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by frankie_the_yankee
Thu Apr 19, 2007 9:55 pm
Forum: General Gun, Shooting & Equipment Discussion
Topic: Defensive Ammo
Replies: 18
Views: 3329

All the major companies' top shelf defense ammo is very good these days. I would say that the differences in terms of stopping power, AS APPLIED TO REAL LIFE SITUATIONS, are more or less academic.

I would try several different types and take note of how reliably your gun feeds them. Due to different bullet shapes, this is one area where the top shelf rounds differ significantly.

This will set you back a few bucks. I'd want to put at least 50 rounds through the gun without any sort of malfunction before I trusted a round. Ideally, much more.

I think the Corbon Powerball rounds look interesting. These have a rubber ball filling the hollowpoint cavity that gives the bullet nose a profile almost exactly like hardball, which is what the 1911 was designed to feed. Upon impact, the rubber ball is supposed to aid in reliable expansion.

Personally, I carry Federal Hydra-Shoks. My gun feeds them with good reliability. And since many PD's issue them (in various calibers) it gives some (though not total) immunity from the spurious charge that you shot someone with an especially "deadly" bullet (a hollowpoint) rather than a non-expanding type like FMJ - hence, you "intended" to kill. If this charge is ever brought, you can then call a parade of high ranking police officers from various departments and ask THEM what round their department issues. It will be easy for your attorney to find many such officials who will answer that question with, "Federal Hydra-Shok".

Since they will also freely testify that they do not "intend to kill", your attorney can demonstrate that nothing in your selection of a cartridge can be imputed to mean that YOU intended to kill either.

Massad Ayoob has written extensively about this. I wish I could take credit for dreaming it up myself, but the preceding is essentially a distillation of his very pursuasive arguments on this subject.

So, pick a round that your gun reliably feeds. A round that goes "BANG" every time is a thousand times better than one that jams, no matter HOW the ballistics compare.

And pick a round that is popular with cops.

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