defense rounds and practice

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insolentshrew

New member
Ok, so I know of a few decent defense rounds (federal hydrashocks, speer gold dots, corbon, etc. etc.) and have shot reasonable amount of these albeit in different guns.

My question is, I want to be able to put a few hundred defense rounds (decent ones too) through my gun to make sure it truly likes the ammo without breaking the piggy bank. My gun is a p229 in 40 s&w, I picked up some speer gold dots and put 20 through with no problems, but 20 isn't nearly the amount I want to base my opinion of the round off. And for $30 for a box of 20 at the only shop that has a good variety of defense rounds, to put 200 rounds through at the range thats well over $300 - that is not reasonable for me.

Granted I will probably be ordering some different rounds online in a larger amount to try and bring down the cost, but I would still like to know your alls opinions of some cost effective defense rounds that will get the job done but won't break my bank at the same time. After all, how am I supposed to give my little sig new friends if I am having to pay $300 on ammo?
 
For $300 you could set yourself up to reload. That's cost effective. Not only that, but when your SIG acquires new 'friends', their ammo can be cost effective too.
 
Personally, I tend to run a magazine of my personal defense rounds every time I go to the range. It's not the 200 rounds, but it spreads the cost over a larger period of time.
 
If you own a good gun (glock/sig/M&P, etc... NOT a Kel Tec POS) then I think dumping a bunch of expensive defensive ammo down the barrel is a waste of money.

Modern quality autos are cookie cutter guns. Each one is the same as the last one. Now of course you want to run some practice ammo to see that there's no defective parts or other issues.... But we're too conditioned to the old 1911 days where you didn't know what you might get to work in the gun.
 
In my opinion --- if you run 20 rds thru the gun / with 2 or 3 different mags ..or whatever you have for mags ....then you have no reason to question whether they'll run or not. But if running 300 rds of defense ammo thru that gun is the only way you're going to be comfortable - then that's what you should do ...

I don't think you'll be able to find a deal on-line or in any quantity of defense ammo even at a gun show. So finding a cheaper source is probably not going to work out for you - in my experience.

Personally, I run a box of Hydra Shoks (20rds) - thru a new gun after its broken in - and then I don't worry about it.

You could reload some similar rounds / similar bullets and same overall length - get some less expensive hollow points like Rainier Ballistics - and get into reloading - and load your own / but getting into reloading is $ 300 - $2,000 pretty easy these days for the equipment, supplies, etc too ....and makes no sense if you don't have the desire or the temperment to re-load ammo.

I've reloaded for over 40 yrs ---and I've never had an ammo malfunction !! -- but there isn't a handful of guys that I would trust to re-load ammo for me ... Buying re-loads is an option / but not a risk I'm willing to take with my guns or my hands and eyes .../ but there are guys out there that will do it for you .../ if you find someone you think you can trust to do it right ! Re-loading isn't difficult / it just takes attention to detail --- that not everyone follows ...
 
I think you've got yourself into a bit of a pickle there!

Defense ammo is going to be expensive, granted some are cheaper than others, but the ammo thats worth using is pretty darn expensive. But you already know this.

as far as I know, Sellier & Bellot makes some reasonable ammo at reasonable prices.

I think that testing for reliability mainly concerns the shape of the bullet, and how it reacts to your specific feeding ramp. The only way to know for sure would be to run your brand of carry ammo until you are satisfied. running any cheap hollow point will be a reasonable indicator, but it won't be exactly the same.

perhaps try finding some flat nosed FMJ's with the same (or close) shape as the hollow points you choose to carry.
that may be the only way to do it if you absolutely cannot run a large amount of carry ammo through your pistol.

Otherwise, save up and splurge, or as another poster recommended, space it out over time.
 
I may end up reloading some defensive rounds and go that route, my dad has a single stage and a multistage, I just need to get the dyes for 40 s&w, have most every other common rifle caliber & 9mm/45 for pistol. For practice ammo I have much experience reloading & plus using the single stage I tend to get better quality than the cheaper practice ammos, so I guess it would make sense to just find some good quality defensive bullets to reload with.
 
reloads for SD?

Many people shy away from loading their own SD ammo for a number of reasons.
The main one being the one that if you end up in court after a shooting, a lawyer can use that against you.

A good recommendation is to find out what your local LEO's use, and have the same stuff in your weapon.
 
A good recommendation is to find out what your local LEO's use, and have the same stuff in your weapon.
Click to expand...

That's not a bad idea. I mean... in AZ we had the Harold Fisch case where the prosecution tried to paint him in a bad light for having a handgun that was "more powerful than what the Police carry".
 
local pd around here uses 40 s&w so I am covered on that stance if stuff hits the fan. One of my buddies is local PD so I will have to ask him what rounds they use, I know he can get practice ammo from the range even if he goes shooting elsewhere so thats part of the reason I got a 40. He will get about 500 rounds and we can go out and have some fun.
 
I have my boxes of self defense ammo set aside and I shoot them 10 rounds at a time every so often but I have a lot of cheap practice ammo that shoots to the same point of aim and I shoot that a lot. It isn't an insurmountable problem. Look in my cabinet and in the back are my Winceshter Super X, Federal and my Remington etc but out front are my Wolf, Fiocchi, Sellier Bellot etc. and a mess of brass on my bench waiting to be reloaded. Buy the same weight practice bullet you want for your self defense ammo and you most likely will be close enough for serious practice.
 
The cost of reloading will be so much cheaper, I think I will be able to experiment with some defense loads and put a good 200 or so through my gun with no problem. My dad has primers because he buys them in 1,000count boxes to get a cheap price & we all save all our brass so I have probably close to 750+ rounds of .40 brass.

Was looking for some bullets to buy and these caught my eye, prices isn't too bad either. Looks like they sell speer gold dots as well, but its $10 more a box

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/86727-1.html

Now correct me if I am wrong, but I would assume for a defense load I would want a 180 or 200 grain round due to more mass behind it & the extra weight vs a 154, also the drop on it would be minimal at close range if even noticeable, right?
 
I imagine any of the federal or speer expanding bullets would work as advertised. Cast wide flat nose is not without merit, and they are even cheaper than store bought.
 
I agree with the earlier post about not using reloads/handloads for defensive carry. Masaad Ayoob has written about the various reasons on several
occassions. I tend follow the advice of proven legal and shooting experts.

Shoot a bunch of crap through your gun to make sure it is reliable and a box or two of your carry ammo.
 
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