What bullets do you use for personal defense?

. the Barnes bullet was intentionally made lighter as the copper is close to 8 1/2 times tougher than lead.
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Interesting. I may have to add some barnes offerings to my hp collection.
Anyone besides buffalo bore use them? bb is rather expensive.

Speaking of speer gdhp, sportsmans guide has some In stock and they have free shipping. Today is last day:D
 
In the .380 Hornaday Critical Defense. Because that was the only thing I could buy at the time. Feed fine but use El Cheapo Russian stuff for practice.
In the .22s I use CCI Stingers. More power and feed reliably. For practice I use bulk ammo which does not feed reliably but is cheap.
 
90 gr Gold Dot 380 handloads with Power Pistol 1100 fps average from Kel-Tec P3AT 2.75" barrel.


Two months ago I took it out of my pocket and handed it to a guy who finished off his antelope with it. The Gold Dot 90 gr bullet sliced up the heart. The animal died instantly. He complained the recoil was painful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S7vdJVDSNQ
 
@ Real_Gun - I am relatively new here. Been lurking around for awhile, but posting more lately. I should clarify my initial post on personal defense.

First off, does anyone hand load their personal defense ammunition? While I know many people do not use hand loads for personal defense, I believe my hand loads are better than any factory ammo. I take a lot of time with my product and measure each individual powder load on my Hornady Auto Charge. I have not carried hand loads in the past, and I am considering doing so now. I have worked up a recipe using new +P .45 ACP brass from Starline topped with the Barnes TAC-XP 185 grain bullet. I have shot several dozen through all of my 1911s. They perform flawlessly. I am considering using them for my personal defense ammo. This is why I titled my post what bullet you use for PD. Thoughts??
 
oh, you mean for ME, in MY guns

I normally use a Remington 115g S-JHP in .355" bores.
I use a Hornady 140g XTP-HP in 38 Special.
I use whatever 125g JHP I grab off my shelves in 357 Magnum.
I use a Nosler 135g JHP in 40 S&W and 400 CorBon.
I use any old bullet (normally a 240g LSWC) in 44 Magnum.
I use a non-bonded Remington 230g Golden Saber in 45 ACP.

In my favorite, the 41 Action Express, I load 180g Speer Gold Dots.





My always and its back-up are 22LR: I currently use W-W Super-X 40g LRN.
 
Hopefully none!

I'm happy with Gold Dot. I am not picky. I guess I should be but every top dollar HP I've tested fired fine, expanded great so I have never been like 'oh yeah this is the one'.
 
Copper tougher than lead ? Yes but the real reason for the lighter Barnes bullets is that copper is much lighter than lead .So barnes were weighing the same of the lead ones it would have to be much longer which means feeding problems and poor accuracy [needs more twist].

Flying ash trays ? Doesn't make sense .I think the original was called by some a flying coffee or tea cup. The 45 had a 1/4" hole compared to their earlier 1/16" hole. The original also had the jacket scored 12 times IIRC. It would open on anything ! Wouldn't penetrate a 'chuck hit in the shoulder area ! Then they gave up the scoring version.
So it was ; RN , RNHP 1/16", RN 1/4" scored, RN unscored 1/4" !!
The first two were worthless, the second two actually expanded on chucks .All my tests done on chucks [Marmota Monax ]:p
 
Haven't bought factory (except .22) for 30 years....

240g SWC for the .44 Spec (CC in town).
255g SWC for the .45 Colt (Woods).

And of course, whatever is in the gun at the time will also work in a pinch. For example, I mostly shoot 250g RNFP is my .45s ....
 
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I really DO like the Barnes but for the price and only getting 20 or so per box they are a little less desirable. I like to test, test, and retest, and at their cost, that simply isn't plausible for my budget.

I also am a huge fan of the Speer Gold Dot and have been since they hit the market. I have shot thousands of them in several calibers and know how they work and at what velocities they work the best from my revolvers and semi's. I have used them almost exclusively in my 10mm for hunting feral hogs and have not been let down by them yet. The 180gr leaving the muzzle of my 7" barrel at just north of 1350 will reliably drop a 200# hog out to 50yds with almost boring regularity I figure they will work on just about anything else I am likely to encounter.

For my ACP I also like the GD, as well as some of the Taurus 185gr loads I picked up a few years back loaded with the Barnes bullet. Those are some pretty impressive critters but they don't come cheap.

As such when I picked up my MP 452 200 mold my main purpose was to work on the alloy and the loads to duplicate the factory load performance I have gotten in the past. When I found the proper alloy I think I will simply stick with these from now on out. They are running in the mid 800's and have produced reliable expansion time and time again. I haven't had the time to put them to task on the hogs we chase, but just from testing them against the GD and a couple of others I doubt seriously they will perform any bit less than what I have already seen form the factory fodder.

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Send me about a thousand of those and I'll test them for you, Mike. Since you're a Texas boy, I'll waive my usual bullet-testing fees ;)

Seriously, that is a fine bullet and your casting is top-notch.
 
Legal Liability

There is some amount of legal liability with the maker.
If I load it and someone dies, or even worse, doesn't, I am liable for velocity, muzzle energy, choosing expanding projectiles, choosing NON-expanding projectiles,etc. Someone has been sued for it before and lost.
If I use factory loads, at least some of that liability rests with the factory, their lawyers, and insurance companies.
Cost savings of handloading are outweighed by risk sharing.
 
I had been using the Hornady critical defense , but switching to the XTP-HP. After seeing some comparison testing.
 
My 2" .38 has a cylinder full of 150 gr. DEWC over a stiff load of W231. My 1911 uses 200 gr. LSWC over a medium/stiff load of Unique.

I'm not a "factory ammo only for SD" thinker...
 
If I had to shoot someone with a factory load around my house it will have to be either .22 LR or .22 WMR, or bird shot from a shotgun, if they were willing to wait a while I might be able to dig up a partial box of WWB. Otherwise in my AR it would be a 50 gr. HP (soon to be changed over to a 55 grain HP as it like them better), in .45 ACP if would be a 230 gr. Ranier HP, in .357 it would be a low/medium loaded 125 gr. XTP/HP.
 
The Rainier HPs (minor exception, the 124g HEX HP) are not considered ideal for shooting people.
They are, however, better than a rock ;)
 
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