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

Yeah, we got that the first 1/2 dozen times you said it.

I prefer self defense ammo. But in these times , mainly I use LSWC. Missouri coated to be exact. The last thing I shot at the range is probably loaded in my pistol. Hasbeen

Windfall: No!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I guess it is like the old adage, what is the best pistol to have in a gun fight.........the one you have on you.

If hardball is what you have, sure but not my first choice.

If I had a .45, I wouldn't be super happy about only having FMJ, but I would be alright....probably.

If I had a 9mm, and only had FMJ... well, let's just say I'd be glad to have a magazine full of 17 of them....

Thank you gentlemen. I appreciate the advice on the cast bullets.

Had to charge his phone up to call 911?

You have to remember, there is a difference between incapacitation and lethality. If you read this study, you'll discover that not only did 9mm match the effectiveness of .40S&W, .45ACP, and even .44 Magnum (stopping people); but unlike those calibers, more than half of the 400-500 people shot with 9mm were shot with FMJ rounds. In my opinion, this is the real reason why the military went with 9mm. FMJ can be very effective in a .355" caliber which, all things being equal, penetrates less than larger/heavier rounds (thus reducing the risk of over penetration and wasting energy). https://www.buckeyefirearms.org/alternate-look-handgun-stopping-power.

So yes, I would carry FMJ in 9mm if I couldn't afford HP or Lehigh Defense/Underwood XD rounds (my preference).

Well you were right, it's now up to 6. But, have you studied many big time police shootouts? Speaking of missing. 😁

The switch to 9mm was due to logistics primarily. But they definitely very much liked the big increase in barrier penetration you get with a 124g NATO round over a .45 ACP hardball.
In hardball the 9mm isn't quite as effective in tissue than the .45, but it has better penetration, and barrier penetration; and it's easier to hit with.

I believe Ed Brown recommends hardball....I'm with him with .45 ACP all you need is Hardball

Ed Brown builds guns. He wants his guns to run reliably and hardball is the surest way to accomplish that. Fewer customer issues for him. I don't know what his qualifications are in the self defense forensic area.

Pre cell phone, out a ways, took meds a while to arrive.

9mm Buffalo Bore Outdoorsman 147 grain lead semi-wadcutter design. Feral hogs are common to abundant around here, where nobody shoots them they ain’t sufficiently wary of people. Birdwatching gets me out in the woods. Had a big boar one time stand and snort and huff at me for a while from about 20 yards out, unwilling to give way.

I figure the odds of me having to shoot an ornery hog are about the same as having to shoot a person. Not very great, and the load will prob’ly work on either.

Birdy.

Its not an SWC. Its a truncated cone flat point. I load the exact same bullet ("The Outdoorsman) made by Rimrock to the same velocity. I use them as both a predator load and a load for around vehicles if need be, since it penetrates in feet rather than inches.



I swapped out my factory spring for an extra power Wolff recoil spring though as an added safety margin though, as it is a higher end load. In fact I was carrying it last fall when I was packing out an elk and had a Mountain Lion on my back trail. The big cat had been following my tracks as I was packing out quarters in a steep brushy draw.

MS, do you load and sell that 147 gr load?

Well at least I know I made a smart decision, re:woods carry anyway.

Ya wouldn’t think it but I’ve come up on mountain lions here twice at night, tho never actually seen one.

There’s a large city park that adjoins Camp Bullis Military Training Area on the far North Side of San Antonio. lions are regularly sighted on Bullis.

There’s enough light scatter around San Antonio that you can see well enough to walk the trails on the darkest nights, even where you can’t see any city lights (this is a major training problem on Bullis). I have walked those trails, sometimes in the dark, for about 20 years now, without using a flashlight.

The first lion, I was hiking back there with my Ex and two heelers, off leash as usual. Low throaty growl straight off of Animal Planet not far uphill in the woods, repeated a few moments later further along. I went in the next day and found where it had torn up a sapling, shredded the bark and marked, stank of cat pee.

The second one was some years later, sudden thrashing about off in the cedar woods, accompanied by a high thin bleating, abruptly cut off. It was most likely a deer bleating, couldn’t have been more’n 40 or 50 yards off. The next day the park was closed for a week due to a mountain lion sighting.

Both occasions the dogs just stood and listened, they had been taught not to chase wildlife.

Good idea about the springs, my old Gen 2 Glock 19 is prob’ly overdue.

They are good loads Mike. I carry the same in my Ruger LCP 380 for penetration.

Like Mackay mentioned, it’s a truncated cone flat point bullet.
Better than a SWC bullet.

It was also the grizzly load in the Ruger LC9 on my Yellowstone bicycle expedition a couple of years back

I will be selling some of the 147 "Predator Penetrator" loads when I get another big batch of new brass in. Also by then I expect that the e-commerce site will be up and you can order direct. I have been so dang busy this last year that I have not had time, so I finally paid a professional outfit to put one together for me.

In testing I found it is pretty impressive against auto glass, sheet metal/car doors etc. When we were having all those problems with the Socialists/Communists dragging people from cars and rioting everywhere, I started carrying these 147 grain loads.

I don't know if other outfits recommend it but I would suggest either a brand new factory recoil spring or an extra power one. Almost every single person's gun (using Glocks as an example) I have inspected has had a spring that, while it cycled the pistol just fine, it definitely needed replaced. Most don't know how to check, or when to replace and don't track rounds.

I myself rarely keep a close track of round counts since I don't shoot competitions like I did when I was shooting in USPSA all the time.


Here is a brick simple short video on how to check and see if you need to replace your recoil spring assembly (RSA).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OBMXbNGfbA&t=0s

Personally I buy multiple RSAs at once, that way I always have a new one on hand and a spare ready to go, in case the end of the plastic rod gets chipped. broken, or whatever.



I used to tell people I could either repair 1 Glock 20 times or 20 Glocks, but in case of panic or civil issues, I would not be dependent on anyone.