "Aw crap, my .380 JHPs expanded to 1.25" but only penetrated 11.8" of gelatin - too bad they are worthless for carry!"

I got bored reading the ammo recommendations, and quit after .380ACP had NO MENTION of the top four choices in the caliber: Remington 102 gr Golden Saber JHP, Speer (factory or custom loaded) 90 gr Gold Dot JHP, CorBon 80 gr DPX HP, and Hornady Critical Defense 90 gr FTX.

In short, I don't think much of the article - it is outdated, makes recommendations based on a method long ago proven to be fiction, comes to dubious conclusions (i.e. .22LR is better for defense than .25ACP) and even uses an annoying font. It isn't worth reading all of it, let alone heeding it for your choice of ammo.

[Barksdale123]

Alot of nothing is said on the internet. Thanks for the assessment.

[pocketgun]

Did you read THIS THREAD? Ignore the side discussion on the ethics of JHP ammo that it devolved into. I should split that thread someday.