New to 9mm.

[GuyWithGun]

Figure this has been beat to death, but...

Have went through several carry guns the last few years and had issues with all of them of one type or the other. Picked up a M&P couple weeks back and knew I had found the answer. Trouble is, choices were .40 or 9mm. Don't feel there is much difference between the two other than recoil, so went with the 9mm.

Little jumpy at first about the small caliber, but I shoot it freaky good and seems to pack an appropriate amount of wallop, so changing it to my carry gun full time.

Have never had anything this small and don't know much about 9mm. Is there a concerted school of thought about what type ammo one should carry (i.e. light and fast vs. heavy and slow vs. intermediate both.)?

[918v]

I like 147's or 124+P. 147's are very pleasant to shoot and penetrate an inch deeper.

[entropy]

Originally posted by 918v
I like 147's or 124+P. 147's are very pleasant to shoot and penetrate an inch deeper.

Amen. To OP: also read Ayoob's article about self-defense calibers, weight, velocity, etc.: http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/ayoob93.html

[MOHAA Player]

My carry gun(G19)stays loaded with 124gr +p Speer GD jhp's:thumbsup:

[WinstonSmith]

I also like 147gr. JHP. The recoil is less snappy and the penetration is very good. Most folks will tell you you need a "premium" round, but I have found Winchester USA brand (WWB) to be just fine and it costs half as much.

[matty9]

I currently use 124 gr GoldDot. Have also used remington golden sabre 124+p, 124+p GOld dot. Most experts recommend 124-127 gr jhp. I feel any round is good if you do your part and get your hits.

[GuyWithGun]

Originally posted by matty9
I currently use 124 gr GoldDot. Have also used remington golden sabre 124+p, 124+p GOld dot. Most experts recommend 124-127 gr jhp. I feel any round is good if you do your part and get your hits.

Agree with you comletely. That is how started carrying the 9mm to begin with. Said for years wouldn't, but I can shoot this gun by far better than anything I ever shot (and I shot some of the others pretty well, if I do say so myself!). Had been seeing alot of strange loads out there though, like 95 gr. bullets that shoot 1,500 fps and such, and just didn't know what to make of them. Like said, don't know much about 9mms and honestly didn't think there was anything besides the 120's and 140's bullets. Doesn't sound like most folks are a fan of the "fancy loads".

[akbound]

I've used many different loads over the years, many varieties of hollow points including Federal's HydraShoks, Sierra's, Speer's, Nosler's, and Hornady's (in addition to several different standard factory hollow points). The last couple of years though it's been pretty well limited to either Speer Gold Dot 124+P's or Winchester Ranger 127+P+'s depending upon the firearm.

I would imagine you would do nearly as well picking just about any hollow point load that tends to be weight appropriate for your envisioned circumstances. I only choose to use the above premium loads because I'm at a point in my life I can afford to spend the extra money, considering what is at risk should I in fact need them, every effort was expending in R&D to insure the best results, and most importantly collected data from actual shootings have proved these loads at the "top of the list" in positive results for the caliber, (with some relative newcomers is hot pursuit).

At any rate, best of luck with your search, find a load that is reliable in your firearm, you are confident with, put in the practice, and rest assured your equipment will handle its end of the saw, so to speak. Good luck!

Dave

[readyme]

Check out this wet pack test done on the M&P forum.

http://mp-pistol.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=3824

Pretty interesting stuff...and good pictures as well.

[Dandapani]

Originally posted by GuyWithGun
Little jumpy at first about the small caliber...

Have never had anything this small...

Do you realize how little difference there is between 9mm and 40? 1mm. Lots of venerable SD ammo in the 9mm/357 range. 38spl, 357mag, 9mm, and some even like the 380acp for SD.

[WinstonSmith]

Originally posted by dmobrien2001
Do you realize how little difference there is between 9mm and 40? 1mm. Lots of venerable SD ammo in the 9mm/357 range. 38spl, 357mag, 9mm, and some even like the 380acp for SD.
:thumbsup: Here's a visual aid.:supergrin:

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m246/duckintheface/9mmvs40vs45.gif

[The-Fly]

Originally posted by WinstonSmith
:thumbsup: Here's a visual aid.:supergrin:

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m246/duckintheface/9mmvs40vs45.gif

Here's a real world example of 9mm vs 45. Not too much difference.




http://www.btfh.net/shoot/images/bullet-test-6/hst.jpg

[WinstonSmith]

Right. And the FBI says hollowpoints open 60% of the time at best when hitting a human body. So it's better not to count on big expansion anyway.

