Best Personal Defense Ammo For the 45 ACP

C

centralpadoug

New member
I have read countless articles about the multitudes of personal defense ammo on the market. I currently use Speer Gold Dot 230g hp bullets for personal defense purposes.

My wife hates the bullets because they are such a hot round. The matter gets worse with Cor bon +p+ 230's. Any ideas? As she goes to a PMC fmj 230 she does fine. Obviously a hollow point will be more effective, but only if it hits where it is needed.

I don't mind the hotter load of the Speer for my .45. But is there a hollow point that is more tame that will still get the job done for my wife to carry in her .45?

Thanks for your ideas!
 
Hello. I have no personal experience with bbls shorter than 4" and prefer the full 5" in this caliber. In this range of bbl lengths, I prefer Federal 230 gr HydraShok.

Best.
 
Check out Federals new Personal Defence ammo 165g low recoil HP's. Seems to be a good round have not shot a lot yet but early testing shows that it is a great round.
 
Like Tamara said, 230 gr Federal HydraShoks. They are a standard pressure load and shouldn't cause the problems that you mention with the +P loads. Plus they generally feed thru most guns without trouble(Although you should of course confirm that) They are considered good stoppers by many of the stopping power types but I'm not prepared to say they are any better than the Gold Dot loads.

Don in Ohio
 
The 230 grain Fed HS has good statistics-if statistics really mean much. In my HK USP C (sub 4" bbl) it produces less muzzle flash than the 165 "Personal Defense" round. I really noticed this in a dark AIS video simulator scenario- the 165's really lit things up with a large orange-white flash, while the 230's flash was just as bright but much smaller. Double-taps were pretty spectacular with the 165's in semi-darkness. Spectacular isn't what I want in a defense round. This was the case with two separate lot numbers.

Both are easy to handle recoil-wise. Both are very accurate.

OTOH, the 165 is faster and delivers more KE than the 230 in that short bbl. Don't know about expansion though. I think expansion counts more than just KE.

Try 'em both and see what works best. BTW, the 165's are a bit more spendy.
 
I would suggest the Federal Hydra Shok 230gr JHP. If she can handle plain jane 230gr FMJ's then she should have no trouble with the Federal.

I carry the Remington GSJHP 185gr for outside, and Corbon 165gr+P Jhp for in house loads. Percieved recoil in my Glock 36 is more for these loads than the 230gr bullets.

I don't carry the 230's because of velocity loss in short barrels, but in a 4-5 inch barrel, you should do fine.

Good Shooting
REd
 
I keep a backup magazine full of the 230g Hydra-shock for my G30, but the magazine in the gun and the pipe is loaded with Winchester Supreme SXT 230G.

I find the Winchesters give a tad less muzzle flash, which may prove valuable during a night time confrontation. Both feed just fine in my G30.

B
 
The 230 HS has a good record on the street, yet one of the moderators on this site was shot on the thigh with this load at close range and the bullet showed NO expansion, did not break bone and did not exit. For most pistol cartridges, expansion is any iffy thing. If one is recoil sensitive, lighter bullets at standard pressures deserve consideration. Federal makes a 165 HS at moderate velocity that is worth looking at. And no, I won't tell you which moderator. If he chooses to do so , OK. Rob
 
Um...

Observation: 230gr bullet had laughable penetration (i.e. couldn't go through a leg) in one situation. Conclusion: you should use a 165gr bullet.

Huh?

Sorry, that makes no sense. If a 230gr Hydra-Shok couldn't break a bone and get deep, then a 165gr Hydra-Shok with the sectional density of a Nerf ball sure as heck isn't going to break bone and exit either. Note that if the bullet entering the unfortunate individual's leg expanded, it would have gone even LESS deep and been a more spectacular failure.

On topic: both standard-pressure 230gr Hydra-Shoks and 230gr Winchester SXT have low recoil and should be as effective as anything out there.

C.B.
 
CB, I did not mean to suggest that comparison, only to illustrate that one never knows what will happen. If recoil is a problem, lighter bullets are ONE solution and hits with lighter bullets are better than noise and smoke with 230s. Rob
 
Even though I still have boxes and boxes of those Black Talon things around, I always used Hydrashoks in my 5" bbld .45, based on the statistics (FWIW).
 
Another vote for Federal 230 grain HydraShoks . . . However, my 5 .45s are all full-sized autoloaders. I would likely use a lighter bullet if my weapon had a 4 inch (or shorter) barrel.
 
In my experience with 45 autos, I find the W-W Silvertip is a very controllable round for recoil sensitive people. It also has a descent record as far as stopping power.
 
I carry a fullsize 1911 with 230 grain hydro-shokz. The recoil isn't very bad with this round due to the weight of the gun. Carry whatever you feel comfortable with because afterall, it's your gun and life :)
 
I dont see anything wrong with carrying ball ammo for defense at least in theory the gun would be more reliable
if it was designed to work with ball,as in the 1911 and browning HP.
Load a hollow point in the tube and keep ball ammo in the mag.
You just have to be concern about what is behind due to over penetration. I like golden saber 230 JHP.
I use ball ammo in the wintertime.
Just my two cents.
 
Maybe I'm a fool, but I keep my 5" loaded with 230gr+p XTP's. I really don't care too much about expansion, I want penetration.
 
he 230 HS has a good record on the street, yet one of the moderators on this site was shot on the thigh with this load at close range and the bullet showed NO expansion, did not break bone and did not exit.

That sounds like a ND, did the bullet have to travel thru leather holster before hitting thigh? Was this from a 5" brrl or a 3" brrl?

How much penetration occured?

Was it a OSS by Marshal & Sanow's standars? :D
 
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