Personal Defense Ammo

[joe817]

Ok, not to get off topic but my curiosity is getting the best of me.

Regarding the 357 Sig: Is the bullet in .357 caliber and it's put in a necked down brass? What's the necked down brass? .45? .40? 10mm? Or is this some completely new invention in bullet AND brass?

[srothstein]

It is necked down .40 caliber brass.

[Sidro]

With a .355 diameter bullet(which is basically 9mm).

[joe817]

Thanks!

[ghostrider]

I believe if you neck down a .40S&W case you'll end up with a shorter neck than factory .357Sig brass, which I don't think you'll want.

This is different than necking down .45ACP brass to make .400 Corbon which is designed to work that way.

[stevie_d_64]

Steve consults his "Magic 8 Ball"...

The magic bullet you seek is made by a Texas Manufacturer...

RBCD.com

If you believe there are magic bullets to be found...

Otherwise...I'd just go with the Federal Hydroshok line of products...

Cartridge manufacturers are like salad dressings...Everybody has a preference...I just prefer to have my salads well dressed...

[Skiprr]

In my 3" Kimber, the daily carry load is the Federal HST. Before that, it was the Federal Hydro-Shoks. Pretty much any of the better ammunition manufacturers make a 230 grain hollowpoint that will work just fine in yours.

My mini-Kimber carries Winchester Ranger 230gr +P (RA45TP).

Range-proven, and you gotta know a +P .45 ACP will leave a mark...

[The Annoyed Man]

In my 3" Kimber, the daily carry load is the Federal HST. Before that, it was the Federal Hydro-Shoks. Pretty much any of the better ammunition manufacturers make a 230 grain hollowpoint that will work just fine in yours.

My mini-Kimber carries Winchester Ranger 230gr +P (RA45TP).

Range-proven, and you gotta know a +P .45 ACP will leave a mark...

For the record, that was Excaliber quoting me. I haven't had a chance to try the Ranger +P, but only because I don't see it in the stores I frequent.

[gclooney]

Steve consults his "Magic 8 Ball"...

The magic bullet you seek is made by a Texas Manufacturer...

RBCD.com

If you believe there are magic bullets to be found...

Otherwise...I'd just go with the Federal Hydroshok line of products...

Cartridge manufacturers are like salad dressings...Everybody has a preference...I just prefer to have my salads well dressed...

I have heard very good things about RBCD. I have never shot it and don't have any personall experience with it. I have a Colt New Agent which splits time with my Glock19. If your concerned about overpenetration which I've considered I'd go with a Fedreral HShock or any regular loaded Hollow Point would be good. I have experienced some poor accuracy with regular loads. I think this is due to the short 3inch barrel. I have much better accuracy with +P ammo, however I'm not sure if it is something you want to run through a 3inch 1911 very often. 165gr Powrball or 230gr Hornady TAP gets my vote.

[gclooney]

Truthfully, there really isn't a nickel's worth of difference among any of the premium rounds

Possibly this one has finally broken through the crowd:
http://www.hornadyle.com/products/more_ ... =106&pID=2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Appreciate all the feedback on the forty and 1911's.

I more or less agree with this. Big up's on the .357 sig. hahaha

[mgood]

In my 3" Kimber Ultra CDP II, I carry Federal Personal Defense 165 gr Hydra-Shok. (It's a low recoil round I choose because that seemed like a good idea with this short barrel and light frame. I may still go to a 230 gr bullet later. I've shot lots of 230 gr in practice and have no problem with that.)
In my Smith & Wesson SW40F, I carry Federal 155 gr Hydra-Shok.

[stevie_d_64]

Steve consults his "Magic 8 Ball"...

The magic bullet you seek is made by a Texas Manufacturer...

RBCD.com

If you believe there are magic bullets to be found...

Otherwise...I'd just go with the Federal Hydroshok line of products...

Cartridge manufacturers are like salad dressings...Everybody has a preference...I just prefer to have my salads well dressed...

I have heard very good things about RBCD. I have never shot it and don't have any personall experience with it. I have a Colt New Agent which splits time with my Glock19. If your concerned about overpenetration which I've considered I'd go with a Fedreral HShock or any regular loaded Hollow Point would be good. I have experienced some poor accuracy with regular loads. I think this is due to the short 3inch barrel. I have much better accuracy with +P ammo, however I'm not sure if it is something you want to run through a 3inch 1911 very often. 165gr Powrball or 230gr Hornady TAP gets my vote.