[entropy]

You need more than a big hole. You need penetration, a useful velocity, and shot placement. That said, is my math faulty or is the difference actually bigger than that picture would imply?

Area of a circle = pi * r^2

In terms of square centimeters:

9mm = pi * .45^2 = 0.2025pi
.40 cal (aka 10mm) = pi * .5^2 = .25pi
.45 cal (aka 11.43mm) = pi * .5715^2 = 0.32661225pi

So the ratio among the calibers is:

9mm : 9mm = 1:1
10mm : 9mm = 1.2345679
11.43mm : 1.6129

In English: the size of a hole that a .40 makes is about 23.5% bigger than the size of a hole that a 9mm makes. The size of a hole that a .45 makes is about 61.3% bigger than the size of a hole that a 9mm makes. All of this assumes ball ammo, and the ratio gap may be lower with hollowpoints, as the photo above implies.. it's probably highly ammo-dependent too (premium vs. el cheapo ammo). Also, sometimes you hit leather or something and your hollowpoint round turns into what is basically a ball round as the leather keeps the hollowpoint from expanding properly.

[akbound]

Originally posted by entropy
You need more than a big hole. You need penetration, a useful velocity, and shot placement. That said, is my math faulty or is the difference actually bigger than that picture would imply?

Area of a circle = pi * r^2

In terms of square centimeters:

9mm = pi * .45^2 = 0.2025pi
.40 cal (aka 10mm) = pi * .5^2 = .25pi
.45 cal (aka 11.43mm) = pi * .5715^2 = 0.32661225pi

So the ratio among the calibers is:

9mm : 9mm = 1:1
10mm : 9mm = 1.2345679
11.43mm : 1.6129

In English: the size of a hole that a .40 makes is about 23.5% bigger than the size of a hole that a 9mm makes. The size of a hole that a .45 makes is about 61.3% bigger than the size of a hole that a 9mm makes. All of this assumes ball ammo, and the ratio gap may be lower with hollowpoints, as the photo above implies.. it's probably highly ammo-dependent too (premium vs. el cheapo ammo). Also, sometimes you hit leather or something and your hollowpoint round turns into what is basically a ball round as the leather keeps the hollowpoint from expanding properly.

Hey, I'm counting on the perps not knowing physics!:winkie: :winkie:

Dave

[Snowman92D]

Originally posted by WinstonSmith
...the FBI says hollowpoints open 60% of the time at best when hitting a human body.

Anyone steer me to the text where they said this?

[918v]

In their ammunition manifesto.

BTW, DR. Eugene Wolberg claims otherwise in his 9mm 147gr JHP WWB study.

[Wordsmith]

All my handguns used to be chambered for .40 S&W. I bought into the myth that the 9mm just wasn't an effective self-defense round. Like the OP, when I finally shot a 9mm for the first time, I decided that its recoil characteristics (which allowed me more shots in the same amount of time) outweighed any benefit the .40 S&W could provide.

My carry guns are all 9mm now.

I'll third the first two posters in this thread. I too prefer Speer Gold Dot 124 grain +P or Federal HST 147 grain. I'm carrying the Federal 147s right now, but I trust both rounds equally.

Congrats on your M&P. I'm an HK guy, but I do believe that S&W has a winner with their new pistol. Maybe it will convince Gaston to get off his butt and update his Glocks. But I digress.

Keep practicing and I don't think you'll regret switching to a 9mm. If it's good enough for Britain's SAS, it's good enough for me.

[GuyWithGun]

Tried the 124 and 147 in a Hornady Custom this weekend. Both shot hole for hole with the 115s had been shooting before. Agree with an earlier post... the 147 does seem to recoil a bit smoother. Can't really explain that, but then again, don't care why really.

The 147s did have a little more punch than the 115s, but not enough to really slow me down. Figure on sticking with them from here on out unless something comes up that is noticably better.

Part of my original post mentioned some super-light loads (100-85 grains) that were shooting crazy fast. Can anybody comment on these?

[bogey3737]

I either own or have owned pistols in 9mm, .40, .45, and .357. My primary carry is now a G19 w/ 124 gr +P Gold Dots. Same load in Golden Saber is my 2nd pic.

With premium ammo, it's all about where you put em.

[MOHAA Player]

What's a 9mm:couch: