What carry ammo do you use?

It's probably been aksed before, but I'm aksing again.

I carry a 1911, and have Speer Gold Dot as my carry ammo.

You'ins?

Speer LE Gold Dot 180 GR.

Last time they issued 165 GR.

That's the only thing I'd carry in my gun even off duty just to prevent any shit from starting up if I used that gun with different ammo. (Or even worse went on duty and forgot to switch back to the issued ammo and had an incident)

Now when I finally get around to a G26 or G27 I'll probably switch out to Ranger T's (a guy I work with swears by them and is a gun expert from the military)

9mm gold dot in my glock 19

I don't have carry ammo, but I do have self defense ammo:

In 9mm I have both 147 gr Gold Dots and 124 gr +P Gold Dots

In .45apc I have 230 gr Fiocchi XTP's because that's all I could get recently.

The XTP's are extremely accurate and consistent but I've heard they plug up and fail to expand if there are too many layers of clothing.

carry ammo = self defense ammo

at least for most people

All carry ammo is self defense ammo but not all self defense ammo is carry ammo. I don't carry mine, hence the distinction.

I'm still not seeing the distinction. How do you not carry self defense ammo?

You do. Which is why I said "all carry ammo is self defense ammo". I feel like you're looking for something that's not there so I want to be clear. I made the distinction because I do not personally use the ammo for carry. Because I don't carry. That's it. So I don't call what I have "carry ammo". If I carried, I would call it that. I just didn't want to give the impression that I carry when I don't.

uhm.. toMAto tomAto?

It depends on what I'm carrying.

I'm required to carry these cartridges in the following calibers.

9mm Para: 124gr +P Federal HST
.40SW: 180gr Federal HST
.45ACP: 230gr +P Federal HST
.38 Special: 147gr +P+ Federal Hydra-Shok
.357 Magnum: 125gr Speer Gold Dot
.44 Magnum: 240gr Speer Gold Dot
5.56mm NATO: 55gr Federal TRU Sierra BTHP
.308WIN: 168gr Federal Gold Medal Sierra MatchKing BTHP
12ga: Federal Tactical 9 Pellet Full Velocity 00 Buckshot

Do you see a pattern here? All one company. :-/

Today my son is carrying pepper spray because he's going deep into bear territory.....the two legged kind.

I saw it employed on a car repo reality show. It will put somebody down FAST! Someone on drugs/adrenaline can deal with being tasered, shot, etc. but if they can't see, it's game over for them.

Sportsmen in Alaska (and other places) are carrying if for bear protection. Meter readers use them on dogs. Results have been positive so far!

Winchester Silvertips in my .45 and my 9mm. The .357 in the basement has Federal 125 gr HPs. The Winchester 1200 in the closet has #4 buck.

Of course I can't carry in NJ, and hollowpoints are illegal to use outside the home except for on-duty police.

I can tell you right now from experience that a person on drugs/adrenaline/is a flipping psycho has a better then average chance of shrugging off OC spray then they can being tasered or shot.

A person whose also been sprayed before also has a better chance of dealing with it. Most criminals have been sprayed at one point in their sorry lives. Some eat that crap for lunch they are so used to it.

And people who eat hot food all the time also have a good chance shrugging it off.

It's also why officers, myself included, have been sprayed with a full blast. It's not blinding but it is painful BUT you can still fight if you really want to or need to.

Is your son ready to fight when the guy doesn't go down but instead because of the drugs or the adrenaline or the fact he's a flipping psycho OR A COMBINATION OF ALL THREE goes bonkers and tries to bash your kids face in?

Lot of people don't realize that and get themselves in trouble with OC spray because they are not ready for what happens after. It's not a show stopper because if it was that's all the police would use.

Speer Gold Dots JHPs in my .380 Kel-Tec.

But honestly, as long as it reliably feeds, I'd be fine with whatever.

Winchester Supreme Elite 9mm in my Sig Sauer P-250.

Federal Premium 230 grain .45 Hydra Shok

my home defense weapon is my M-10, 30 rounds of .45 hydra shok per mag

Can't carry (yet), but my home defense gun uses Winchester 9mm Silvertip 115 grain HPs.

I'll soon be switching to a .45 (almost certainly an S&W MP) and will be looking into those Federal +P HST Elwood mentioned...

It's a good round, but you're going to pay for it. My understanding is that Federal has really cracked down on dealers that are selling it to non-Law Enforcement personnel, so while you can still get it, the price point is moving up.

If 230gr Hydra-Shoks were available at the same price or cheaper, I'd buy them and be as happy as a pig in shit.

I've got some Federal Premium Low Recoil rounds, but I can't really tell any difference in the recoil.

This nonsense always annoys me.

Stupid companies trying to restrict things to LE only. If it's good enough for LE to use then it's good enough for civilians to use.

Man I wish I had the capital. I'd start my own ammo company and build ammo as good as any of these so called restricted ones and I'd constantly hit that up in the advertising.

"Federal thinks you suck cause you're not an LEO. Not us. Better ammo. Better prices. Better self-defense."

That's why I like the Speer. My Colt was made back in the late Fifties, and doesn't understand all these new fangled, fancy-pants "Holler Point" rounds. The Gold Dots profile is close enough to that of ball ammo that it can't tell the difference.

The .380, which could use a little extra knockdown power, has some kind of hollow points in it. I think they're Hydrashoks, but to tell the truth I don't shoot it that much, so I've got a box in an ammo can somewhere.

The 12 guage is loaded with whatever buck Sportsman's Guide was selling by the gross a couple decades ago because well, if 9 rounds of 00 buck and a bayonet doesn't stop something, nothing will. And the .357 has whatever Big 5 Sports had in stock when I picked up a couple boxes. They weren't hollow-points, but I'm not losing that much sleep over it because again, it's a .357. And it isn't like I'm a jewelery courier or something. The chances that I'll need to shoot someone are relatively slim.

Come on, fess up.

Someone here has to be using these.

Has to be Apostle.

Nope.

No, but you've got my interest.

Hmmm...I watched a few of the videos on YouTube. But what can you really tell from an exploding watermelon, or a water jug blasted open?

Anyone heard anything about these, good, bad, or indifferent?

Indifferent from what I've heard. They're obviously being marketed to mall ninjas.

IIRC, the Box 'O Truth tested some and weren't terribly impressed.