Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Would you ever load hardball for defense?

Probably like most of you, my defensive handguns are loaded with Hydra-shok, HST+P or Critical Defense ammunition. We've all seen what expanding ammo does in soft tissue and I'm thinking that it might be even too good in certain situations. Case in point. We had a case in town last week where a guy was kicking the door to get in and the homeowner shot him in the leg which ended the threat. Nothing further on the news, but I'm thinking what if it could have just been a drunk that thought it was his house or a domestic dispute locking the guy out? A hardball round sure wouldn't be considered less than lethal, but just not as lethal as what some of us are loading. What are your thoughts?

Yep, I knew Cooper carried FMJ. I used to read quite a bit of his material.

Thugs tried to rob an elderly guy that just got home from hospital.

Think he shot one or both through the door.

First took it on the adams apple
Other at the knee.

240 gr JHP from his deer revolver ( .44.mag ).

First was DRT. Other lost the leg.

I dunno how beefy the old mans door was.

Chuck Taylor was an interesting guy with a full resume.

I still carry .45 ACP ball ammo. Nothing wrong with it at all.

I always enjoy Sagebrush's comments. I know that he has earned this knowledge the hard way and I truly respect that.

W. Bill

For clarification.

I don't necessarily advocate ball ammo as a top choice for defense. The reason why it is used in some guns is simply because they are older and not throated to properly feed other profiles such as JHPs or SWCs. Your typical 1911s that were in military armories were designed to feed ball ammo, and that was it.

Yes ball is destructive when it hits bone. It also has a tendency to perform poorly when it does not, such as when it only hits muscle. In cases where a good JHP was not available, I would take a SWC profile every time over ball.

I am friends with Ken Hackathorn, which some may or may not be familiar with. Ken worked for Jeff Cooper for quite some time. Much of what is put in print, versus real life, for selling ad copy and bolstering an image can be quite different. There is a public persona then there is the real person.

Ken has stated numerous times that Mr. Cooper carried SWCs in his Colts (when he loaded it himself). However, being that he was in the industry, his favorite ammo was what is known in certain circles as OPA ammo. OPA stands for "Other People's Ammo". That is ammo that is given to you by agencies, departments, companies, etc. The best ammo is free ammo, and quite often, that is what got carried, especially when it was simply going to be shot up on the range at a class. Yes, that often could be ball ammo, simply because that is what agencies bought and brought to training. That is just a little slice of reality.

I have some older 1911s that do not feed JHPs reliably and they get fed ball ammo. However when using a handgun that reliably feeds any profile projectile, I will choose something that is optimal for the situation, such as a good JHP, or heavy hard cast SWC.


This is (if I recall right) a first production year lightweight commander. It prefers ball ammo only.




I would not deliberately handicap myself by loading ball ammo in a gun that fed a better profile, especially for self/home defense purposes.

I have had shot big desert jackrabbits when hit with 230 grain ball ammo hump up at the hit, then go running off. If you did not hit anything structural or get a CNS hit, then the ball ammo just zipped right through them. Switching to a good SWC type profile saw an immediate change in results. The sharp profile cuts nice clean holes and causes significant damage in terms of terminal performance. This holds true for much larger animals as well.

Punchline is, if your gun feeds nothing but ball, use it. If it feeds JHPs or SWCs, use those instead.