Hornaday Critical Defense

Does it offer much advantage over Speer GDHP's?

What about Federal HSHP?

If it doesn't offer a significant increase in performance, I'll stick to my GDHP and HSHP in my HD/SD guns...
 
Hello everyone. I am new here to the forums and just purchased my first brand new Glock 17, got it yesterday. Haven't shot it yet but going to go tomorrow to my CCW class and I get to put 50 rounds through it.
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Welcome Atomic Ed, and good luck with your new Glock. It will serve you well for many years to come.

Can you say latest, greatest? How about over hyped, over priced?
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I couldn't agree more.
While a like horn-a-DEEEE :rolleyes: products in general, I also know that when a new product gets a decent review suddenly everyone has to have it. These days I spend my money on more important things than new toys. . . beer.

/*tom*/
 
I'm not going to try anything again, and I don't give a FRA what the website says. I have a box of the stuff sitting right in front of me and it CLEARLY says 1350 fps.
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1090 fps out of even a 4" barreled .38 Spl. is remarkably fast. 1350 fps strains credibility. Their claimed velocity for their 115 gr. 9mm Critical Defense is only 1140 fps. I think the most likely explanation is that you have a misprinted box. I noticed that their 124 gr. .357 Sig XTP load clocks in at exactly 1350 fps. Looks like their printer forgot to reset the type in the velocity section of the label after a run of those boxes.
 
They did a segment about this product on Guns and Ammo Classic yesterday. Using a .380 they performed a test using a block of gel (can't remember what the stuff is called). Using a heavy clothing barrier, there was 6 inches of major wound cavity,10 inches of penetration, beautiful mushroom.
 
I agree that the video might have been slanted just a little. :eek::D


However, the round looked good in gel and the theory is sound. My jury is still out on it, but I'm watching it closely. I need to compare it to Corbon 115 gr. DPX, which is what I carry now in 9mm, and to Speer Gold Dot Short Barrel ammo in my .38 spcl.
 
1st I have to say I like Hornady stuff and it's my first chioce to reload. Targets, varmits, big game, and even front loaders, I get great results with Hornady bullits. That said I have not yet shot the CD loads. When I get a box I will post results. If it is as good as they say I will buy more. As to the worry about lawers and useing it on 2 legs in a CCW confrintation. Your lawer will probly have more leverage on your side because it is billed as a round to defend with and they say it will stop inside th target. The marketing is all around it as a "non LEO round". Hornady says it's for protection not agression. The geniuss of this advertising is the fact that in the court room you can stand up and say "I got this ammo because Hornady says it's for good guys to use".
 
Thanks for the welcome and I am new to this stuff so please keep that in mind. Anyway, the dealer said they were designed for self defense like if you were to shoot a bad guy inside your home or something, then the round would hit and fragment more than say ball ammo and not pass through the walls as easily and hit an innocent victim by accident. He mentioned dryway as another example of it hitting and fragmenting easier than just passing through it. Now whether or not this is all true, I am new so I don't know but it kind of made sense to me when I examined the bullet and saw the way it was designed. I so far only bought one box so if I learn it is good then I will get some more fr my new Glock and if not, well then it will be a lesson learned I suppose.
 
It does not appear to be designed to fragment in contact with building materials. Based on it's construction, it is reasonable to predict that it would penetrate drywall very much as any other hollow point bullet. After all, it is essentially just a hollow point with a polymer plug in it.

It is certainly not a claim they make on their Critical Defense web page:
• Unaffected by thick and heavy clothing, including denim and leather.
• FTX™ bullet delivers superior controlled expansion and large, deep wound cavities over a wide range of velocities.
• Clean burning and stable propellants reduce recoil in lightweight handguns, and perform consistently in all temperatures.
• Minimal muzzle flash protects night vision.
• Feeds reliably in pistols.
• Shiny silver nickel plating prevents corrosion, and is easily visible in low light situations.
• Bullets are cannelured and crimped to avoid bullet setback.
• Bullets are custom designed for individual loads.
• The most effective, consistent, and reliable self-defense ammunition available today!
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Hornady cd

I bought 2 boxes of .380 Hornady cd at $18.95/box of 25. Recoil is much lighter than Speer gold, dot $17.95/ box of 20, so I laid a 2x 4 piece of lumber over a 5 gallon bucket of water and shot the 2x4. The bullet went through the the 2x4 and ended in the bucket of water. The bullet stayed intact but didn't open any. I was running low on buckets so I didn't try it without the board. I previously had shot a Speer g d in a full bucket w/o the board, expansion was great. I was comparing it to a Wolf hp, it went through the 5gal. of water and through the bottom of the bucket, I did'nt find the bullet.
As far as the Hornady cd I need to do another test for expansion. LCP was my test gun.
p.s. The box of Hornady is .380 90gr FTX the box states 1000 fps at muzzle.
 
I chrono'd some standard pressure .38 Spl 110 gr. FTX and velocity was 944fps from a 3" M66. Not close to the velocity listed on the box.

Very mild to shoot, however.
 
So far, the "pre-clogged hollowpoints" such as the Cor-Bon Pow'R'Ball have been successful. The concept is good: you don't get "clothes clog" problems because it's already clogged with something it's designed to cope with.

The only remaining question is "did they put enough heat on it". Hornady isn't anywhere near as gutsy as Cor-Bon in that department, and like Federal are worlds away from the performance of Buffalo Bore, Grizzly Ammo and Doubletap (in roughly that order, BuffBore being hottest).
 
Recoil is much lighter than Speer gold
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I recently compared the recoil of Corbon, Speer Short Barrel, and Hornady CD in a 2" barrel .38 spcl. Of the three, Speer kicked the hardest, with Corbon next and Hornady bringing up the rear. It puzzles me how Hornady can get the velocities they claim with such mild recoil. Their .38 spcl. ammo box claims 1300 fps, but it sure didn't feel like it.

As for expansion - that's one reason I like Corbon.
It seems to have the most expansion and the most consistent expansion of comparable rounds in most calibers.

The idea of plugged HP isn't new - it's been around for years, and the effectiveness has always been questionable.

The jury is still out for me, but I'm leaning back to my old standby - Corbon.
 
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