During the past 1 1/2 years, with the declining economy, we have seen an increase in crimes where subjects are stooping to their lowest point to feed their drug habits, provide for their families or just to make ends meet. With this, we also become victims ourselves. There has been an increase in Home Invasions, Carjacking's, Burglaries, Robberies and the list goes on and on. This being said, gun sales have increased over the last year. Along with the election of Barack Obama and the increase in crimes, gun sales have increased on an average of 68%. Concealed Carry Classes have increased 58% and Concealed Carry Permits have increased 52% from last year. This is a NATIONAL average and will vary from state to state.
People are always asking what kind of gun to buy or what kind of ammo do I use in my particular gun. While there are many different types of ammo made by different companies with different grains of bullets, we often ask ourselves, "Is this going to stop someone if they break into my house?" Well, I hope we can answer some of these questions.
First, you need to know that if you are looking for a self-defense ammo, you want and NEED to have Hollow Points of some variations. There are some that are actually hollow points but have a rubber or polymer insert to make it look as if it's "pointed" or a "target type ammo". We'll hit on these in a bit. Full Metal Jacket ammo is usually used for Target Practicing or just plinking around the house or range. You can shoot someone with these but you may have a "thru-and-thru" shot and you are not going to have the expansion of that of a hollow point. Hollow Points will mushroom on impact causing the projectile to expand, on an average, of a little less than twice it's original size obviously causing more trauma to the body and more force which would knock someone down. Depending on what caliber and how far away you are when you shoot someone, you will more than likely NOT have a "thru-and-thru" shot but it's not unheard of to have one.
Recently, several different manufacturers of ammunition have developed their own kind of personal defense ammo. Looking at these, they do not look like your normal ammo that you can pick up at Wal-Mart or somewhere like that. Sometimes they are sold in a package of 5, 6 or 7 depending on what caliber you buy. If you go with a major, reliable ammunition company, you can get 20 or 25 rounds in a box. The majority that I have seen will look like they have a blue rubber ball in the tip of the projectile. There is a reason for this and I will explain.
Recently, there have been tests done with the standard hollow points and what I will now call as a Personal Defense load. Tests have shown that when using the standard hollow points, the "mushrooming" starts the second the projectile hits which it would normally hit clothing. Clothing can "clog" the "hollow" part of the projectile causing it to no longer expand minimize velocity or not expand at all. It can also cause the projectile to come apart making the effectiveness minimum. Now, yes, it will enter and yes, it will cause trauma and possible death. However, if the intruder is wearing heavy clothing, multiple layers of clothing or leather jackets, this will drastically reduce the velocity and expansion and may even cause the projectile to not even expand which could cause over penetration. There is also documented studies that show that the projectile will have erratic behavior, no expansion, over penetration due to it being clogged by clothing.
The new personal defense rounds are made that when the projectile hits the body, the insert is going to pierce thru the clothing and then start to expand the millisecond that the insert is pushed back into the projectile. Since it will have already gone through the clothing, the full mushroom effect is going to more effective as it is just inside the body and with the energy force, will be able to continue to it's full expansion while traveling into the body, thus causing more trauma. It will not clog and has consistent expansion shot after shot.
Now, is there really that much difference between the two? Maybe, maybe not. Right now, I'm not going to run and change out my 3 magazines of hollow points with these personal defense rounds. But I will start buying some of these rounds a little at a time, slowly replacing the "old" style hollow points. They are still effective and will do what I want it to do....within certain limitations. Right now, I just need to keep in mind that if someone breaks in my house and they are wearing heavy clothing, I will probably have to shoot them several times. I guess the question is that do you want to have an ammunition that there is no doubt going to stop an intruder and cause the most damage that would prevent them from moving any further toward you or your family or do you want to have an ammo that should stop and will probably stop an intruder dead in their tracks? I personally don't want to second guess my ammo and wonder if I'm doing what needs to be done or if the intruder has on a T-shirt or a leather jacket with a sweatshirt on under it. I want to know I have the best out there, at the present time.
There are some people who stay on top of the new gadgets, electronics, cars and the list goes on and on and ammo is not exempt from this. It's your choice as to what you want to do. There are always friends and family that have just bought a new gun that doesn't have anything for a personal defense load that you can sell or give it away as they may only have the target rounds. I'm sure they would be appreciative for what ever you give them. It's your decision as to what you want to do.
Secondly, Winchester has come out with a new self-defense load called the Supreme Elite Bonded PDX1.
This ammo is the traditional style hollow point with a few twists to make it stand alone from other hollow points.
First, Winchester has designed this ammunition that has a "reverse taper jacket" which technically means that the nose of the ammo is thicker than the back of the ammo. If you remember the Black Talon ammo, they used the same design. The notches on the bullet is "pre-programmed" to expand at a variety of velocities into eight symmetrical petals. This ammunition had to pass the FBI Ammunition test which were pretty nailed down and with tight limitations.
A few were: A projectile that would not weigh less than 155 grains and no more that 200 grains and would ensure expansion at 25 yards. Using a gelatin block kept at 39 degrees, was shot within 20 minutes of removal from cooling. The penetration could be no less that 12 inches and no more than 18 inches and expand to at least twice it's original size and retain it's entire weight. Now, these were FBI requirements and this ammunition PASSED.
There were also some other tests done that tested out the theory of clothing, clogging and less penetration. This ammo due to it being bonded, light clothing was not an issue which again, met the requirements of the FBI. Please note that these tests were done with a 180 grain .40 cal bullet. In the Supreme Elite PDX1, they offer the same type of ammo for 147gr. 9mm Luger +P, 124gr. 40 S&W in 165gr. and 180gr., 45ACP in 230gr. and .38spl. +P in 130gr.
Also, the copper-alloy jacket is bonded to the lead core which controls expansion and aids in weight retention.
Hornady-Critical Defense. These also feature a nickel plated casing which resist corrosion as this is sometimes and issue where the gun is carried as a concealed carry gun. This ammo has the "rubber like material" that prevents clogging from clothing and aids in expansion upon penetration. Is also sold in boxes of 25 and retails around $20
Winchester- Supreme Elite Bonded PDX1: Jacket bonded with the lead core, reverse-tapered nose, Passed FBI test which included penetration no less than 12 inches and no more than 18 inches with light clothing. Is also sold in boxes of 20 and also retails between $19 - $22 depending on caliber.
Both ammo's tested very well when it came to heavy clothing. The Hornady 115 gr. in the 9mm penetrated 5.77 inches where the Winchester PDX1 ammo, penetrated 7 inches (1 1/4 inches more than Hornady). While the Hornady loads were not designed for shooting thru wallboard and plywood, they did remarkably well considering.
I believe at this point, no matter what self-defense ammo you choose out of these two, you are not going to go wrong. I guess it's just how technical you want to get.
East Coast Shooters Team
