ORIGINAL: darbz18
I just bought a springfield XD 40 last month. First handgun i ever bought. I have shot about threehurdred factory rounds thrugh it. Now i want to startreloading bullets for it myself. Never reloaded handgun rounds before but ihave loaded alot of rifle.So i dont know what is the best bullet for personal defense. Ive looked into the hornady XTP, remington golden saber, speer gold dot, and a few others. I just dont know what to use . Or wich is the best.I own a box of factoryfederal hydra shock are they any good. I would like to hear your opions and thoughts on this.All help appreciated.
Federal Hydra-shock ammo has a good rep as a defense load. In my .45 ACP, I use Hornady 230-grain XTP's as a jacketed bullet, and the Lyman-Keith 452423HP semi-wadcutter hollowpoint with 7.3 grains of Unique (MV 998 FPS).From my mould this bullet casts right at 228 grains from wheelweights. This bullet is as good as, if not better than, ANY jacketed bullet for defense use. Of course, being a semi-wadcutter, the pistol has to be throated to feed them. I shoot mine from a Colt Gold Cup which came from the factory properly throated. Since I am shooting full power ammo in it, I put aWolf 26-pound recoil spring and a stronger firing pin return spring in it. Because the Gold Cup was made to shoot target ammo, I had to keep replacing the rear sight crosspin because the things were too weak. I finally replaced the last Colt-made pin with a pin I made from the shank of an old Herter's stainless steel fishhook of the correct diameter. This pin has held up for over 20 years now!