What Handgun Ammunition Should You Use?

If you have a handgun, there are four common uses and each has specific criteria for selecting ammunition.  Handguns are commonly used for:

Let’s take a look at what you should consider when selecting ammunition for each of these activities.

Training

Typically, training uses the most rounds of ammunition by a considerable amount.  It is not difficult to fire hundreds of rounds during a routine training session.  This is the reason that cost is usually an important criteria for training ammunition.  While cost is important, it is also important that the ammunition is reliable and does not damage your handgun.  Luckily, almost all modern handgun ammunition is safe and reliable when purchased from major ammunition manufacturers.

One option to reduce cost is to use re-manufactured ammunition. This is ammunition that is made from previously fired brass. The problem with re-manufactured ammunition is that it runs the quality gamut from junk to very good. A high quality re-manufactured ammunition is perfectly acceptable for training. A low quality re-manufactured ammunition is not worth even the low price it was purchased for. Typical problems include failure to fire as well as failure to eject.

For semi-automatic pistols, Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) ammunition is the most common choice for training.  FMJ covers the lead bullet in a copper jacket. Total Mental Jacket (TMJ) which covers the base of the bullet as well as the sides and top is sometimes found as well. It is clean, inexpensive and widely available.

For revolvers, FMJ or wad-cutter and semi-wad cutter ammunition are commonly used for training. Wad-cutter uses lead bullets that have a flat nose.  This cuts a clean hole in paper targets which makes it easy to see and score your hits.

.22 LR ammunition can be found from about 4 cents a round and is typically sold in boxes of 100 rounds. Center fire handgun rounds can range from 20 cents a rounds for 9mm to almost 50 cents a rounds for less common callers such as .357 SIG for a box of 50 rounds. Buying in a bulk of 500 to 1000 rounds can offer savings.

Self Defense

Ammunition used for self defense should be designed for that purpose. Do not use your training ammunition for self defense. Self defense ammunition is designed to be:

The design used by almost all self defense handgun ammunition is the Jacked Hollow Point (JHP) bullet. The hollow point bullet helps meet a few of the design goals. When the bullet hits a body or similar target such as 10% ballistic gelatin, the hollow point mushrooms to expand the bullet diameter by a factor of two. This both allows the bullet down to prevent over penetration and helps create a large wound channel.

Self defense bullets are made reliable by using premium components (casing, primer, powder, and bullet) and by strict quality control. The case is sometimes nickel plated to provide corrosion protecting and lubrication which helps prevent feeding and extraction problems.

One last hard learned lesson was to prevent the hollow points of bullets from being clogged by pieces of clothing or other barrier material.  When the hollow points are clogged they typically over penetrate and result in small wound channels.

Most self defense ammunition costs between 50 cents to over a dollar a round and comes in boxes of 20.

Target Shooting

Target shooting ammunition looks and is designed similar to training ammunition.  While the rounds look similar, ammunition designed for competition shooting matches, often called “match ammunition,” is a high quality, precision manufactured item.  Often made in small batches from select components under strict quality control, the main design goal is for the rounds to produce exactly the same results every time. A slight variation in the amount of powder, the weight or shape of the bullet or the shape of the case will result in a different point of impact when fired from the gun.

Competition shooters will often buy match ammunition in bulk from the same manufacturing batch to insure consistent performance as match ammunition performance can vary from batch to batch, even though the variances are minor.

Match ammunition will cost between 50 cents per round and $1.50 per round.

Hunting

Ammunition designed for hunting shares some of the characteristics of Self Defense ammunition.  Although most hunting is done with a rifle, handgun hunting is growing in popularity.  Partly due to the variety of powerful handguns that have entered the market and also by hunters looking for the next challenge or the ability harvest an additional deer by taking advantage of special handgun hunting seasons.

Because even powerful handguns are underpowered when compared to rifles, hunting loads for handguns are often loaded to the limits of the specifications for the caliber.  For instance, a common self defense load for a .357 magnum would be a 125 grain bullet fired at 1450 fps and generating 584 ft-lbs of energy, while a hunting load would be a 158 grain bullet at 1475 fps generating 763 ft-lbs of energy.  That is 30+% more energy.

Hollow point are not usually used in hunting rounds because more penetration is usually wanted than a hollow point allows.  Soft point lead bullets or hard cast lead bullets are commonly used for hunting with handguns.  Soft point bullets will mushroom but penetrate farther than a hollow point, allowing the bullet to reach the vital organs of large animals.  Hard cast bullets are especially good at penetrating and also breaking bones to incapacitate animals.

With a cost often exceeding $1 per round, hunting rounds are expensive, but since you should rarely shoot more than an handful on a hunting trip the overall cost is low.

Just as many firearms are designed for specific purposes, so to are the cartridge loads that are used.  While you might get away with using one load for multiple purposes, the best results are always achieved using the correct load for the selected purpose.  Learn what loads work best for each shooting activity and invest in acquiring them.