9mm CCW round: hornady vs federal vs speer

[JJ79]

just picked up a new 9mm for warm weather CCW...it's a Taurus 709 "slim". really nice little gun, very similar to my main carry gun (24/7 in .40).

trying to decide on a good carry load for the gun. barrel is 3.2". fairly small pistol, comparable to a kel-tec or kahr...weighs 19oz.

here are the rounds I'm considering:

Hornady Critical Defense - 115gr

Hornady TAP - 124 gr

Federal Hydrashock - 124 gr or 135 gr

Speer GDHP - 124 gr

which would you pick, and why?

[dowby77]

I would pick the Gold dots,partly because I work at ATK and am very familiar with this round,In fact I make them at least once a week.we actually make a 9mm gd that is specifically designed for short barreled weapons check out this link

http://www.speer-ammo.com/products/short_brl.aspx

all of my personal protection rounds are gold dots in fact its the only round my 380 has ever shot

[Old Griz]

I'd pick which ever one shoots the best out of my gun. That means the one that doesn't jam, and the one that groups the smallest. Since no two guns shoot alike, it's trial and error until you find the right one. All the major brands are going to do the job, and there ain't gonna be a spit's worth of difference. Don't get caught up in advertising hype. You just gotta put the bullet in the right place.

[aromakr]

Another thing to consider. If God forbid you ever have to use deadly force, which round will be the easiest to defend in court! I carry what our law enforcement carry which is Federal.
Bob

[Noreaster]

They all look good. The choices for personnel defense are great these days. I looked at a chart of one stop shots. The barrel length made a difference as did the load, (357 mag 125 grain high velocity vs the med velocity had a big difference in one stop shots.) The new stuff made to expand at lower velocities should be a huge help. I wouldn't be too concernced with accuracy with each load, unless your going target shooting. I'm a big advocate of point shooting. If you have time, cover or distance you will probably use your sights. Most violent acts are sudden and under ten yards, (how many rooms in your house are longer than thirty feet, or how many people rob you at more than an arms length away.) 80 + police shootings caught on video and most if not all show the officer not using his/her sights, even though they are trained to use sights.  Also you are likely to be using one handed shooting, (turning on a light with the other hand, holding a phone or flashlight or car keys...) Anyone thinking about home defense should look at the tragedy in my State this week, Mont Vernon NH four scumbags broke into a home at 4am and butchered the mother and eleven year old daughter, all for a B&E! Thank god the daughter pulled through.

[Savage]

An of the modern expanding loads will work well. I don't wort over a few thousands of expansion or a couple millimeters of penetration. Too many other factors that effect bullet performance on a specific target. No need to spend $2 a pop for the Uber Tactical stuff when the 50rd box of plain vanilla hollow points likely perform as well, for less than half the price. Then, you might even be able to afford to run a box through your carry gun to check out function as well as POA/POI. Although test results from any medium mean little, (Other than results of each individual shooting) try some of the less expensive hollow points beside the Ubers in wet pack and see if the difference is worth the money. If it is, buy it.
Savage

[Tonk]

JJ79......I will just say, that I purchased several boxes of HORNADY "self-defense" ammo for a 9mm Luger and .380-auto several months ago for running penetration tests. We used several other factory self-defense brands of ammo that day also.

Hornady was the only self-defense ammo that did not go BANG every time we put this ammo in the pistols. We seemed to always get strikes on the primer (good center hits) very good indentation also. However, NO BANG!!!

I phoned Hornady up and spoke to their REP but only got a thank you sir!: "We will review the problem" I never got any ammo back from them nor did I get a refund after taking those bullets that did NOT go BANG back to the store we purchased them from in the first place.

NO MORE HORNADY AMMO IN THIS HOUSE PERIOD!!!