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There have been many discussions, here and elsewhere on the web, regarding what’s the best caliber and bullet. The opinions seem to range from “Who cares, any bullet will work” to “Brand X is clearly the best and to carry anything else is just folly” and everything in-between. This appears to be driven by an individual’s opinion of the importance of ammo selection. Some think it’s the highest priority and some think it’s not worth considering. I suspect the answer lies somewhere in-between the two extremes.
I have a continuum of priority that I generally follow when thinking about issues related to self defense (SD) involving a firearm:

1) Strategic Awareness
2) Situational Awareness
3) Choice of carry
4) Weaponry
5) Training
6) Ammo selection

Strategic Awareness consists of knowing what areas/locations to basically stay out of. For instance, there are areas of Austin I would not choose to enter, armed or otherwise. Strategically, it makes sense to just avoid those areas since it will reduce the likelihood I will end up in a SD situation.

Situational Awareness is the tactical partner to Strategic Awareness. Basically, it’s an admission that crime happens in locations you didn’t predict, or conversely, you can’t always predict the areas to stay out of. In other words, staying out of the high risk areas reduces your risk, but it doesn’t set it to zero and you may not be aware of all high risk areas.
I also include avoidance of the fight in this category. This is where, for me, de-escalation comes into play and also escape and evasion (EE).
Up to this point in the continuum the desired end result is to avoid having to deploy my weapon.

Choice of carry is next on the list for me. Will it meet my required concealment? In a reasonable SD situation will I be able to effectively bring the weapon into play?

Weaponry is of course what weapon you choose to carry. Is it reliable? Will it meet the required concealment criteria? Keep in mind the legal limit is only the lowest bar; your situation may require much deeper concealment than required by law or possibly no concealment at all.
Of course there are many things more that go into the selection of weapon…

Training to me is more than just taking an NRA course or reading/viewing self defense material. It also includes practice and taking diverse training…and then practicing what you learned…and did I mention practice!

And last on my continuum is ammo selection. Will it have penetration enough to get to vital areas? How much will I need to carry for what I have decided is the reasonable worst case scenario?
As with all the other items on the continuum, there is a myriad of things that have to be considered.

So which side of the fence do I come down on, Ammo is a top priority, or don’t worry about it? I fall into the category of it’s important, but not as important as the other 5 items.
Notice the first two items in the continuum are intended to avoid the fight. If I’m successful in those, I didn’t even need to bring a gun, so how would ammo selection even matter?
Now the weapon and its ammo are useless unless I can bring them into play in the allotted time, hence carry is important.
Once the weapon comes into play it needs to be reliable, if not, does ammo selection make up for an inoperative weapon?
If I can’t hit the target after bringing the weapon into play, the ammo choice doesn’t matter…training is important
Only after all the above criteria has been met will the ammo selection become critical.

Of course each item on the continuum is worthy of in-depth discussion. But I find it helpful to have a top-level priority list so I keep things in perspective.

Number one is to avoid the fight. The next priority is to escape the fight. If those fail, the priority is to win the fight. In all three the ultimate goal is the good guys do not get killed or maimed…

1) Strategic Awareness
2) Situational Awareness
3) Training
4) Choice of carry and Weaponry
5) Ammo Selection


I think ammo selection is the least important of the 6 priorities. If you are not trained well/don't practice and have a un-reliable gun, it won't matter much what kind of ammo/caliber you are carrying in my opinion.

I don't totally agree with looking at defense as a list of decreasing priorities. Rather, I prefer to look at it as a system which requires attention to all of it's components to be most effective. Think the old stool analogy, where you have to have all the legs for it to be effective. To expand on that analogy, if you emphasize one leg over the others it is like making one stool leg longer than the other.

For ammo, if it's not reliable in your particular gun, you're carrying a really nice looking single shot. In many calibers, you're also looking at overpenetration problems. Massad Ayoob ran an article a while back with 25 cases of good guys being hit after the bullet had penetrated the bad guy. Poor ammo selection can also cause problems with not shooting to point of aim. Granted most all ammo will shoot minute of bad guy at the distances most encounters happen. It can also cause problems such as flash blindness, especially with ammo that is cheap (no flash retardant additives), hot, and fired out of a short barrel.

I tend to try to boil things down into rules of thumb. These rules of thumb won't answer every question or always come up with the best option. Rather, they should serve as a starting point.

Weapon: Carry the largest handgun in the largest defensive caliber that you are willing to carry always and can conceal. That may be a 380 pocket pistol or may be a full size H&K MK23. There are too many individual variables for there to be one solution. Body type, amount of range time, wardrobe, how seriously you take carry, etc. will all play a part here. Practice with what you carry. For example, don't practice exclusively with your full size handgun if you're only going to carry your snubbie revolver.

Holster/belt: at a minimum should cover the trigger and trigger guard area and hold the pistol securely while concealing the pistol adequately and allwoing easy access to the firearm. Buy a good stiff belt, prefereably designed for the purpose at hand. Yes they are expenseive. They also provide Again, there are too many individual variables for thre to be one solution. Differences in body type, wardrobe, etc. A good holster/belt also makes it easier to carry and conceal a larger handgun comfortably.

Ammo: A good starting point to searching for good carry ammo, carry what either the state troopers in your state carry, the sherrif's department carries, or the local cops carry (in that order). Large agencies like the DPS usually do a huge amount of research before selecting a carry round and monitor for effectiveness. While less so at the county and local level, they've still likely to have done their homework. Run a minimum of 100 rounds of it through you're gun to make sure it works before carrying it. I suggest more. Massad Ayoob says 200. Others say more. Avoid the "latest and greatest magic bullet" from small companies you've never heard of. A side benefit: in the unlikely event you have to defend your choice of ammo in court after a self defense shooting, it will be extremely difficult to accuse you of "selecting the most lethal ammo you could find as your lawyer could easily argue "I carry the same ammo as local law enforcement, are you accusing them of being bloodthirsty murderer's as well?"

Avoidance: If you think to yourself "there is no way I would go there without a gun", maybe you shouldn't be going there with a gun if it can be avoided. Stay out of bad neighborhoods when possible. My mother used to always say "nothing good happens after 10pm". The older I get, the more I agree. I'm not saying you should lock yourself in your house and only leave to go to work, but don't look for trouble either. Pay attention to your surroundings and, whenever possible, leave an out. If something doesn't feel right, trust your instincts and leave.

By no means is this view perfect. I don't suggest using it as a list of rules that must be followed, but rather use it as a place to start thinking about these things.