Does your ammo change with the weather?

A

AdamSean

New member
I was thinking today about how in the winter, people wear thicker and heavier clothing. As I thought about that I decided to replace the ammo in my CCW from Hornady Critical Defense to a deeper penetrating round, the Winchester PDX1.

Hornady designed the Critical Defense for everyday carry by the CCW citizen who does not need to penetrate auto glass and walls, but clothing and have superior expansion. But in the winter it seems necessary to have the extra oomf of a deeper penetrating round for the thick winter coats the BGs wear.

Anyone else do this?
 
Nope, my carry rounds stay the same year round:

9mm
124gr Speer Gold Dot or Federal HST

.32acp
73gr Fiocchi FMJ

.40s&w
not sure yet, just recently got it and haven't fired enough through it yet to figure out what it likes best
 
The Critical Defense round, as I understand it, was designed PRECISELY to penetrate heavy clothing and provide expansion in soft tissue. I carry it in 9mm in my Kahr and in .38 in my Smith 637 all the time.
 
The Critical Defense round, as I understand it, was designed PRECISELY to penetrate heavy clothing and provide expansion in soft tissue. I carry it in 9mm in my Kahr and in .38 in my Smith 637 all the time.
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I just heard a great article is in Combat Handguns about the Critical Defense 9mm penetrating 4 layers of denim to 13.5 inches!! I guess I am keeping this in my XD-9 SC.
 
Nope. I trust my ammo for all situations. Afterall, that's why I've chosen those rounds to protect me in the first place, so I needn't worry about such things.
 
I still prefer hollow points, but you bring up a good point on heavy clothing.
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The thing about heavy clothing and hollow points isn't that they won't penetrate. Oh, they'll do that all right. The problem with hollow points and heavy clothing is that the hollow cavity will clog with fibers before the bullet reaches something liquid, and thus never expands at all.

The net effect is that heavy clothing makes hollow points act like solids. Penetration isn't the problem. Lack of expansion is the problem.

And no, I don't switch ammo with the weather. GOOD hollow points will usually expand even through heavy clothing. Switching to solids kinda defeats the purpose. Think about it -- what you are doing with going with a solid, or a "deeper penetrating" hollow point (that, chances are, won't open) is that you are guaranteeing that you will get the poor performance that we associate with shooting through heavy clothing. Instead, if you choose to always carry a quality hollow point that will usually operate correctly through the heavy clothing, then the worst that will happen is that it will perform like the "heavy clothing" ammo that you would have been switching to.

Besides that, it just doesn't get all that cold around here.
 
No. In fact, I have not made any changes to my choice of ammo in quite some time. I switch mags every month to 'rest" them, but all the ammo that I keep in the carry guns is the same with the exception of caliber. My .45 is always loaded w/ 230 ball and the .40 is always loaded w/ HPs.
 
I did consider switching my .380 ammo out as i have the Hornady Critical Defense in it and it gets cold in Ohio so with heavy clothing being worn now i considered FMJ.
But i looked at many ballistic tests and threw 2-4 layers of denim it still penetrated and expanded 11-13"
So ill keep them in.
 
Never put to much though about it. my head would hurt if I thought so deaply.:D

Non issue for me!

If I carried a small caliber .380 or less maybe I would.

Or if I live in Canada I my carry a different gun with LHC.

GDHP 135g +P SB in the snub 365/24/7
 
Yes.

After it gets cold, and the bears go to sleep for the winter, I tend to relax my caliber choices somewhat, from 44's or 45 Colts with heavier loads, to medium level loads in them or a 357 sometimes (really nice to carry a Smith 19 after carrying a 29 or Ruger SA 45). Same with rifles. In summer, I tend to carry heavier caliber rifles, but when it gets cold, I fall back to lighter ones.
 
I mixed in a few 9mm NATO in my mag, 'just in case'. With penetration in mind, I do carry my 10mm more often in the winter.
 
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