SD Ammo for 9mm Shield

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BlueHeelerFl

BlueHeelerFl

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Treasure Coast, FL
I'd like to hear everyone's opinions on SD ammo for my 9mm Shield.

I'm currently using Federal 124 plus p efmj. The next time I cycle my ammo out ill only have about 7 rounds left. Its also old ammo (I got in somewhere in the early 2000's ) and nearing the end if its shelf life anyway. I have other old SD ammo from around the same time period, but its time to update. ( I have a few boxes of 124 Nyclad ammo by get poor accuracy from them)
 
Win SXT 147 and Federal HST 150 gr loads seem to perform very well out of sub compact and compact pistols.

I’m issued 124 gr +P Win SXT so that’s what I use.

I used to load Hornady Critical Defense 115 gr +P until I was issued OD ammo.

Golden Saber, XTP, Gold Dot...There’s a lot of good stuff out there, I’ll say buy a box or two of different makers premium ammo and see what cycles best and shoots accurately out of your Shield. You’ll be well served once you find what works best.

Stay safe!
 
Your carry ammo is almost 20 years old? I'd say it's time to cycle it out.

I agree with the above that there are lots of good choices out there. Even the cheap JHP from Remington or Winchester has worked well for me, and I actually have my 2.0 Compact loaded up with WWB JHP right now. In my Shield I currently have standard pressure 124 grain HST and it runs well and hits accurately. Critical Defense, Gold Dot, V-Crown and Golden Sabre are some other good choices to consider. I tend to favor 115 or 124 grain ammo in 9mm because it's faster and I think that will make for more reliable expansion.
 
IdaD said:
In my Shield I currently have standard pressure 124 grain HST and it runs well and hits accurately. Critical Defense, Gold Dot, V-Crown and Golden Sabre are some other good choices to consider.
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Same here, i.e. Federal HST 124 grain. While the other's listed seem to do well overall in the testing I've seen, the HST's (any grain) do well in ALL of them...
 
I’m really partial to my hand loaded gold dots for mine. Factory wise I go with Sigs premium ammo for it. Great shooter after I got the Apex trigger in it.
 
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Check out the Lucky Gunner test results. I think you will see that Federal offers the best performing (penetration and expansion) AND most reasonably priced SD ammo for many types of guns.
 
IdaD said:
Your carry ammo is almost 20 years old? I'd say it's time to cycle it out.

I agree with the above that there are lots of good choices out there. Even the cheap JHP from Remington or Winchester has worked well for me, and I actually have my 2.0 Compact loaded up with WWB JHP right now. In my Shield I currently have standard pressure 124 grain HST and it runs well and hits accurately. Critical Defense, Gold Dot, V-Crown and Golden Sabre are some other good choices to consider. I tend to favor 115 or 124 grain ammo in 9mm because it's faster and I think that will make for more reliable expansion.
Click to expand...

Money has been tight lately, so I was going though some.old ammo before.buying anything new. The price of SD ammo is crazy nowadays
 
BlueHeelerFl said:
Money has been tight lately, so I was going though some.old ammo before.buying anything new. The price of SD ammo is crazy nowadays
Click to expand...

If you dig around online you can find quality JHP ammo for about half what a retail store sells it for.

Not sure about the HST prices as what I have of it I bought at Academy because I wanted it then & I paid a premium for that.
Personally after seeing the Lucky Gunner tests I came to the conclusion that I prefer 147 grain in a quality jhp for a short barreled 9mm pistol.
 
OP, I'll add one thing: I spend a lot of time reading gun-related websites and one phrase that I don't think I've ever seen is "my Shield is picky about ammo." FWIW, I've fed mine:
  • 124 grain Blazer Brass fmj
  • 124 grain Speer Gold Dot jhp
  • 124 grain Rem Golden Saber jhp
  • A few other Bargain Basement Brands whose names escape right now
Each and every one fed and fired without fail. I will say without hesitation that my Shield has fed and functioned every bit as reliably as my Glock, though the Glock does have about 1500 more rounds through it than my Shield does.

