Preferred carry/duty round in .40S&W

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P71pilot

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I recently bought a Walther PPQ M2 .40 semi automatic striker fired handgun and have fired about 300-400rds through it in the 2 months I have had it. I starting to get used to the trigger and recoil as compared to 1911 which is my baby. But the 1911 is just too heavy to carry for little ole me and doesn't hold quite the capacity I want in a full size/duty size handgun.

So I am going to carry this PPQ and practice with it at least twice a month at least 50rds per session and become accurate with it. I have shot mostly 165gr fmj target loads (blazer brass, winchester white box) but have also shot about 3 boxes of different 180gr Ioads (fiocchi, maxxtech (cheap bosnian), and Sellier & bellot).
I think my PPQ or at least I shoot better with heavier bullets. although to me the 180gr loads have a harsher recoil in such a light gun.

Anyways, I need to pick some JHP carry rounds to try, and of course will make sure they feed well and are accurate in my gun first. I am aware the primary choices are Speer good dots (165-180), federal HST (any weight), hornady (critical duty, and defense), Remington golden sabers (any weight), and Winchester (pdxi, ranger t any weight)

I honestly prefer penetration over expansion and under penetration. I also prefer heavier bullets to lighter bullets; if I ever have to shoot dinner or defend myself from a rabid black bear or shoot through hard objects, I like having greater weight over greater speed.

On testing videos I have noticed that hornady critical duty loads can penetrate roughly 15" in gel. This is about the maximum depth I have seen in FBI STYLE testing with quality JHP .40S&W.
My question, is there a JHP load that penetrates even deeper? (Would probably be 180gr and would probably be bonded) I am looking for an all purpose load that penetrates deeply rather than expands to .80"

I would like see 18" + out of a .40s&W JHP that opens to at least .50"

So those of you that carry/ shoot .40S&W, what is your preferred carry JHP load, and why? Also what do you think would work well for me, wanting penetration over expansion. I am fairly new at this but have done tons of research and know a fair amount about ballistics. May even start reloading soon
 
The FBI requires that round penetrate at least 12", but no more than 18", to minimize shoot throughs. I'll stick with Hornady critical duty.
 
Right now I currently have 1 box of Winchester PDX1 180gr bonded JHP, have not test fired any yet. I also have about 10 Fiocchi 180gr JHP (cheapos) that have proven to be accurate and feed perfectly in my pistol, that is what resides in my mag for home defense. Have not received CHL in mail yet. I am familiar with the FBIs testing protocol, and I am not concerned about over penetration, I would rather have more than less, I will pick more damage and more blood loss over the ever tiny percentage of chance that I hit someone unintentionally. And any property damage can be taken care of. I fully realise the risk of carrying and using a handgun. If I am going to carry a deadly weapon, I want as much lethality as possible. I think very very very few bystanders are injured or killed in police shootings, with as many misses as there are let alone pass throughs. To me- OVERpenetration is OVERthought
 
I’ve used the PDX1 in several of my handguns including my HK USP40 and have been happy with the performance. I will freely admit that other than some casual observation of how it impacted some plywood I haven’t done any real controlled comparison/evaluation of the round.
 
As long as the rounds pass the FBI protocol it doesn't matter much to me which one it is so I get whatever LE over run/surplus I can find cheap. for 40 S&W I found a bunch of the FBI contract Winchester Ranger 180gr.
 
My old agency adopted 180gn Golddots when we switched to the 40S&W in the '90s.

As one of their firearms instructors, I got to shoot bunches of that ammo, saw thousands of rounds of it fired on the range and have copies of 3 autopsies where that was the ammo used.

I am a firm believer in that round in that caliber. In fact I shoot Golddots (147gn) in my 9mm EDC now
 
I owned my .40 S&W (P94) for a total of 23 days.

After a bit of testing, it got loaded with Magtech 180 gr JHPs for SD/HD use.
The testing that I have seen (and the informal testing I did) showed good enough performance from the load, it ran perfectly in that pistol, and it was less than half the price of 'name brand' SD loads.

Soon thereafter, I was presented with an opportunity I could not turn down, but it necessitated liquidating the .40 S&W.

If I still had it, I'd probably be carrying the Magtech load.
 
Bargain basement prices are the last thing I look for in a SD round!
Click to expand...
...Says the man named Cheapshooter.... :rolleyes:

Anyway...
They cost the same amount to manufacture.

And, if you hadn't noticed, the portion of my post that you quoted was part of a list. ;)
 
..Says the man named Cheapshooter....
Click to expand...
LOL
Comes from my collection of inexpensive, shooter grade C&R milsurps, and other lower priced guns. I enjoy my "cheap shooters" as much as my higher priced guns.
My only ecperience with Magtech was when their turned my formally 100% reliable Colt 1991a1 Compact into a Jam-O-Matic. Maybe tyat particular gun just didn't like it. It hasn't had any problems with cheap(er) WWB fmj range ammo, Winchester PDX1, Speer Gold Dot, Remington Golden Sabre, or my handloads.
The Magtech just left a bad impression on me. Could have been the gun, could have just as easily been a bad batch of ammo. I think I have a few rounds left. Might try them in one of my other 45s just to see.
 
I have had good luck with Magtech ammo but I have only used FMJ.

The Magtech .40 S&W 180gr bonded actually performed pretty well in the lucky gunner ballistic tests.
 
After researching as many test results as I can obtain, I have settled on the Winchester Ranger "T" series 165 grain loads.
 
the 155 and 180 grain XTP from hornady is an extremely accurate, tough, deep penetrating, controlled expansion bullet...I run the 155s in my SR40
 
Awesome article I really appreciate lucky gunner for that and the post-er for providing the link. Looks to me like federal 180gr HST will provide the best of what I am looking for. Now to locate a few boxes and make sure it feeds and shoots well from my Walther.
 
No problem. Granted it was only 5 rounds of each type and given your barrel length you may get different results. I like the hst because while it did not have the biggest expansion, I like it's penetration and it's consistency. I like to look at the pictures of the bullets and see how much they very.
 
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