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SQLGeek wrote:

docbrazos wrote: I probably have as much PD ammo as anyone but I generally have half the magazine with some type of hardball in my auto's.

What's your reason for doing this?

I carry hollow-points in defensive pistols, and usually a spare mag of more hollow-points. But if I have more than one spare mag, the second spare is usually FMJ. I figure that in the unlikely event that I'm in a firefight that lasts long enough to use that much ammo, by that time my targets might be behind cover and I may want the extra penetration. (And hopefully any innocent bystanders are by then out of the way or flat on the deck.)
It may be unlikely that under stress I'm going to consider whether I want expanding bullets or more penetration, but who knows?
Be Prepared. That's what I learned in the Boy Scouts.

bdickens wrote:Quite frankly, way too much time and energy get wasted on concerns over which ammo to carry.


With the technology of computer aided design and simulation available today, any modern hollow point bullet design in any of the common defensive cartridges from 9mm on up, loaded to industry standards, will likely do the job.

In the rare instances of the extremely determined / drugged up or whatever attacker who takes 33 rounds of 9mm center mass before finally giving up the attack by dying from blood loss, neither a different bullet nor different caliber would have made much of a difference.

True.
And shot placement is far more important than who has the biggest bullet.
So what style of bullet and how much it expands and how reliably it expands has got to be waaaaay down the list of priorities.
Still, I like to have every advantage I can get, but it's probably not something to stress out over.

I've long been a Federal Hydra-Shok carrier.
Why is because I did a lot of research and a good bit of testing in the early to mid nineties and decided that's what I wanted.
I know there are newer designs out there now and some may be superior, but until I can work up to some more research and more testing, I'm not changing.

In my full-size, double-stack .40, I carry 155-gr Hydra-Shoks. (Have been known to carry the 180-gr, but the 155 seems to me like a better balance of bullet weight vs. velocity.)

In my 3-in, aluminum frame .45, I carry 165-gr "Personal Defense" Hydra-Shoks.
(At 165-gr and a claimed 1060 fps, it's more like a .40 S&W load than a .45 ACP. Kicks like a 9mm in my little Kimber. I have not chrono'd it. I bet they tested it with a 5-in barrel and it probably doesn't launch quite that fast from my 3-incher, but it's still pretty impressive. I have done penetration and expansion tests and the hole it makes is surprising for how little recoil it has.)
When I get my larger, steel-framed .45, I'll probably stoke it with 230-gr Hydra-Shok.

My .380 LCP is loaded with Hornady Critical Defense 90-gr. But before I was able to locate some of that, I carried it with 90-gr Hydra-Shoks.