Aguila is a Mexican ammunition manufacturer whose products you can find widely on shelves in the U.S. While we mostly see Aguila’s FMJ rounds at the range, the company’s hollow-point loads, available in 50-round boxes at a comparative bargain price point, are often used for tactical training by those who want to ensure their firearms reliably feed hollow-point projectiles. Revolver shooters can also find Aguila loads to suit many training needs. (http://www.aguilaammo.com; 888-452-4019)
Barnes is best known for its finely engineered projectiles, which they’ve sold to discerning hunters and handloaders for decades. Several years ago, the company began offering fully loaded cartridges featuring its projectiles, and you can find a fascinating selection of companies who offer factory defense loads featuring Barnes’ bullets. Its extremely popular TAC-XPD ammunition features all-copper hollow-point projectiles that are coated in black nickel for a distinctive appearance and smooth feeding. Barnes’ cases are a shiny, silver-looking nickel, also to promote dependable feeding. (http://www.barnesbullets.com; 800-574-9200)
Originally known for its high-end remanufactured rounds, Black Hills has spent significant effort and resources to earn its modern reputation as a premier manufacturer of competition and defense rounds for the Army Marksmanship Unit, SOCOM, law enforcement and civilians alike. While the company doesn’t generally produce its components, it sources high-quality components from across the industry for each element of each cartridge, then assembles the cartridges at its plant—under legendarily close inspection and tight tolerances. The result is a range of high-end, factory-new defensive ammunition that combines name-brand components to create each specific load. (http://www.black-hills.com; 605-348-5150)
One of the big innovators of personal defense ammunition, whose famous HydraShok ammunition was developed specifically with the FBI ammunition testing protocol in mind, Federal supplies ammunition to a significant number of federal, state and local law enforcement entities, as well as an eager civilian market. The famous HydraShok rounds feature the rather unique lead post deep down inside their gaping hollow points, which helps with reliable terminal expansion despite the round passing through a wide range of intermediary materials. The company’s Premium Personal Defense line also includes 9mm Luger Micro HST, NyClad and traditional JHP designs. The HST rounds are specifically designed to hold together through auto glass, wood, drywall and heavy clothing, to provide officers (and now the public) with a particularly tough, barrier-penetrating hollow point. Brand new for your backup or deep concealment 9mm is the HST ammunition from Federal. Designed to be fired from subcompact and pocket-sized 9mm handguns, these rounds feature an extremely heavy-for-caliber 150-grain projectile fired at a slightly lower velocity to help mitigate felt recoil and some noise, while providing a little more mass for enhanced penetration. Low-flash powder helps with preserving your ability to see in low-light situations, and the nickel-plated cases help with reliable cycling. (http://www.federalpremium.com; 800-379-1732)
G2 Research works exclusively with lead-free projectiles made of solid, milled copper to create expanding projectiles with pretty extreme characteristics. The company’s Civic Duty round is the latest development along the lines of its R.I.P. fracturing round, and is engineered for the petals to open up into individual arms (more like a star than a mushroom) that remain attached to the slug’s body for full weight retention. Designed to penetrate 9 to 10 inches in bare ballistic gelatin and not over-penetrate walls or attackers in close quarters, the expanded 9mm Civic Duty rounds can reach a diameter of approximately 0.9 inches. (http://www.g2rammo.com)
A purveyor of super-premium hunting and defense ammunition, Hornady sources many of its components to create loaded cartridges designed to propel its custom projectiles. Hornady’s defense loads are split into the Critical Defense and Critical Duty ammunition lines. Critical Defense loads, intended for the civilian market, feature FTX projectiles with the Flex Tip similar to that found in its LeverEvolution rifle rounds. The tip completely fills the hollow-point cavity, and initiates controlled expansion regardless of what barrier or other material the round may pass through during flight into its intended target. The Critical Duty line takes a similar design approach, using the FlexLock bullet, which combines the Flex Tip for reliable expansion and the InterLock band for ensuring the jacket and core stay together during penetration. (http://www.hornady.com; 800-338-3220)
HPR Ammunition of Payson, Arizona, is a company driven by engineers and veterans dedicated to manufacturing specialty hunting and defense rounds. Generally using components produced for the company in the assembly of its loads, HPR offers some distinctive cartridges featuring frangible, expanding and other projectiles meant for real-world use. HPR’s Black Ops handgun rounds utilize Open Tip Frangible projectiles manufactured exclusively for HPR by Advanced Tactical Armament Concepts. These rounds are light-for-caliber to achieve an extremely high velocity that results in fragmentation, causing complete energy transfer in a short amount of distance and a massive shockwave to improve incapacitation. They also greatly decrease over-penetration, especially within structures. (http://www.hprammo.com; 928-468-0223)