I suspect your Shield will feed just about any decent-quality SD ammo that you put in it. Obviously, you should verify that what you buy does, in fact, feed right, but it's probably not necessary to buy thesinglemostexpensivest whiz-bang SD round to get reliable function out of your pistol. Now, that may also mean you don't get thesinglebestest performance, in terms of fps, or penetration in gel, or whatever, but making sure that the pistol goes bang, several times if necessary, is the most important factor, to my mind. Just something to consider, given your comment about money being tight. BTDT.
 
I like 124 gr +p HSTs. Test results indicate the possibility of good terminal performance and sufficient velocity to expand. But testing in your gun is of course needed.

I tested them out of my 3” P30SK.

Average 5 shot group velocity was 1187
High 1199
Low 1175
Extreme spread was 25
SD of 9.5

Average velocity was 1225 out of a 4” VP9.

I also tested Speer Gold Dots from the same guns.

Ave Vel 1165
High 1182
Low 1150
ES 33
SD 14.1

Ave velocity from a VP9 was 1210.
 
Any 124gr standard pressure JHP. Plated soft lead like gold dots might expand a bit. I do think most will perform adequately with proper shot placement.
As long as the gun preforms with the ammo I am not brand loyal.
 
Lots of money has been exchanged in a pursuit to be able to carry the latest/greatest SupaKilla X5!!! SD ammo,,,,
But, there are plenty of tried and true 100% RELIABLE options out there that won't break the bank as well.
IMHO, proficiency and placement trumps any perceived disadvantage one may (assume they) have by not carrying the latest/greatest ammo.
Perhaps not an option for the OP, but I reload and recently acquired 1000 pulled 124 Gold Dots from RMR.
 
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BlueHeelerFl said:
Money has been tight lately, so I was going though some.old ammo before.buying anything new. The price of SD ammo is crazy nowadays
Click to expand...

If money is tight, pick up some Winchester White Box JHP or Remington Green & White JHP. I think you're better off buying it and cycling through it every year than you are hanging onto ammo for 20 years because you don't want to shoot it. The WWB is $16 per 50 locally in my area, and the Remington JHPs are pretty close to that.

Online isn't as good of a deal as it seems if you're not able to buy in bulk. That $30 box of 50 HST rounds is well over $40 when you add shipping. You can mitigate that buying in bulk but, again, now you're in for quite a bit of money.
 
IdaD said:
If money is tight, pick up some Winchester White Box JHP or Remington Green & White JHP. I think you're better off buying it and cycling through it every year than you are hanging onto ammo for 20 years because you don't want to shoot it. The WWB is $16 per 50 locally in my area, and the Remington JHPs are pretty close to that.

Online isn't as good of a deal as it seems if you're not able to buy in bulk. That $30 box of 50 HST rounds is well over $40 when you add shipping. You can mitigate that buying in bulk but, again, now you're in for quite a bit of money.
Click to expand...

For various reasons (including employment) I wasn't shooting for awhile and had to.leave everything at my mother's home while I moved out of state.

For medical reasons my Mom was forced to.move down south with me. All the ammo was taken with us, but at this point it is all old.

The combination of the move, hurricane damage, and loss of a job caused buying new ammo to be a low priority
 
BlueHeelerFl said:
All the ammo was taken with us, but at this point it is all old.

The combination of the move, hurricane damage, and loss of a job caused buying new ammo to be a low priority
Click to expand...

If kept dry and clean, ammo will last well beyond 20 years. Now, if you are talking about a small amount that has been kept in a carry gun, then you definitely want to change that out annually...
 
Doc Samson said:
If kept dry and clean, ammo will last well beyond 20 years. Now, if you are talking about a small amount that has been kept in a carry gun, then you definitely want to change that out annually...
Click to expand...

All the ammo was kept dry and climate controlled inside our house.

My carry ammo here in FL gets rotated out on a regular basis, which is why I'm running low now
 
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