Whats is the best duty ammo?

[five0686]

Heard that Speer Gold Dot is one of the best. Any other opinions?

[SoCalSheriff]

You will get lots of opinions. Some people will swear by the "premium" brands like Gold Dot, Blackhills, etc.

Like anything else, It is important to practice with what you will use in real life. Likewise, ammo should be rotated on a (semi) regular basis.

That being said, I prefer and use Winchester White box 230 gr JHP. (in .45 ACP) It is still pricey (about $17/box of 50 at Walmart), but not as expensive as the 20 rnd premium boxes. You are more likely to "rotate" it as well, because it is cheaper to replace.

The premium rounds do have slightly better expanding properties, but IMHO, not worth the extra cost. 230 grains of well placed lead will work 99.9999% of the time. For the .0001% that it doesn't, just follow up with a second shot. :)

[five0686]

Of course, good shot placement is always the key for stopping someone. I have Speer .45 ACP +P's 200gr GDHP in my Glock 21. Whats good about Speer Gold Dots, they burn clean and they have a little more kick than the regulars loads.

[armyfi]

I use Winchester Ranger 180 grain and I have had no failures so far with it

[Blackdog F4i]

There really isn't a "best".

You want something that will reliably expand and penetrate deep enough to cause immediate incapacitation.

You can spend years researching terminal ballistics and still not figure out what is best.

Luckily I don't have to worry about that. My department hands me a box of duty ammo (in our case it's Federal Hydrashock) and I use it. If I don't it can result in disciplinary action.

I ran Hydrashock before I got on the department so that was a nice suprise.

Use a Hollopoint Defensive load from one of the large manufacturers. Or better yet, look at what the larger departments and federal agencies are using.

Federal, Corbon, Hornady, etc. are all good choices.

In reality it matters more WHERE you shoot them rather than WHAT you shoot them with.

[Gene L]

Go with the Blackdog. There ain't no 'best" of anything. Just go with what's proved it works, and that info is probably with your training officer.

We use what the FBI uses, just because they have mountains of data already on hand and if we ever shoot anyone, we won't have to go do the research ourselves.

Shot placement is paramount, as the Dog says. Rather get shot in the big toe with a .44 Mag than get a brain pan with a .22.

No such thing as "knock down" power that comes from energy from a bullet. You very well may knock someone down, but it's because of trauma and shock. For a bullet to have enough energy to knock a person down, it would also knock you backwards and down...Einstien's law, "for every force exerted, there is an equal and opposite force."

Edited to add: on one of those "Roll Call" tapes, they showed a crazy guy with his nephew, a baby, in a pond up to his waist. He was going to drown the baby. This was on film from a TV crew, and the family was standing around yelling, but not really helping, as things usually are in such situations.

A deputy shot the guy in the shoulder from about three feet away with .40 Black Talon ammo. It made blood, but didn't really seem to affect the guy much more than that. He barely moved, as I recall, and held on to the kid. They still had to wrestle the baby from his arms (while in a john boat). They saved the baby, and used deadly force but not in a way that was inevitably going to cause death, although it could have.

It was a good ending for everyone. Crazy people......

[BklynsFinest347]

Speer Gold Dots are king :cool:

[Watchman]

The only round that matters is what you are carrying in your gun.

The so called "best" round means nothing if your dept. mandates (and I'm sure most do) the ammo that you must carry.

One thing for sure, we have come a long,long ways in bullet technology even in the last 10 years. The performance in bullets has really narrowed the gap between the calibers. If in doubt just keep shooting. Hardly anybody(good guys or bad)shoots just once anyways.

[TampaDevilDog]

BlackDog- I am surpirsed to hear you buy ammo...

I would have thought you designed and marketed your own... ;)

If you do... Count me in as a buyer!

[Blackdog F4i]

BlackDog- I am surpirsed to hear you buy ammo...

Have to keep the lawyers happy. I roll my own training ammo, but defensive ammo needs to be store bought. ;)

[pulicords]

Our department has used Winchester ("SXT"), Speer (Gold Dot) and just recently adopted Federal (HST) ammunition. Although the ultimate thing that determines effectiveness is shot placement, other factors are also important. The amount of flash, how hard (or soft) the primers are, the lack of variation in muzzle velocities between shots, cost and overall quality control are things to consider. Although I'd probably buy Corbon if I had the option (I don't), I'm very pleased with Federal and have always believed they had the best quality control and consistency. It's consistency that makes those little chunks of copper coated lead go where they're needed!