Your favorite 9MM load

[marylandeer]

I have a Taurus PT 92 9MM (5" barrel). I'm going to buy a box of as many different (self defense loads) that I can find. These shells are hard to find in my area so it probably won't be too many. I will shoot them all and go with the most accurate and the one I fell most comfortable with and confident in.  
Which do you feel is the most affective offering in 9MM self defence ammo?
What kind of shells do you guys load in your personal 9MM carry pistols?

[Greysky]

I currently use Speer 115 grain GDHP ammo for defense in my 9mm Taurus 24/7.

Personally, I avoid all super hot 9mm ammo such as CorBon, and Black Hills. If I need .357 Magnum performance, I'll use one of my .357 Magnum revolvers.

[marylandeer]

I think to start I'm going to try to find these three regular pressure loads.

Remington express 115Gr. (1155 FPS - 341 FTLBS)
Remington golden saber 124Gr. (1125 FPS - 349 FTLBS)
Speer Golddot 115Gr. (1200 FPS - 368 FTLBS)

and these three +P loads.
Remington 124gr.+P golden sabers (1180 FPS - 384 FTLBS)
Speer Golddot 124gr.+P (1220 FPS - 410 FTLBS)

Corbon 100 GR. +P PoweRball  (1475 FPS - 483 FTLBS)  
The numbers really stand out on the 100Gr. Corbon PoweRball. This sounds like a really nasty round.

[S.S.]

I load my own.... I know this will probably spark the RELOADs for defence debate again, But anyhow, I load my own.
For 9mm I pull 95 grain hydra-shoks from .380 cartridges. and load them to about 1300 fps. My .38 spl load is a 148 gr. hollow base wadcutter
loaded backwards at about 850 fps. My .45 auto is always
loaded with Hydra-shocks.. I can't improve upon this one.
My 380 uses 88 grain JHP's at slightly over factory pressures but not in the +P range.. As far as a factory 9mm round, there is only one
that I carry and that is a 124 gr NYCLAD. I have not seen this round
sold for a while but I bought a "FEW" when they were around. The Hydra-shok 147 grain isn't bad either. I do not reload to try and create some
"SUPER-BULLET" I load for accuracy in a particular weapon.
These loads are quite accurate in their intended launch platforms.

[marylandeer]

I went to two local gunshops today to see what I could get.
The first one had Corbon 125Gr. +P JHP @ (1250 FPS - 434FTLBS)  Elorado starfire 92Gr. I think. and
Federal 135Gr. hydrashock low recoil.
The second shop had the exact same three choices so I bought the Corbon 125's.

[slink]

so loads that are perfectly safe in a Colt or Browning burst cases in the Beretta designs.  I'd go with Corbon, either the 100 gr PowRBall, or if your gun will feed it reliably, their 90 gr jhp Plus P.  Disregard the claims of the ignorant about such bullets "not penetrating" enough. When clothing clogs the nose cavity, the jhp's get another 2-3" of penetration in flesh.  These bullets get 9-10" in animal flesh, in the chest. I dont care what they get in Jello.

[marylandeer]

Slink, are you saying the Corbon 125 +P JHP ammo. I bought may not be safe for my Taurus?
I wanted the powerballs but can't find them.

[slink]

enough to be safe in the least-safe gun in that caliber. That's why 9x19 loads are so feeble, with .45 commercial loads being even worse.  The original Glaser 9mm was actually Chronoed, in the early 70's as being  96 grs at 1800+ fps, from a 5" Browning. Today, guys think a 90 gr jhp at 1550 fps is "hot".  :-)

[S.S.]

The Beretta is fine and the Taurus appears to be built on the same exact design! The reason the COUPLE of crack appeared
was that some Pressure testing rounds  got mixed up and were shipped out to a couple of units who had failures because of them.
With NATO 124 gr @ approx 1300 fps rounds you can shoot these guns all day long with no worries. My 92 has thousands of rounds through it and it still functions flawlessly. The reason the military is looking to go back to the .45 has nothing to do with the quality of the weapon, it is the less than adequate round it is chambered for. Some of the fancy little speedy 9mm
rounds are not terrible stoppers, but we must remember that
our troops have their hands tied to full metal jacket rounds. in this aspect,
a projectile with close to double the mass is far more desirable.

[slink]

shoot some coons, chucks, nutria, jackrabbits, badgers, etc with .45 ball, and watch them mostly run off with chest hits, and you'll know that I'm correct about this issue. The .45 ball rd performs about like a Stinger from a .22 rifle, and that's it. The 9mm ball rd ain't a lick better or worse. Both suck as manstoppers. Sometimes they suffice, but too often, they do not.

[257 roberts]

I use Federal Hydro-Shock 124gr +p (our dept used them and I know what they can do.)

[S.S.]

The 124 and 147 gr Hydra-Shocks are 2 of the best on the market as far as a 9mm goes. I have evaluated just about every 9mm round on the civilian market and some that are not for the agencies I have worked for. These lead in accuracy controlled expansion and penetration.  Anything lighter than about 115 grains is normally not going to get the penetration you want. Although some of the lighter Corbon loads will make a pretty dramatic show for themselves. I am not sure if they use a heavier jacket material or what. I know this sounds like I am going against myself, But my personal load is a 95 grain Hydra-shock at about 1350 fps. Impact is quite impressive.I pull the bullets from 380's and reload them. My reason is that they are extremely accurate from my Glock and both of my Berettas. I have a Beretta model 1951 that I sometimes carry that shoots them better than any factory round I have ever tried. I normally carry a 45 though and it carries your hydra-shoks bigger brothers.

[Skeeterbaymac]

I have to agree with Mr. Sumner on this.  The Hydra-Shocks are good bullets in my opinion.  I have used them for many years.  I own a couple of 9mm, but I do not carry them and can not remember the last time I fired one of them.  But when I did I used 147 gr Hydra-Shocks for them.  I know at one time the Government was using a lot of them in 147 grain as well. My 45 autos all get 230 grain Hydra-Shocks or XTP's for defensive work. I like slower heavy bullets which is why I use the 45. Nothing agianst the 9mm, they just aint for me.

[marylandeer]

Well I made it to the range. The Taurus PT-92 shot very well for me. I fired 150 rounds of UMC. 115 Gr. MC with no failures and they shot to point of aim (nice groups).
Then I went on to 100 of the Winchester White Box 115 Gr. JHP they also shot well and to POA. Recoil was much higher with theese than the UMC MC.
Then I fired 50 rounds of Remington JHP value pack, the Taurus didn't like these too much. Accuracy wasn't too bad but not where the others were. Another thing I noticed about the Rem. JHP, they had a MASSIVE muzzle flash and I would never want to fire one in the dark.
Last but not least I fired 14 Corbon 125Gr. JHP they shot the best for me. All 14 in one nice little group to POA. I have to say the recoil on these was less than expected, I noticed no difference from the Win WB 115 JHP but a good bit more than the Rem. JHP and the UMC MC.
Another observation made on the Corbon muzzle flash was less than the others, almost non existent. My clips will be loaded full of Corbon 125 JHP. NOW all I need are some more clips and more CORBONS

[prairiedog555]

I read that the FBI did tests for 9mm carry after the Miami disaster and they concluded that the 147gr. hydorshock was the best overall.