9mm Self Defense ammo vs 9mm Target ammo

The idea behind self defense ammo is to incapacitate an attacker as quickly as possible, by causing as much damage as possible, as efficiently as possible. The bullet’s total energy must be dumped deep into the target for maximum effectiveness. A hollow point or soft nose round will expand on impact, increasing its diameter, causing a larger permanent wound cavity and, like a parachute suddenly slowing its load when deployed, will suddenly transfer its energy to the target. Also, the rapid expansion and energy dump ideally eliminates over penetration. When a bullet over penetrates, the momentum causing it to continue to travel is energy left in the bullet that did not transfer to the target. A ball round is aero and hydrodynamic. Its shape allows it to travel with minimal friction, allowing it to retain its energy longer, traveling farther through matter. Its energy efficient design is what makes ball ammo a less than ideal “man stopper.” It is likely to pass through its target, retaining much of its energy. That is called over penetration. However, its energy efficiency does make ball ammo better at penetrating hard barriers, like doors, car windows and armor, than hollow points. A hollow point would dump too much of its energy as it flattens on impact and would have trouble continuing to the target behind the barrier with enough force to be effective.

For a self defense ammo to be as effective as possible, it must be as powerful as possible. +P or NATO rounds will give the extra punch you want when sh!t hits the fan. It must also be as reliable as possible. Manufacturers understand that someone’s life could depend on every round produced and generally produce their self defense ammo to higher standards than the budget target rounds. Don’t be surprised that the high performance and manufacturing standards comes at a cost. Good self defense ammo is not cheap. However, considering the your not throwing thousands of self defense rounds down range and your or someone you love’s life may be on the line, it’s a small price to pay.

Target ammo is not such a serious matter and seeing as the typical shooters will send hundreds of rounds down range per session, recoil and price become the highlighted issues. Simply put, the average Joe or Jane has to be physically and financially able to shoot 100 – 300 rounds per training session, without “selling the farm” or needing an orthopedist. In order to lower prices, target ammo is usually simple ball ammo made with average materials, to average specs. There is no attacker to stop, so high pressure ammo is not needed. Target ammo is usually loaded to standard pressure or less, making it less expensive to manufacture and easier to shoot round after round. The “penny pinching” production (that’s easy for you to say) of target ammo often cuts back on quality control leading to inconsistent loads, which means inconsistent power, bullet velocity and recoil. The average shooter won’t notice the inconsistencies. Even for experienced shooters, mass produced target ammo is A-okay. Serious target shooters, on the other hand, require the utmost in consistency and often turn to loading their own ammo as a cost efficient solution, assuring every round has exactly the right primer and bullet, seated perfectly in the exact right case with the exact amount of the right kind of powder. I’m not that guy, but I get it. 

Lastly, although I’m not saying you need to spend exorbitant amounts of money training with your defense ammo. I do advocate you do take a few shots per session to shoot the ammo you carry. For one, you want to make sure it fires and cycles reliably in your gun. But also, not every gun likes every ammo and you may not like every ammo too. You are likely to see some brands, grains, materials, etc are more or less accurate than another. You might also find recoil in a particular round is too sharp and you have trouble controlling followup shots. If this is the case, don’t be bravado. A wild follow up shot could be life or death to whomever your’e protecting or an innocent by standard.

My best advice is to shoot a lot. Try different brands and variations of ammo. Train different drills. Focus on safety and proficiency. Train for the task at hand. If you are training for concealed carry, consider and mimic as best you can a likely response to a deadly threat. I see so many people at the range training with their carry gun like they are training for an accuracy competition. Slow bullseye shooting isn’t necessarily going to help you defend against a surprise attack. Sure it has value, but it’s not the whole story. Work on two rapid fire bursts from a low read position. If you are experienced enough and your range allows, draw from your holster. Learn these more advanced exercises by only dry firing, at first. Be very conscious of the correct motions and placements. Its easy to unknowingly train bad habits when you’re dry firing and there are no immediate consequences. Where is your other hand? is your finger on the trigger before it should be? Are you potentially pointing your gun at others during your draw? You can also work on trigger control with dry fire drills. Be sure your gun is ok to be dry fired. Dryfiring will damage some guns, including many rimfire pistols.

Whatever you do, have fun and be safe. Shooting is one of those hobbies that is an absolute blast and has a very valuable real world application.