Maybe we’re making too big an assumption here. Plenty of people who tote a gun every day or keep one on the night stand load it up with range ammo and call it good. They figure, ‘I sure wouldn’t want to be shot with that stuff,’ so it should get the job done if push comes to shove. Yes, well, while loading up with range ammo will leave a few more dollars in your pocket, that strategy comes at the cost of much poorer performance and a good chance of over penetration.
So assuming you do load up with JHP in your carry or home defense gun, how do you choose? Determining reliability is the easy part. Assuming you’ve bought ammo from one of the bigger names (Federal, Winchester, Remington, etc.), you can be fairly sure it will go bang when you pull the trigger. The other big question, then, is whether it works in your gun. Range time (and cash) will reveal what your firearms will cycle with unfailing regularity.
But then there’s performance. Does a particular round penetrate adequately to do what it’s supposed to do once it’s in a bad guy’s innards? How is the average ammo buyer to know?
Trusting manufacturer performance claims can be, well, disappointing. On the other hand, surfing YouTube for reliable information can be fraught with questionable information, too. While reliable, analytical sources like ShootingTheBull410 hasn’t been otherwise occupied in recent months, we hope to see him back in the ammo evaluation business in the not-too-distant future.
In any case, what goes into your personal defense buying decision? How do make your buying decision?