Help on Self-defense loads, and gun suggestions

If you want to stay with a JHP in your snub, both Winchester's 145grn Silvertips and Federal's 158grn Hydra-Shoks seem to penetrate well and probably wouldn't recoil significantly more than your Fiocchis

http://www.firearmstactical.com/ammo_data/357magnum.htm

If you're willing to go with a non-expanding bullet, I'd look at S&B's 158grn FMJ .38 Special. These have a flattened nose and would be quite likely to go completely through an erect biped while offering much more modest recoil than .357 Magnums. If you want the lightest recoil possible, a plain old 148grn HBWC .38 Special wouldn't seem like too bad an idea as recoil is quite light but penetration is still acceptable.

http://www.brassfetcher.com/38wadcutter.html

For maximum penetration in your 9mm, a 158grn FMJ as loaded by Fiocchi and Prvi Partizan would seem to be the ticket, though Winchester's Ranger 124grn FMJ wouldn't be bad either.

As to another gun, a steel-framed .357 like a S&W M60 or Ruger SP101 would make the better performing rounds much more bearable to shoot and are both available with the 3" barrel that you've expressed preference for in the past. S&W's new 396 Night Guard .44 Special would also seem like a viable option to give you both larger holes and deep penetration particularly if loaded with something like Grizzly's 260grn WFNGC or Buffalo Bore's 255grn SWC.

http://www.grizzlycartridge.com/-strse-14/44-Special-260-Grain/Detail.bok
http://www.buffalobore.com/ammunition/default.htm#44spl

If you're considering a DW Bobtail anyway, why not look at one in 10mm auto. While this cartridge doesn't offer significant ballistic advanatge of the .45 Super that you seem to like, ammunition and brass are more widely available and less expensive. Something like Doube Tap's 180 or 200grn controlled expansion JHP would seem like an excellent solution.

http://www.doubletapammo.com/php/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21_25&products_id=122
http://www.doubletapammo.com/php/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21_25&products_id=40
 
Re4mer said:
Just a thought, if this a defensive pistol then all that extra penetration from a FMJ could become dangerous for bystanders that may be in the area behind or around your attacker.
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Y'know, from reading gun boards, I'm beginning to think that in some cities, whenever there's a gunfight, innocent bystanders run to line up behind the target.

Most places I've lived, they usually hit the deck when caps start popping.
 
Just got done looking at the 45 230 grain flat nose. Great website. Seems like a good guy to do business with.
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No, Penn's Thunderhead in 45 (mainly suitable for 45LC/454...could be loaded as a 45ACP but no auto could feed it!) is 270gr.

It's the 38/357 that's a 230!
 
http://www.firearmstactical.com/ammo_data/357magnum.htm
Above is really old, and not worth much.

Saw the below, and, it works for me...
http://www.brassfetcher.com/38wadcutter.html
.44 specials are in a different weight, and size category. Not on the table here.

Buffalobore ammo is absurd, and, the one gun they exclude is the one that's small enough to carry, CA 44 bulldog...
As for the 10mm, I see no reason in Kali to get one. It offers no advantages when compared to 45 Detonics/supra...

Tamara, excellent points...
 
I started a thread once and asked for cases where bystanders got killed or seriously injured by bullets that completely penetrated the target.

I did not receive any credible ones. Finally a person who was adamant that over penetration was a real danger, found a story where NYPD officers fired something like 40 times and a bystander was hit, but there was nothing to prove it was a bullet that had gone through the target.

Over penetration theories are more over blown BS, its like when people say they won't use Buck shot for HD, because it might go through a wall and kill a kid or a neighbor. Well, how come no one can provide a link to a case where thats happened.

The truth is a bystander is far more likely to be hit by a miss than an over penetrating shot.
 
It seems to me that given your parameters you ought continue to rely on your Detonics paired with a JHP pushed at approximately 1000 fps or a bit more... and fret not.

Now, as for your Airlite, as already noted your looking at a more of a compromise; the best of which is arguably, again considering your parameters, something along the lines of the wadcutter load Jim March posted. There's something to be said, a lot actually, for shootability woth the little, light guns. Too often I see folks upload them where they'd be better served downloading them. YMMV.
 
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I have not used Longshot, or Titegroup, but I've used the others.

You should give the 180 grain Nosler HG a look, I've tested it in my 2.25 inch SP-101 and it works well.

Look at that expansion, it opens up like blades on a fan and penetrates close to or sometimes more than 20 inches. It will perforate them at defense ranges.
 
As for the 10mm, I see no reason in Kali to get one. It offers no advantages when compared to 45 Detonics/supra...
Click to expand...

It would seem to me that both loaded ammunition and brass are more commonly available (I was under the impression that standard .45 ACP brass is not sufficiently strong to be loaded to .45 Super pressures). If, however, this is not the case then the 10mm does not hold any significant advantage over the .45 Super other than capacity which is a non-issue in Kali.
 
If you're all about the penetration...

200gr .400" bullets offer greater sectional density than 230gr .451" FMJ, and are probably easier to come by and cheaper than more exotic, heavier .451" bullets unless you cast your own.
 
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