Found some 9 mm, but....

V

Vinnie Harold

New member
I am very new at this, and am quickly learning that you just DO NOT go out there, buy a gun and some bullets, and start shooting. There is a lot to know, and the more I learn, the more I know that I know nothing.

I recently bought some 9 mm American Eagle 115 gr. target ammo to try out my new Glock 19. After reading post after post, I decided it was time to buy some self-defense ammo.

I went and bought some Speer Gold Dot, recommended highly by many here, but very pricey. ($17 for a box of 20 rds)

So, I started looking around for Fed. HST, also highly recommended, which I could not find. Then, I ended up at Doubletap, and saw Speer Gold Dot 9mm 124 +p for a cheaper price than I paid originally at another seller.

After quickly buying some, I found out that DT calls theirs JHP while Speer has a GDHP. I did some looking (after I bought) and found that it was not the same ammo. I was bothered by the fact that DT uses the name Speer in their ammo when it is somewhat different than the Speer I had first bought, and as a dumb newbie, I made a mistake thinking I was comparing apples to apples, when in fact the ammo is different.(later I learned both use a Speer bullet)

So, I went back to the forums and found that DT is indeed excellent ammo, and maybe in some ways (which I do not understand..flash, velocity, penetration) is even be preferable to the Speer by many shooters.

Is it possible for one of you to explain to a simple guy like me, what the difference is between the actual Speer 124gr +p 9mm GDHP and the DT 124 +p 9mm JHP? Why would you buy one over the other?

Sorry for this long confusing post, but I guess all 9mm ammo was not created equally...and I want to make sure that for personal defense, I am using the right stuff.

Thanks again.
Vinnie
 
JHP stands for "jacketed hollow point"

"Gold Dot" is the brand name of JHP made by speer.

GDHP is simply a short version of "Gold Dot Jacketed Hollow Point"


Now, all hollow points are NOT created equal and I don't know if Double Tap uses Speer bullets or not but I can pretty well guarantee that, in this case, either one will do the job nicely.
 
Double Tap loads their ammo with Speer Gold Dot hollow point bullets. You yourself can buy just the Speer bullets, and load them yourself if you wish.

Double Taps loads are loaded a little hotter than most of the bigger commercial makers.

If you looking for 50 round boxes of ammo like the Speer Gold Dots, or Federal HST, try Steichers Police Supply. They sell to everyone, and the 50 round boxes are only a couple of bucks more than what dealers usually sell the 20 round boxes for.

http://www.streichers.com/ProductList.aspx?catalog=Guns+and+Ammo&category=AMMO_DHAND
 
Good info so far. Maybe this will help a bit.

The big ammo companies make their own lines of high quality (expensive!) defense oriented ammo. They typically use a little more care and quality control in the production of this ammo, and they use bullets that are specifically designed to perform at certain velocities to expand and do tissue damage. They also package these rounds in very nice boxes, often use a prettier nickel case, and they sell it for a REAL premium.

The big ammo companies are the ones everyone knows and has heard of over the last 30, 50, 100 years. Remington, Winchester, Federal, CCI, etc. These guys also make bulk ammo that's decent in quality and cheap, like the 115 gr FMJ (ball) ammo that you bought. They've been making ammo since the earth cooled.

Then there are the small performance ammo production companies. Here you have places like Cor-Bon, Buffalo Bore and Double Tap. They typically don't offer any "bulk" or "cheap" ammo. All of their stuff usually comes in 20 or 25 round boxes, with high-performance bullets and loadings that hang around the max as allowed by the industry standard (set by SAAMI.) That's important to note-- you can call their ammo "hot", but it's still to standard. It's important that you have a MODERN firearm in decent shape, but it's not a over-hot load, it's to standard, while some of your bulk or plinking ammo may be less so.

The 10mm is a peculiar round in that most factory ammo is not built to standard, it's built to a lesser power. There's a reason for that trend, but that's a whole other conversation having to do with that caliber's history with the FBI. But I bring up 10mm here because it's relevant -- because the factory ammo in this caliber has been, well, lacking, a guy out there who was a fan of the round decided to build his own ammo, produce it legally and sell it to the public. That company became Double Tap ammo. He filled a niche where there was none... an ammo company that built real 10mm ammo to spec. And after doing that, he went forth with other calibers.

His "Gold Dot" loads use the Gold Dot bullet. That's Double Tap ammo. Only the projectile is Gold Dot. IMO, it's better ammo and it's a better deal. Double Tap sells most of their ammo in 50-round boxes. Either Double Tap believes that the Gold Dot bullet is the best bullet he can get his hands on for defense ammo, or it's the best combination of performance and availability.
I am very new at this, and am quickly learning that you just DO NOT go out there, buy a gun and some bullets, and start shooting. There is a lot to know, and the more I learn, the more I know that I know nothing.
Click to expand...
NOT TRUE at all. You do just go out and buy some "bullets" (rather, you go buy some AMMO!) and just start shooting. You've got to start somewhere. Trigger time is required to get better at it. The less you can pay for ammo that functions in your handgun and hits the target to your satisfaction, the better. For practice and fun, you don't need to do anything more than just go out there and buy some ammo.

And the more you learn, the less you know? Nope-- the more you learn, the more you realize how much there is to learn! Just figuring out that you've only scratched the surface makes you a smarter guy than you were yesterday. There's lots of folks on this site that are willing to help by answering questions. You can get a heap of info just by reading other conversations. Sure, some of the posts aren't helpful at all, but I can tell just by reading your post that you are smart enough to weed out the unhelpful posts you'll run in to.

Short answer: Buy some of that Double Tap and shoot at least a couple of boxes of it. First, you need to make sure that it functions properly and reliably in your handgun. Second, you need to be comfortable with the recoil, flash and concussion when you pull the trigger. You need to know you can put them on target and make a decent follow up shot.

If that Double Tap functions well in your handgun and you can shoot it with some level of skill, then it's a damn good ammo for you to use for defense.

If you do ALL your shooting with it, you'll either go broke or you won't shoot enough to get better at shooting. So buy a few boxes, test it, and keep a supply on hand to use when you feel like to need to get re-acquainted with it.

For the rest of your shooting (the bulk of your shooting), just buy some ammo and go shooting!
 
Buying rounds IS VERY CONFUSING.

You have nothing to apologize for.

For me ,it has become so confusing that I just buy the type of Jacketed Hollow Point I can buy in a 50 round box from a quality manufacturer at a relatively low price.

All these special rounds that soak you for so much money and then you read on the internet that on some the jackets peel too far from the bullet or the bullet disintegrates,bah,I'll just shoot the full metal jacketed reloaded rounds for practice and the bulk Jacketed Hollow Points for self defense.

I buy quality ammo anyway so I should'nt have a problem there.

I want to actually be able to afford to shoot the bullets I might be using to defend my life with.
 
Regardless of what HP ammo you choose, you should probably examine the individual rounds if you are loading up for SD use. Look for anything odd about the rounds. Make sure the primers are seated correctly, flush or a little below. Look for burs on the case mouths and any bullet damage. Also realise that if you handle brass cased ammo alot, eventually the fingerprints will show up as stains or brown spots over an extended time. As long as it works in your gun, any of the current hi quality ammo will suffice for your purposes.
 
I started shooting recently in the age of Obama, and I just buy whatever ammo is available in my caliber, I don't care who makes it. I feel lucky to have it, no matter who makes it. Beggars can't be choosy.
 
Thanks for the education!!!

As usual, FiringLine Forums comes to the rescue.

I must thank some of you for the education concerning ammo, and thank others for making me feel "not so foolish".

This has become a more expensive "hobby" than I ever suspected, and as I am very new at this, I am going to take a deep breathe, and slow down, gather information, and shoot the cheaper "bulk" ammo while getting comfortable with using up some of my expensive SD rounds so I become confident with them.

Thank you all so much.

Vinnie
 
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