Most reliable self defense ammo for the 1911

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PROTEUS

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I purchased a Kimber TLE Stainless II for most of my conceled carry needs. I am looking for recomendations for the best self defence ammo for this pistol. I use Critical Defense for my .380 backup and XDP for my .357 revolver but what works best for the 1911?

Thanks
 
The stuff you buy and test yourself.
Handguns are very individual for ammunition problems, nobody can decide you have a reliable handgun/ammo combination but YOU.

That being aid, I have god luck finding Gold Dots in non-chump boxes that allow actual testing, Winchester has a good bonded round on the market (PDX?) and Hornady makes two types that feed for me in my 1911.

Spend the money, get a selection of ammo, and do some testing. Blow up some wayer jugs to keep it fun.
 
I've always had good luck with Remington Golden Saber in my 1911 but you'll have to experiment yourself.
 
I agree with Dave, any of the rounds he mentioned are great and I'm going to include the Federal HST and Winchester Ranger as great rounds. I would stay away from the Golden Sabre; they may feed properly but that's it, they do not expand reliably especially with clothing they punch through like a FMJ.
 
Klutch, can you give more info on the Golden Sabre not working in clothing.Thanks, Byron
 
It actually was something I saw on the internet when I first got into gun a few years ago. I always thought Remington made great stuff so I got some Golden Sabre's and did some testing myself kind of like how tnoutdoors9 does on youtube. I shot gallons of water and they worked great, also when I shot wet phone books they worked pretty good not very consistent though, but then when I put some denim and goose down in front of the target(wet phone books) they completely plugged and didn't expand. I think IIRC I fired 5-6 rounds and none expanded a few of them peeled back some but barely. I was pretty disappointed cause I was really liking the round until then.
I have also tested the same way Winchester Ranger,PDX-1, Speer GDHP,Federal Hydroshok and HST. They all tested pretty good the only real consistent one was the HST, they look like the star on the HST box every time. Speer was also real good in performance as well as the Winchester Ranger, the PDX-1 did OK but didn't expand completely every time and the Hydroshok did good as well but didn't expand as large as the others but they were the only non+P rounds of the bunch. I tested 9mm 124+P
 
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Klutch, Thanks for the info. I save my GS for summer.Good testing. Byron
 
For what it's worth my Kimber Super Match II has happily devoured a lot of Gold Dots (back when they were cheap to buy for reloading). It also has had zero issues feeding Winchester SXT, Federal Hydra-Shock, or Hornady XTP's.
 
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