Remington makes one of the classic law enforcement bullets, the Golden Saber, which includes a few features that were ahead of their time and that now generally feature on the company’s Ultimate Defense line: waterproof sealing around the primer and case mouth, and a jacket constructed of a similar kind of brass to that used in cartridge cases. Remington’s much newer Ultimate Defense line includes the Compact Handgun line (designed to provide reliable terminal performance at the expected lower velocities generated by the shorter barrels in compact handguns), Ultimate Home Defense (designed to limit over-penetration in an occupied structure) and High Terminal Performance (a +P load that crosses over from defense to limited hunting and other heavy-duty applications). The company also has more economy-priced JHP loads in its UMC line in 50-round boxes. (http://www.remington.com; 800-243-9700)
Ruger’s highly popular ARX ammunition series features extremely unique rounds that dispense with the traditional hollow point design in favor of a twisted flute design. The ARX design transfers energy through a hydraulic displacement effect in a fluid or semi-fluid target. Each groove on the bullet pressurizes and laterally ejects fluid matter, creating a wound channel and negative acceleration. The net effect is a bullet that transfers energy as effectively as a hollow-point, without the potential for failure due to non-expansion. The round is made from a non-frangible copper-polymer blend that will penetrate intermediate barriers but reduces the risk of ricochet against solid objects. (http://www.ruger.com)
Known for its high-end defensive sidearms carried by police and military forces the world over, Sig Sauer also has a premium line of defensive ammunition. The company’s V-Crown JHPs are intended for civilian and professional use, while Sig FMJ rounds are intended for practice and competition. The V-Crown projectile uses V-shaped jacket skives and scores to help promote controlled expansion, with that mission further aided by a “stacked hollow-point design” that features deep incisions in the lead that promote the creation of a second hollow cavity as the first fills and pushes the projectile mouth outward. The brass cases are coated with Ducta-Bright 7A for its corrosion resistance, enhanced lubricity and promotion of reliable feeding. Recently, Sig Sauer announced its .357 Magnum and .44 Rem Mag offerings in its Elite Performance line. Both would be highly effective on bad guys and medium-size game. (http://www.sigsauer.com; 866-345-6744)
Manufacturers of the long-time benchmark Gold Dot law enforcement ammunition, Speer was an innovator in bonded-core technology (which is the process by which the copper jacket and lead slug are bonded to prevent separation during terminal transit) that features a patented two-step, cavity-forming procedure for constructing each projectile. Speer’s Gold Dot projectile is available in Gold Dot Personal Protection cartridges, Gold Dot Short Barrel Personal Protection cartridges (designed for compact and subcompact guns) and, for maximum penetration and downrange power, Gold Dot Handgun Hunting cartridges. (http://www.speer-ammo.com; 800-379-1732)
While Wilson Combat is known more for its super-premium handguns than for ammunition, the company does also manufacture some super-premium defense loads that are perfectly paired with fine-crafted fighting irons. Its defensive loads have been developed by Bill Wilson and his crew to combine the optimum powder types and projectiles to achieve cartridges that balance velocity with operating pressure, reliability with accuracy, and give you some rather unique offerings on the balance. Check out the company’s loads with Barnes’ all-copper TAC-XP projectiles, in both standard and +P varieties. Designed to perform to their published specifications out of a 4-inch barrel—a very reasonable barrel length to generate meaningful data and performance for those carrying compact or subcompact pistols—this ammunition has been crafted for high-performance defense work in common carry pistols and duty-sized pistols alike. (http://www.wilsoncombat.com; 800-955-4856)
A titan in the industry, Winchester manufactures some of the most popular ammo in civilian, military and law enforcement use. Winchester’s PDX1 Defender projectiles feature a proprietary bonding process to keep the jacket and lead together while providing uniform, dependable expansion when you need it. The company also has a lower-priced line of straight-up JHP rounds in 50-round boxes. The Train & Defend pairing offers unique utility to shooters looking for less-expensive training rounds with the same point of impact as their defense rounds. (http://www.winchester.com)
Let this guide to the latest defensive rounds on the market help you make the best-informed decisions about matching ammunition to your needs, your gun and your environment. Scroll through the photo gallery above to check out what’s available from Barnes, Hornady, Wilson Combat, Federal Premium Ammunition, Ruger, Sig Sauer and many more.
