Best non-HP ammo for carry?

I

igor

New member
In this corner of the former Soviet Union there is a stupid regulation prohibiting hollowpoint ammo in handguns. What would you suggest as carry loads of choice to improve upon FMJ in these:

- compact 9mm auto
- full size 1911 in .45
- .357/.38 snubby, 2.25"bbl

Your time is much appreciated.
 
Because of velocity, the 45acp is the perfect gun for shooting FMJ or lead. It is an excellent self/home defense gun no matter what ammo you use. It's heavy and slow. For the 357 magnum in a snubby, that's easy. 38special with FULL WADCUTTER ammo. S&B makes a great 148 grain. Flat and heavy. Police used that round for years. The 9mm isn't hard either. 125 grain RNL. Lead is much better than FMJ. Now, if you have a glock and are afraid to shoot lead because someone told you not to, then you can swap the barrel, or if you must for FMJ, go with the heaviest and slowest ammo you can find. 147 grain.
 
.45

Thats horrible that you can not get HPs. I would for sure go with the .45. Handguns are not all that powerful compared to a rifle so maximum wound channel is needed. I carry a 9mm and its a fine round with quality HPs but not so much with a FMJ. Read about the difference in the 9mm and
.45 used in WWII. They had to use FMJ then. I think...
 
First of all, what exactly are the regulations? Is it "no hollowpoint ammo" or "no expanding ammo"? If it's just no hollowpoint ammo, there are other types of expanding bullets you can use such as Federal's EFMJ (expanding full metal jacket) or JSP (jacketed soft point). While these don't expand as well as a hollowpoint, they are considerably better than a FMJ. If the regulation simply says no expanding bullets, then you want something that will deform easily. Your best bet here is to use an all-lead semi-wadcutter (assuming your .45 and 9mm run OK with it). If that's not an option for some reason, look for a FMJ with a flat rather than rounded nose.
 
If no expanding ammo is allowed, use the widest, flattest tipped bullets you can find which will reliably function in your guns (at the highest velocity available to you which your guns can handle). In a revolver this would be a soft lead full wadcutter. In a semi-auto it would be a lead semi-wadcutter or round nosed-flat point. Also use the heaviest bullet weights which do not sacrifice too much velocity. In .45 ACP that would be 230 gr., 9mm 147 gr and .357/.38 SPL 158 gr.
 
If you can have expanding ammo other than hollowpoints, look into the Federal EFMJ (expanding full metal jacket) loads. Most of the EFMJ loads are too light for my taste, but I think they have made a 124gr 9mm EFMJ, and I know they have made a 200gr .45acp EFMJ as I have a few boxes. The projectile uses a little blob of rubbery stuff in the front of the jacket, which allows that part of the jacket to squish flat when it hits something.

Otherwise go for wadcutters, I guess.
 
I think everybody pretty much has it covered. I too was thinking the Federal EFMJ if you can get them. Other than that get some flt nose rounds like wad cutter's. They make wad cutter's for 45acp also.
 
If expanding ammo is OK as long as it's not a HP there are 3 choices for the 9mm and .45.


Hornady Critical defense - It's HP but has a polymer plug filling the HP
Federal expanding full metal jacket
Cor bon power ball

For the .38/.357

Same as above or soft lead wadcutters.

If you can't get these or they are not legal, look for FMJ that have a flat point.
 
First of all, what exactly are the regulations? Is it "no hollowpoint ammo" or "no expanding ammo"?
Click to expand...

That is a bit ambiguous here. It is definitely "no hollowpoint ammo", but the expanding part is not spelled out clearly. Soft point is entirely ok, EFMJ hasn't been seen here yet at all. I need to find out.

Sounds like I'm good enough with the SJSP I have in .357 for now. Then I'll need to see about availability and functioning of the different SWC, RNL and (S)JSP variants for the semi-autos. Selection is always an issue, this is a tiny market. We do have good connections to Czech Rep. and S&B, and their catalogue has mostly everything. U.S. made ammo remains rare, thanks to your State dept. and our foolish lawmakers who have followed suit on import/export matters.

Thank you very much for the bother!
 
If S&B is what is most widely available, I'd recommend their 158grn JSP .357 Magnum loading and either their 100grn JSP 9mm loading or their 124grn JSP 9mm loading. In .45 ACP, it looks like all S&B makes is 230grn FMJ-RN so you're stuck with that unless you can get ammunition of another brand.

Fiocchi does make a 200grn FMJ-FP .45 ACP loading which I would prefer over the round-nose S&B if you can get it (Fiocchi is based out of Italy, so I don't know if their products would be any more available to you). Prvi Partizan makes a .45 ACP LRN loading which, while not ideal, would probably be better than FMJ-RN.

Also in 9mm, if you can get ahold of Hirtenberger's 100grn +P+ JSP, get all that you can get. This is an excellent loading that is rare and sought after here in the U.S. I've got a very small amount of it and it's some of the most accurate 9mm ammunition that I've ever fired from both my CZ-75 or my dad's Sig Pro 2009.
 
Fiocchi is available here to some extent, Prvi Partizan has been observed too. The most popular fodder that is regularly imported here, aside S&B, is Magtech.

And I just got hold of some Magtech 158gr SJSP in .38 Special - I'll be wearing my SP101 snubby with that stuff in it for the time being, and keep looking for choices for the autos.

Thank you again, Webleymkv and others! Plenty of leads here for me to follow up on.
 
Some people place a great deal of emphasis on specific types of bullets. I think that whatever you have will work, as long as you practice your shooting skills enough to hit what you aim for. There is no magic caliber or bullet. There is only hitting your target where it counts. Modern hollow points and also soft points, are probably optimal as ammunition, but I know that FMJ works and works well in the K zone. I would not be too concerned about having to you FMJ.
 
I wouldn't be particularly worried about effect in the intended target, but danger to anything else in the vicinity. Sure, Rule #4 and all, but I'd rather have the bullet stop or at least lose the bulk of its energy, and hopefully its jacket at least, inside the critter shot at.
 
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