The host of Sam Gun Revolver Ballistics tells us what he really thinks of the Hornady Critical Duty load which is used by the FBI and compares it against his personal favorite defense load: the Federal HST in .40 S&W. He tests the two head-to-head in a heavy clothing gel test as well as shooting through a barrier designed to mimic a car door. Note that he also uses fiber board after the first few inches of ballistic gel to account for having to go through ribs, so there is an additional barrier built into his tests.
Spoiler: the .40 S&W load had a larger wound channel and expanded better than the 9mm load. However, because of its greater expansion, it did not penetrate as far as the 9mm--in fact, it was a few inches shorter. Sam thought this was a clear win for the .40 S&W but I'm not so sure. For the car door barrier test, the two had almost identical performance so that was a wash.
However, Sam brought up a good point--and one that has informed my choice of a 9mm defensive load--which is that as civilians the hard barrier penetration (such as through a car door) is probably less important to us than the performance against a bad guy wearing heavy clothing.
Overall, I don't think carrying a larger gun with more recoil is worth the marginal extra performance. But that's me. What do you think?
VIDEO: "The Current 9mm+P FBI Load is Junk - What Caliber/Ammo I would Have Picked Instead - Ballistic Test" - Gun Sam Revolver Ballistics (23 min.)
What a tired argument. Also FBI can still use HST from what I see in search results. Use what you can shoot well (hence the FBI change from 10 to 40 to 9). For example, Dave Spaulding made the switch to 9mm because 40 hurt his age developed arthritis too much.
ReplyDeleteI agree with shoot what you can shoot well. There are certain calibers and pistols that I shoot better than others. I've shot 9mm since I was a kid and could shoot it well, and so was a fan of the 9mm before it was cool (i.e., back in the late 1980s and early '90s when most every gun writer was saying you will die!!! unless you use .45 ACP), although I did come around to liking .45 ACP after having an opportunity to shoot it a bit. Conversely I've disliked .40 S&W since the first time I shot it and nothing since has changed my mind. To me it has all the recoil of a .45 compressed into the short recoil impulse of a 9mm. It is my personal belief that the only reason that the .40 S&W was successful was because of the Assault Weapons Ban and its magazine restriction of 10 rounds; that is, if you are going to be limited to 10 rounds you might as well make it the most effective 10 rounds as possible and recoil be damned. The rapidity with which the .40 S&W lost favor after the AWB had sunset suggests that most shooters probably felt the same as me about the recoil.
DeleteCase in point was the guy in an Indiana mall that took out the AR armed shooter with a plain jane Glock 9mm from what, 40 feet? He practiced a lot (lots of plinking IIRC) and used cover to his advantage.
DeleteAn old poacher told me "it don't matter what you shoot 'em with if you shoot 'em in the eyeball.
ReplyDeleteLOL
DeleteI saw the video with James Reeves and the guy from the FBI; the FBI guy stressed "suddenly we were allowed to increase velocity." E=MC2 is truth, but there will be forever discussions between mass and velocity. I agree that velocity is a key component of effective self defense ammunition, and so is mass, but I want the actual, truthful and complete answer to two simple questions, which the video deliberately, according to Reeves, did not answer: HST or Gold Dot, and 124 grain +P or 147 grain +P?
ReplyDeleteI discussed an article at TFB about the FBI load earlier this week (https://practicaleschatology.blogspot.com/2026/03/why-fbi-ammo-choice-matters-to-civilian.html) which quoted an FBI researches as saying: "Look for duty-focused projectiles in the 135–147-grain range, engineered for consistent barrier performance. Bonded or mechanically locked bullets — designed to hold together and expand reliably through intermediate barriers — are where modern defensive ammo earns its keep." So if that intermediate barrier penetration is important to you, the 147 grain is probably a better choice.
DeleteI don't think there's enough difference between a .40 caliber wound and a .38 caliber wound to choose .40 S&W over a well-designed 9mm. And for the size and recoil, I would either make the jump to .45 ACP or else stick with guns small enough to comfortably carry.
ReplyDelete