Well, over the years the discussions about defensive ammo have ranged between feeding reliability to penetration with a little knock down power and accuracy issues mixed in to liven up the discusions...

I have found a pretty good mix in the ammo manufacturer I mentioned above...Although it is a personal preference, reliable self-defence ammo is a personal quest...No one really goes totally on what someone (even here) would say about a particular brand...

And that is what most of the fun (if you want to call a serious issue fun) is all about...

Shifting my carry package to a 1911 rig made the self-defense ammo a cinch...Where I carried RBCD in .40, the bullet weight was only 77 gr's and pushed a really high speed and energy into the target, per their stats...

Ohhh, self-defense ammo like this is not cheap either...About $2 a pop...But, I did do some sacrificing and put a few into a block of duct-seal with a t-shirt and denin jacket and found the performance thru that media to be satisfactory for the purpose I intended it to be used for...

I also used Federal and a couple of Corbon's I had in the bag to do a comparison...All performed well, but I figure the RBCD was a more technically feasible round to use...

And since I won 3 boxes from the website "hit-counter game" (I was the 850,000 winner) I had a few to play with...

But that in no way influenced my evaluation...

[Excaliber]

Steve consults his "Magic 8 Ball"...

The magic bullet you seek is made by a Texas Manufacturer...

RBCD.com

If you believe there are magic bullets to be found...

Otherwise...I'd just go with the Federal Hydroshok line of products...

Cartridge manufacturers are like salad dressings...Everybody has a preference...I just prefer to have my salads well dressed...

I have heard very good things about RBCD. I have never shot it and don't have any personall experience with it. I have a Colt New Agent which splits time with my Glock19. If your concerned about overpenetration which I've considered I'd go with a Fedreral HShock or any regular loaded Hollow Point would be good. I have experienced some poor accuracy with regular loads. I think this is due to the short 3inch barrel. I have much better accuracy with +P ammo, however I'm not sure if it is something you want to run through a 3inch 1911 very often. 165gr Powrball or 230gr Hornady TAP gets my vote.

Well, over the years the discussions about defensive ammo have ranged between feeding reliability to penetration with a little knock down power and accuracy issues mixed in to liven up the discusions...

I have found a pretty good mix in the ammo manufacturer I mentioned above...Although it is a personal preference, reliable self-defence ammo is a personal quest...No one really goes totally on what someone (even here) would say about a particular brand...

And that is what most of the fun (if you want to call a serious issue fun) is all about...

Shifting my carry package to a 1911 rig made the self-defense ammo a cinch...Where I carried RBCD in .40, the bullet weight was only 77 gr's and pushed a really high speed and energy into the target, per their stats...

Ohhh, self-defense ammo like this is not cheap either...About $2 a pop...But, I did do some sacrificing and put a few into a block of duct-seal with a t-shirt and denin jacket and found the performance thru that media to be satisfactory for the purpose I intended it to be used for...

I also used Federal and a couple of Corbon's I had in the bag to do a comparison...All performed well, but I figure the RBCD was a more technically feasible round to use...

And since I won 3 boxes from the website "hit-counter game" (I was the 850,000 winner) I had a few to play with...

But that in no way influenced my evaluation...

The website rbcd.com is for sale. The URL for the ammunition company is rbcd.net.

I am personally leery about very light ultra high velocity bullets. Other rounds built on the "high velocity / high energy delivery" theory deliver spectacularly showy results in ballistic gelatin and clay, but those results haven't historically translated into equally spectacular performance in the field. This is largely because human antagonists are constructed of materials of varying density and hardness (e.g., muscle, cartilage, and bone) which a bullet must be able to penetrate reliably in order to teach vital organs. Past light, fast "miracle bullet" offerings from a bunch of manufacturers have generally tended to break up badly with poor penetration when encountering moderate resistance like a rib.

I haven't experimented with the RBCD rounds and can't say for sure the same thing would happen with them, but I also can't see any reason why it wouldn't. When Box O' Truth tested the RBCD ammo in 4 different calibers, the results I anticipated are exactly what they found. You can read the details here.

In .45ACP I stick with 185 - 230 grain hollowpoints from the major manufacturers and focus on doing my part with bullet placement. Remington Golden Saber, Speer Gold Dot, and MagTech Guardian Gold are my current favorites, but I wouldn't hesitate to use the similar offerings from Winchester or other major manufacturers. These rounds are proven solid performers and can readily be had at half the cost of the exotic offerings, so I don't personally see a reason to go out on a limb with a boutique bullet and bet my life that this one will work much better than all the rest that came before.